For The Love Of Port

First of all, thanks very much for sharing your knowledge and experiences with us on the FTLOP forum! [notworthy.gif] I would like to know what your opinion and/or experience is on the 2005 Vintage (not a declared vintage, but there have been quite some SQ VP released). Have you had the opportunity ...

Your book, Port and the Douro (2nd edition), was the first book I ever read about Port. It was one of the reasons I got hooked on this little hobby that we all love. Thank you for such an informative and enjoyable read! My question for you is a relatively simple one: which Ports from the 2007 vintag...

Dear Derek, I was very lucky as a teenager to spend a few months travelling round Portugal by bus. Outside the big cities (Lisbon and Oporto) which had grown hugely with mass migration from the countryside from the 1960s onwards, Portugal was a different world. The countryside was very inaccessible,...

Dear Marc, Single Quinta Ports have been growing in number since the late 1970s. As I see it there are two main reasons for this. Firstly Port production is much improved and wines of potential vintage quality are being produced by the shippers nearly every year (2002 and 1993 being the most recent ...

Dear Frederick, Thank you for your pertinent questions. I have partly answered them in response to a number of other enquirers above. I think consolidation was very necessary in the Port industry and was largely brought about by the fact that the multinational companies (who came to the rescue of th...

Luc, 2007 is like no other vintage that I have tasted at this stage (and I go back to 1983). Most Vintage Port is the product of a hot year and 2007 was relatively cool, redeemed only by a fantastic September / October when the weather usually breaks. By no means all the wines are great or even good...

Dear Moses, I think Port consumption will have fallen in 20 - 30 years time but I can't say by how much. The large European markets (France, Belgium, Holland etc.) are unsustainable over the medium to long term. Prices will have to rise and that favour premium wines than producers. Less but better! ...

Dear Derek, Good to see another Derbyshire Port fan posting a question via Seattle (we live 30 minutes away from each other). Thank you for your question. It is not as easy as it sounds. There have been so many changes since I first beacame interested in Port and the Douro valley (1980) that it is d...

Thank you Roy. I feel very honoured to be your first guest on the forum. I will be checking in every day this week to answer questions. Please field anything you like and I will try and answer as soon as I can. It will give me a great deal of pleasure to look back at my tasting notes which go back 2...