Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[Andy Velebil]

Filipe,
and thanks for the introduction. Have you meet any of us 'ers recently at the Lodge?

Hi again,

This year when you guys visited I was not working that day. Last year, I remember Roy visiting with a group, but I was just starting, so I just heard about the visit of the FTLOP group. I remember my colleagues saying: "for those guys, we open all the doors they want here at the lodge!"...

That's because they tried to lock us out one day and we kicked the doors down so it was cheaper to just let us in

Hopefully I'll get to meet you in person on one of my next visits.

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Filipe and welcome to . It is so nice to have you join us and I am sure our paths will cross on one of our many visits to see the Symington's in Gaia and up river at many of their quintas too.

It is always great to have people from Portugal join us and also to have someone who works for a Port company. Many just come to read here and we are pleased that you are willing to let us know who you are. I am sure you'll get to meet a bunch of us over the years you work for Graham's.

Melhores cumprimentos,

Roy

[R Bull]

Hello everyone. My name is Bob and I recently registered. I am in Tulsa, OK -- transplanted from Chicago. While initially a pure red wine guy, the past 8 years of so I have really developed a love and appreciation for port.

This is a great forum and I look forward to forging some friendships and a further appreciation of all that port has to offer.

[Roy Hersh]

to Bob!

I am sure at some point you will be joining us for one of our tastings and hopefully you will even find some in your own area. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you like in the other parts of the forum. I think you will enjoy it here and we are always here to provide any kind of assistance that we can.

Sincerely,

Roy

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the introduction and

[Mads Barnkob]

Hello everyone!

My name is Mads, I live in Denmark and are a modest 32 years old and have been collecting vintage Madeira and port since visiting Madeira in 2012 and Porto in 2013.

I have a small collection (8) of vintage Bual madeiras and a larger (70) collection of vintage ports. I had to start collecting port as vintage madeira is very hard to get if not buying directly from the island, primarily I had to get it from Germany. Port is somewhat easier to find in Denmark and at a lower price tag :)

I have a small basement which makes for half a wine cellar and the other half is a high voltage laboratory where I build and test various dangerous apparatuses to make lightning :) See the link in my signature for further details.

I planned to start my collection early at age 30 in order to have a large collection in my cellar for when I am old enough to leave the job market, sit back, relax and drink up a cellar of expensive wine.

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Mads,
Welcome to the Forum and thanks for the introduction!

[Peter Handel]

Hi everyone, thought I'd introduce myself after a few exciting threads came around ("1311 bottle port cellar for sale", etc.).

I've been into wine for as long as I could remember (I loved the culture around it!), but didn't start buying and drinking wines until I turned 21. I started taking ridiculous notes on everything I tried, but the wines weren't that great until I moved out here to CA in 2000.

Now, I'm 37, and happily married with 3 young kids (5.5yo, 2.5, and .5). Things that are important to me: Faith, sports (ultimate frisbee, water polo), family, wine, and technology. I get to pour wines at a local winery (Picchetti) every once in a while, which is really a blast, because the people at the winery are great, and the wine is surprisingly high quality (then again, they are just down the road from Ridge, so it shouldn't be a surprise!).

My favorite wines (aside from Port) are Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Sauternes, and Champagne.

Regarding port wines, I remember my first exposure was with Meyer Family Port (purchased from Silver Oak Winery) - wonderful! Other early standouts were Del Dotto's Chardotto and Sandeman's Vau Vintage 1997. I've really fallen for LBV's in the last few years, and look forward to getting into VPs as the budget allows.

[Andy Velebil]

Peter,
Thanks for the intro and to the Forum

[Eric Menchen]

I haven't caught up on this thread in a while, so let me now take the opportunity to welcome

• Filipe - Nice to see someone in the business around here. I hope we can meet some time.
• Bob - Welcome to the Port vacuum of middle America. Maybe we can split a case or two from auction.
• Mads - Neat stuff there in the lab. BTW, I'm in a local wine group with someone from Denmark that lives here in Colorado much of the year.
• Peter - And perhaps we'll meet at a tasting. I've been to a couple in LA, and my company HQ is in San Jose.

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Mads,

Loved the intro and especially your attempt to be the next Luigi Galvani, Alessandro Volta or Benjamin Franklin!

I am glad you like both Port & Madeira and maybe some day, you'll join us on a Fortification Tour in which we visit both during the same week.

Anyway, sorry I missed you on my recent and first trip to Denmark. I was involved in a bunch of different Port events in and around Copenhagen and then Odense, with the board and members of The Vintage Port Club. Additionally, I was shown the area outside of Copenhagen where the importers have their wine warehouses and was pretty amazed at how much Port filters through your country. Astounded is a better word. Some phenomenal prices on Quinta do Portal, as you likely have found already, as these are not seen anywhere else in the world that I am aware of. Others too. Plus the passion is quite high there with several Port clubs and some extraordinary, very serious collectors with very deep cellars.

In my spare time and at seemingly the last minute, I was asked to I hold a Port seminar and tasting in Copenhagen, which sold out quickly and I couldn't believe the depth and quantity of questions I was asked. We had a bunch of fine Ports and I will be writing about another tasting in Odense, in newsletter #84. I've been invited back and am just considering when I can make that a reality. It would be a distinct pleasure to meet you upon my next visit there.

Take good care and nice to have you join us here!

Sincerely,

Roy

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for the introduction. That will help in the other thread you started, that is for sure.

While that may not have been the greatest welcome, you may have at least seen how the members of this community look out for one another and are willing to share too. It is much friendlier than that thread would suggest. I think you will find that this intro will go a long way to providing you a fun place to share your passion for Port and join us in many of the W. coast tastings that are held in CA and WA and CO.

I look forward to reading more of your posts and have you continue to share your Port passion here, for many years to come!




Best regards,

Roy

[David Co]

Greetings and salutations,
I have been a long time lurker but registered today. Meet Roy about 8-10 years ago at a NYC offline. Am a poster on the theportforum.com as well and have done numerous offlines with the tasting mats with those guys (even have my tpf cufflings). Have met a few posters from here over the years as well. I went apeshi$ crazy over the 2011 vintage as 1) my son was born in 2011 2) it from all accounts appears to be a stellar vintage and 3) I read the writing on the wall about Portuguese wines being the new hot wine region and figured better to get in early than late. I purchased more bottles of 2011 vintage port than I will ever admit too or that I could ever consume so my son better like the stuff. My non fortified wine tastes are all over the map as my tastes seem to change with the passing season(s) and year(s) but for a long time I have been tried and true with my vintage ports. I do not drink all that much tawny/ruby or lbv as I bottle of port will last me around 4-5 days if no one elses drinks it (wife doesnt drink) so I almost always have a bottle or two open ready to go. I enjoy using my port tongs and my champagne saber. am in a blind tasting club here on long island and am a nerd by trade.

PS my typing sucks so I apologize in advance

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Dave,
to FLTOP!

(p.s. sent you an email)

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Dave,

Until we see your last name, I am not sure who you are, but nice to know we met a bunch of years ago. I hope you will find the community welcoming and worthy of your time and effort. Take good care and maybe our paths will cross at one of the many tasting events held around the USA.

[Jasper A.]

Hey i like to introduce myself, since it was suggested.

My name isJasper and I am 29 years old and live in Enschede the Netherlands. I fell in love with Port a few years ago, since then i am hooked.
Together with a friend of mine, we decided to open a webshop specialized in Port. It is a hobby, but is growing fast, the URL is http://www.vinhodoporto.nl (Dutch only). So I don’t have a big private collection, but the one of the Shop is pretty big now. We have some bottles of Fonseca 1994 vintage port and 40 year old Grahams for example.
I like to know more and more about Port and discuss about it here on the forum!

Cheers

[Andy Velebil]

Hey i like to introduce myself, since it was suggested.

My name isJasper and I am 29 years old and live in Enschede the Netherlands. I fell in love with Port a few years ago, since then i am hooked.
Together with a friend of mine, we decided to open a webshop specialized in Port. It is a hobby, but is growing fast, the URL is http://www.vinhodoporto.nl (Dutch only). So I don’t have a big private collection, but the one of the Shop is pretty big now. We have some bottles of Fonseca 1994 vintage port and 40 year old Grahams for example.
I like to know more and more about Port and discuss about it here on the forum!

Cheers

Hi Jasper to the Forum and thanks for the introduction.

[Roy Hersh]

I was looking at this thread the other day and thinking that in the past nine and a half years, I never remember there being a full two month gap between introductions in this particular thread. So that leads me to say ...

Thank you, Jasper. And welcome to FTLOP. It is nice to read your story and I hope you will continue to come back and share some of your experiences with us. We've had lots of people from The Netherlands join us over the years and look forward to hear more about your new venture and wine shop selling Port wine.

Feel free to ask questions and don't be shy if they seem like beginner questions (or not) as we are happy to help in any way we can!


Sincerely,

Roy

[Michelle L]

Very VERY late returning to this thread, but Roy, rereading the post from when I first joined, you highly recommended the 2007 Fonseca LBV. I didn't know where to get it at the time, and never did anything about it....
Serendipitously, in October this year my sister and I were wandering Alphabet City in search of Belgian waffles, and Discovery Wines was right across from the waffle shop on Avenue B. We popped in to get a bottle of something for dinner, and while I was there I browsed the ports (as I usually do, to very little avail most times)... Not too much selection, but oh, here's an LBV for $24, that's reasonable, and it's Fonseca, I've never had that before, let's give this a try!
Took it home, cracked it open, LOVED it. Sent my husband back to the store to schlep home 3 more bottles.
Guess what! It's the 2007 Fonseca LBV! You were RIGHT, it is fantastic!
Now I'm wondering if it's worth spending $95 to go back and get that '85 Fonseca VP that we were wrongly steered on... it's still there, the last time we looked 3 weeks ago....

[Roy Hersh]

Michelle,

Great story, thanks!

Yes, run ... don't walk and grab that 1985 Fonseca and decant the sediment out and let the wine breathe in the open decanter for 8-12 hours. You are going to see the difference between a great LBV and a mind-blowing Vintage Port; both by Fonseca in this case.

Ever want to try GREAT pancakes in your area: Clinton St. Baking Co. on Clinton, just off the corner of Houston.