For The Love Of Port

Hence my suggestion (hope) that a solar vs. vintage be part of the proposed Seattle get-together.

"Depending on the relative humidity of the cellars, wine may either increase or decrease in alcoholic strength (Guymon and Crowell, 1977). High relative humidity suppresses water evaporation, but has no influence on alcohol loss. Consequently, the alcoholic strength of wine decreases in humid c...

I've checked the numbers - the calculation is accurate (whether or not the proposition holds).
At 3% after 100 years 4.76% remains
At 2% after 100 years 13.26% remains
At 1% after 100 years 36.6% remains (after 200 years 13.4% so the Pater would still exist!).

I believe that we were told on the Harvest Tour in 2014 that evaporation drops to 1% or even lower after 30-35 years. Clearly it cannot continue at a rate that extinguishes the remaining liquid (or we wouldn't have ancient madeiras - from barrel anyway). However, the 'knowledge' that it reduces to ...

That article is VERY thought-provoking. I need to check the calculations that essentially imply that after 100 years in cask with 3% evaporation, less than 5% of the original volume would remain, thus implying that almost every barrel would have to be topped up. Incidentally, I have been fortunate e...

This still doesn't really answer the question of why the term Colheita was used on these specific bottles; most madeiras use the year without any qualification - so why use the term Colheita unless it implied something 'different' from any 'usual' bottling. Total speculation, but I subsequently got ...

1843 Vinho da Madeira
1917 Bual, Barbeito
1918 Verdelho, Barbeito
1928 Seco Colheita, A Isidro Gonsalves
1959 Malmsey
late 19C Vinho Velho Madeira

All single bottles (and 5 of the 6 went for my absentee bidder maximum bid).

1865 Old Verdelho Solera - Lomelino.
Perfectly exhibited how soleras can sometimes be fresher and more vibrant than the equivalent vintage wine.

Our group(s) in Toronto have tried different formats, and although a tasting of 16 (or more) madeiras seems interesting, we've switched to a format of about half that with a break (often including a meal). Some of us (!) find tasting 16 madeiras in a row more of an ordeal (that's a bottle each overa...

There are several similarities to mine. The LHS looks 'close' but the RHS isn't as clear - maybe they were 'hand-stamped' and there was a slight twist on mine. But I'd like to see the back label of the Cossart Gordon 'bottling'. The reference books definitely imply a different bottling (as opposed t...

Thanks Andreas, Indeed there is a stamped selo - it's the rectangle with rounded corners, although the inscription is hard to decipher (my magnifying glass is still 'missing in transit' since I moved) although the red-brown wax is totally intact. I was just trying to eliminate responses that describ...

Thanks Eric,

Based on the first tasting, the question was aimed particularly at drier styles, so the d'Oliveiras suggestion is very helpful.

Thanks Roy, I accept 'at face value' that a slower change in temperature is 'probably' more beneficial (in the case of madeira) - but I resist the comparison to pasteurization - I don't see them as akin, in any way. And I have a few other 'questions' (unfortunately no answers) about these processes....

And you too John. My German consumption has slipped of late - I really need to get my cellar reconciled (from the scraps of paper where I recorded the new locations). We just returned from the Baltic countries (overland; Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Moscow + St. Petersburg) - not the grea...

A little late to this discussion - but isn't it 'only' the Madeira Wine Company that uses the canteiro system. If so, the "better articles" may be influenced by the source of their material. Has anybody actually done a comparison (blind or otherwise) of the estufagem vs. canteiro? My 'unde...

For age-dated sercial: 10 and 15 year old Blandy's are on the dry side with astringent finish 10 and 15 year old H&H are very good. They are a little richer than the Blandy's. I recently had the H & H 10 yr-old and it was excellent. In a group of 15 people (tasting 10 yr-old madeiras) 8 of ...

I'm familiar with the 'more recent' definition. However, we're planning on consuming a Colheita that is definitely old (predates the selo). The wine is a stencilled LMR Colheita 1915 - very heavy staining on neck. There is a tasting note on this wine in the files, but no discussion of the term Colhe...

Sorry I haven't written much lately. Moved house (and entire cellar). I've been part of a local madeira tasting group for over 20 years now, and the waiting list has grown so long that we've now started a 'Junior' group to bring people up to speed. At the first meeting (15 people) we tasted the 10-y...

Availability is the more difficult issue for me (as fortunately, our Toronto group has 16 members who share the cost). I gave 100 points to two madeiras: 1891 Boal (from Doña Eugénia Bianchi Henriques) bottled Blandy's - Bottle 21 of 37. (I actually scored this 100+). c1780 Bual - Borges Family Howe...

All 4 bottles have landed safely.
Hope we can resist the temptation - may work as our hotel neglected to provide Riedel glasses and I forgot to pack any as I was so concerned with getting them through security,
See you all soon.

Alan & Catherine