For The Love Of Port

Hopefully Napa producers will start to cooperate and respect denominations more now that they see their house taking fire...

Andy, what would you suggest to put on the label referring to those Ports aging for 10, 20, 30 or 40 years in oak?

I guess that the small beneficio for 2011 will have little impact on the size of any declaration of vintage port that might be made from the year. I'm only speculating, but if I was looking at the economics of making port in a potentially spectacular vintage, I would look to make as much premium (b...

The same for the aguardente Eric, most of the grapes are white. If they use red grapes, in most of the cases, the copper content is going to be higher that what is accepted by the IVDP.

Roy, as you say, in the 1980's and even in the early 90's, most of the differentiation regarding the quality of the grapes was related to the baumé level. It means that higher sugar level grapes were better paid. But in my opinion that is enough, as baumé level is far from absorbing all qualitative ...

Well, cardboard and OWC both come from trees, don't they? I guess the cardboard, however, is a little more indirect and may have more recycled content. Right Eric, both come from wood, but a 6-bottle cardboard box weights 0,2kg while a wood box weights 2kg! In any case, the solution of your local s...

And in the producer point of is also interesting to see what people think about Port in wood / cardboard boxes. We have all our Vintage Port available in wood boxes, but we always ask if the importer wants all the batch in wood cases or if some can go in cardboard, so at least we save some trees. If...

Hi Mahmoud, the grapes grown in the Douro valley are too expensive to use for distillation. As the legislation does not require distillers to use wine from the Douro, they can seek for wine where it is cheaper to make it, whether the wine is made in Portugal, Spain, France or even Italy. As long it ...

It looks like 375ml is getting more and more popular for Port. Not only VP, but also LBV, Colheitas or Tawnies with indication of age. In Scandinavian countries around 30% - 40% of all Port is offered in 375ml. But Derek, I think you're safe in the UK...

It looks like we all have the same constraints, even those who live there and would love to spend more time in the vineyards... Monique, as Portugal is not always about Port and wine, you can try to convince your husband to come by suggesting a visit to Lisbon and few days in the beach. There is a l...

Virtue lies in the middle ground.

Moses points out the biggest challenge for Organic Port: finding organic spirit at a reasonable price to fortify the must. The question is the price of this spirit. The current spirit we use for Port is made from distilled wine which costs under 0.30 or 0.40 euros per litter. In some cases the price...

Jeff, in Portugal wine is not considered luxury, it's part of the meal like bread, potatoes or meat. The VAT class for wine changed, maybe one decade ago, from reduced to intermediate. The VAT for wine is now 13%, which compares with the normal rate of 23%. Portuguese drink over 40 liters of wine, p...

Hi Michael, I've already broken few dozens of bottles. Fortunately, some were empty, as sometimes when I help to remove the cover of the empty bottles pallet few fall over! But I guess broken bottles rate is going to increase as glass companies are trying to avoid price raising by reducing the weigh...

This is a great discussion and I'd never thought about it. I don't have any answer for this, but there is a possibility that seems more likely to me. Shawn has already pointed that out: I suspect most lodges have some white port on hand, if only for blending with light young red port to make a non v...

I have tried the "refreshing" method described by Moses but sometimes this just ends up with more crap wine than you started with. :D is that really a problem Derek? :winebath: More seriously, I've not found anyone happy with these bottles from Casa do Douro. Casa do Douro in the last yea...

Putting aside all other factors and focusing only on the origin of the grapes, it's almost consensual that better grapes come from older vines. On the other hand, the older the vines, the lower the yields. If we want to have extra quality grapes to make the top Port, we will choose grapes from old v...

I'm very happy to see that our wines are finally arriving to our friends' homes! It took a while, but I can finally say that our Ports (and Oscar's wine!) are finally in, at least, 20 American households! [d_training.gif] Gary, I'm sure you don't find it funny, but I laughed like a crazy with your s...

Oscar, I assume you would rather not have rain at this point? or would a little rain be good? I also heard today Quinta do Tedo has also started picking some grapes. Hi Andy, this rain is helping the vineyards where harvest starts in late September. For the grapes we were planing to harvest next Th...

Roy, I'm sure many of your friends Port producers would give you a huge discount for the first orders!!

We are getting closer to the beginning of the harvest. Some producers have already started harvesting white grapes. Red grapes shall start over this week in the dryer and warmers vineyards. The same for us in Mós, somewhere between Vesúvio and Vale Meão. If the weather helps, we will start next Thur...