For The Love Of Port

Bill Koch was in his mid-70s when he realised that he would not be able to enjoy all of the wines in his cellar. As readers will recall, 20,000 bottles were sold through Sotheby's in 2016, with Mr. Koch retaining a mere 23,000 bottles for himself. How much port formed part of the reduced collection ...

Roy Hersh wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 12:16 am Prior to my 1940 in 2017, I actually had the 1934 by Casa do Douro

Was it any good?

Older Niepoort colheitas are far and away the most sought after wood-aged ports; correspondingly, they command significant prices on the resale market from both connoisseurs and monied laymen. The substantial premiums paid for Niepoort colheitas reflect their consistently high quality as well as ext...

The demarcated region of the Douro encompasses approximately 35,000 quintas distributed over 43,000 hectares, with the average holding being less than one hectare in size. Such archaic land-distribution arrangements stem from Portuguese inheritance law, which requires estates to be divided equally b...

Andy Velebil wrote: ↑Tue Mar 31, 2020 6:38 am With some exceptions, I also am not a fan of most dry white tawny's. They generally just seem to lack the depth of other aged whites.

Why do you reckon this is the case?

Thanks, gents, for the comments, for which I am most grateful. Since the tasting, way back in November, I have wondered more than once whether I was doing justice to the “dry” whites. To be honest, Her Ladyship and I were uncertain what “dry” white ports were supposed to taste like; we could not rec...

The context for this tasting note can be found here: https://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42645 This was the first Heritage port consumed at the sitting. __________ Heritage produces 10, 20, 30 and 40 year old “dry” white ports as well as the same line-up of wood-aged,...

The context for this tasting note can be found here: https://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42645 This was the second Heritage port consumed at the sitting. __________ I have had uneven luck with thirty-year-old whites over the last nine months; examples from Quevedo, Qu...

The context for this tasting note can be found here: https://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42645 This was the third Heritage port consumed at the sitting. __________ The pursuit of fine port is an exercise in never-ending optimism; whilst most bottles disappoint, once a...

The context for this tasting note can be found here: https://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42645 This was the fourth Heritage port consumed at the sitting. __________ Heritage 20 Year Old Tawny Port, bottled in 2018, was the first of three Heritage tawnies to be tasted;...

The context for this tasting note can be found here: https://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42645 This was the fifth Heritage port consumed at the sitting. __________ I have referred elsewhere to my insecurity when it comes to tasting thirty-year-old tawny and white port...

The context for this tasting note can be found here: https://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42645 This was the sixth and final Heritage port consumed at the sitting. __________ The best of the Heritage wines tasted on the day was far and away the Heritage 40 Year Old Taw...

I loathe social media: Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and all the rest. This fact might be explained by several considerations, aside from the fact that I am in gainful work. I refuse, for instance, to accept that anything approaching a cogent idea might be expressed in the 280 characters wh...

Last month in Portugal: EUR 80, purchased privately. Granted, that was a low-end price; more typically, it would be +/- EUR 120. There is quite a bit of it around on the Portuguese secondary market.

Insignia 40 Year Old Tawny Port is produced by Vallegre Port and Douro Wines, which readers of the For the Love of Port forum, and indeed other connoisseurs, will know as the producer (under the Vista Alegre label) of quality tawnies with an indication of age. The immediate question is whether the c...

Produced by Meyer Family Cellars in Yorkville, California, this fortified wine is made (according to the technical sheet) in accordance with a variation on the solera. Evidently, some twenty vintages go into each bottle, making for an age of fifteen years “on average”, with an “age at release” of ni...

From a 50cl bottle filled in 2005, this barrel-aged port presented itself as brown and opaque in the glass with a touch of green on the rim. Brown sugar, molasses and walnut were all evident to the nose, along with hints of white pepper and plum. It will be added that there was a certain youthfulnes...

Portugal is largely shut down, pursuant to the state of emergency enacted during the week. One can venture out of the home to purchase pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs, as well as for a walk and to pursue individual sporting activities (e.g., jogging); and, quite obviously, those who cannot work from ...

I concur with Rune - the '99 Kranemann colheita is fantastic, not least at the price. I spent a day at the property in September, touring the facilities, tasting various port as well as still wines and whatnot. At the conclusion of the day, I carted away a few boxes of still and fortified wines, mos...

85 Borges VP. I purchased a case for a song, thinking 'how bad could it be?' The answer? Consistently grim. I eventually came to the conclusion that the entire case had been cooked. Building upon my initial error of judgement, I went out and bought another bottle in order to test the 'cooked' theory...