For The Love Of Port

As an outsider looking in, I have to say that I find your state based shipping laws archaic and somewhat extraordinary for a country that has the largest free world economy. I'm thankful that we don't have any of that in Australia, and I can happily have wine shipped from, say Western Australia to M...

They are a pretty unusual winery and Chester Osborn, who is the current winemaker and part of the family dynasty, is a pretty unusual character though the 1992 may have still been his father in charge. They have a pretty large range of wines for a family owned winery, ranging from inexpensive throug...

Good to read it's still holding up nicely. And also glad you didn't call it a Niepoort....my pet peeve with these Passadouro's that everyone thinks are a Niepoort. Niepoort has helped them out. I was wondering if Niepoort (just) bottled this one, or had anything to do with the blending. It's an int...

Initially decanted for 8 hrs, but this was better after an extra 24 hrs in the dcanter Despite being 20 years old, it is still quite sweet and fruit forward with blueberry jam with a touch of cinnamon. It does lack a level of complexity that stops it from being a a top tier port, but it is very plea...

I'd prefer screw caps for everything. That's probably not a surprise to anybody who has looked at my location. I don't have a particularly old collection of wine (cellar tracker says the average Vintage is 2007) so I'd estimate that about 2/3 of my wine is under screw cap and I am starting to get a ...

I have 3 that spring to mind... The first two were on the 2011 Harvest tour..... - the 1882 that later became the Graham's Ne Oublie. It was at Quinta dos Malvedos, where Paul Symington arrived by boat carrying this. - the 1900 Brunheda Colheita. This was my first exposure to some of the really old ...

In a few weeks, there will be a Porto Episode for Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown going to air. I think it will be the last episode of the current series.

So I finally tried this Port, and all I had as a reaction was, very simply, why??? Humor aside, while I love that someone did something new for the first time in ages in the Douro (other than making dry wines, or garrafierra), this is not at all a good wine, and frankly is a poor mixer with tonic a...

The majority of my Vintage port has been bought at auction. The only ones I haven't bought that way were the 2011s which were purchased through wine shops, the 18 or so Taylor's 2001 QdV which I got at Costco, and 2 Noval Silvals that I bought at a Noval tasting and were my very first ports in my co...

1) Is it true that often the raw LBV wine is similar to the raw VP wine, aside from the additional aging the LBV receives? I'd say that isn't necessarily true as different producers will have different priorities and factors that influcence their production. Some might also prioritize tawny stocks ...

Most years, I just end up hoping I get a cool enough night to consider opening a port. It certainly didn't happen for Christmas day this year but the forecast for New Years is looking a bit cooler. It won't be anything too special, but I do have a Grahams 2011 LBV that I am keen to test drive.

I had a very good 77 Warre's VP fairly early in the year, and a 66 Taylor's which probably wasn't any better than the 77 but was perhaps a bit more special as I was able to open it for a close friend's 50th birthday.

Was a little spirity immediately after opening, but noticeably clean on the nose and palate. By that I mean there was no earthiness or mustiness that you often get with older bottles. This was double decanted then transported to a restaurant where it was put back into a decanter, and spent a couple ...

On the 2014 harvest tour we did a vertical of Quinta de la Rosa LBVs and the 94 was very very impressive. The 03 Noval LBV was a bit of a wow moment for me as well and was one of the ports that started me on the path. I don't have access to that many over here... I really wish I could get some of th...

I've only had the Kopke Colheita from that year, but it was very very good.

There is a lot to like about this port. Consumption started after a 6 hr decant. Strawberry jam, violets, vanilla, Rosewater with hint if white pepper, cardamon and Cassia bark earthiness. Finish is not super long and there is a fraction of heat, but it is still good drinking. It held together prett...

Quinta do Noval for me.
There are a few I'd love to get to, but Noval would be top of the list.

Sad news indeed and I'm sure that the impact will be felt far wider than just at Niepoort. It will be interesting to see what happens with the Douro Boys now as a result of this. I always had the feeling that Dirk was the driving force behind the group so it will be interesting to see whether the gr...

I've just had a listen to this, much of which is about Quinta de Noval, so it should be of interest to some here
http://illdrinktothatpod.com/post/14287 ... -christian

Tough call, because there aren't any vintages with both a wide variety of good VP and a wide variety of good Colheita. There are a couple of vintages that have one or the other with a smattering of the opposite, but I'd want a good variety of both. I'll have to think about it... hmm... You need to ...