For The Love Of Port

It's expensive because it seems pretty rare It's only rare because the sales guy got carried away and sold it off cheap to the French, leaving the quinta with just 18 bottles. That scarcity then morphed into the idea that it was very special, but I've had it twice and was not impressed. The first b...

I've been buying LBV recently - a dozen Niepoort 2016

- Where have the years gone? 2016 LBVs already....

Quick tally: I currently have 140 magnums of vintage port, the oldest being an 1897 Graham.

I've not got a note on the Hooper '85, but the minor players of that vintage have a very poor track record..

Croft 66

A light wine for a '66, but quite pleasant nonetheless. Score 6-5

1963 Dow

Like other 63's finding a serene plateau now. Am I imagining it, or does the aroma strengthen when a VP reaches this stage?

Anyway, a lovely indulgent quaff - score 9-9

'77 Warre's. W77 remains the most frequently seen VP on the UK auction circuit. My general impression is of a good but not stellar VP, nothing particularly stands out about it. As to maturity, when I opened a couple of magnums for my birthday in 2017, I noted that they were way too young - my note ...

Yet more firewood - this time containing a dozen Warre 2008 LBV - my first purchase this year. Aside from burning them, there's nothing you can do with those open fronted wooden presentation boxes once you've taken the bottle out. It seems a terrible waste, not to mention an expense I'd rather save....

Croft 91 LBV

When did Croft LBVs go unfiltered? This one has just a pinch of gritty sediment, so clearly got the full treatment. Despite that, is in reasonably good order.

Oh to pay $13 for a 1977 Got me looking to see the least I've ever paid for a '77.. An odd Dalva was once bought for £10 in 2007, and in 2006 an eight bottle stash of Offley cost me £13.35 each. Anyway.. Calem '94 First VP of the year. OK, but very young, a bit closed, and not a huge amount of body...

Weird in every respect - the asymmetric bottle shape with it's drip stop flared neck, a tapered cork and a paper thin wax capsule that is prone to cracking and curling (I've re-waxed most of mine)

Whoever designed that was re-inventing the wheel..

the little plastic thing that protects the bottle from scraping on my metal racking I gave up on those in very short order - if you neatly wrap the horizontal metal bar on the rack with a small piece of 2" wide silver duct tape (sometimes marketed as 'Duck' tape) the bottle is protected from s...

I have a stash of these, but haven't opened one for nearly ten years now. Mine were bottled in 1973.

The bottling date is normally in the middle of the label in small black text over the brown label, so easy to miss.

I love how Tom has to add this caveat because he also drinks a bit of Port with others!

There's also the non-vintage port I drink at home..

In total, I've consumed about eight dozen bottles of port this year.

I am on course to drink exactly 48 bottles of VP at home for the 10th year running. Two bottles now left for this year - a Niepoort '78 which I'm going to decant this evening, leaving just a Cockburn '60 to finish the year off.

I’ve had it 6 times over the past year. It’s not getting better. Drink now.

I try to avoid re-visiting the same VP more than once a year, to maintain diversity..

1977 Delaforce VP. It’s, uh, pleasant. Past it’s best, drink up if you own them. I've had this six times over the past twelve years - the early notes are poor, but the trend has been upward. My last note from April '17 reads 'light and slightly sweet - very fine drinking' It's dotage looks much bet...

I also opened a 1986 Dow's Quinta d. Bomfim VP. Very lovely and elegant

'86 is a light but very clean vintage, which gives it away to a degree. '87 is much beefier and the '88's all have a very distinctive, and not very attractive earthiness on the palate.

1980 Warre

Not quite fully mature yet, but a lot closer than it was five years ago. It's a strong player, as are all the Symington 80's - but a bit thin on the ground compared to adjacent vintages. Score 7-8

Harveys 1954

Believed to be a Malvedos wine - lovely juice, but absurdly young and immature - would easily pass as a '94!

Score 8-9

Marking the rest of the stash as code R : Reserve stock..