Dec. 2015: Your best Port tasted this year?

[Lindsay E.]

I hope by listing my #1 for the year BEFORE the year ends, I'll jinx myself and actually taste a better port sometime in the next 11 days.

Barring that miracle, my #1 for the year was a 1955 Graham VP. Runner up was a Sandeman 40yr tawny, and in 3rd was the 1992 Quevedo tawny that Glenn was kind enough to introduce me to over the summer.

-Lindsay

[Rune EG]

For tawnies/colheitas it is the same as last year:
Mourao (S. Leonardo) 60 years old

For vintage ports:
Old: 1948 Taylor
Young: 2011 Alves de Sousa

For white:
Quinta das Lamelas 40+ years white

[Roy Hersh]

What, is everyone out Christmas shopping? Or is everyone waiting to see what they drink for Christmas and New Years in hopes it will top the other 11.75 months of the year?


Rune,

Nice list. Glad you took the bait and followed me down the 2011 Alves de Sousa VP path. What did you think of it?

[Rune EG]

Hi Roy!
Regarding the 2011 Alves de Sousa vintage port it is fantastic.
It can be consumed now (I prefer 9-10 hrs decanting) and also I think it will age well.
First bottle was given 96 pts and later bottles 97 pts. which I think is the highest score for me for VPs.
Bottles are very consistant in quality.

Have managed to find quite a few bottles, and we are actually going to have two of them tonight after dinner as all of our family will be gathered here for three days starting today.
Our kids and partners have all found interest in port wine. However they seem to lean towards the tawny/colheita side.
So for Christmas each couple will get two btls of the 2011 Alves de Sousa VP in order for them to build up a more balanced port cellar.

[Roy Hersh]

Very nice and generous gifts.

Having known you for at least a half decade now, for a Vintage Ports, I've never seen you even close to 97 points before. So that is huge and the same score I gave it when trying it as a cask sample. That just nearly never happens, that our scores are the same. I hope you and Emmy and your kids and their partners, have a most wonderful Christmas celebration!

[Al B.]

It's close enough to the end of 2015 that I'm unlikely to drink another bottle of port this year. I was lucky enough to be at some pretty great port based events this year and gave 98 points to four separate bottles on three separate occasions. Those noteworthy bottles were:
Quinta do Mourao 60 year old tawny (stop looking smug Glenn! )
Croft 1945 and Fonseca 1945 both drunk at a 1945 Horizontal
Graham 1945 drunk at a dinner with friends in London late last month

What a wonderful wine year 2015 was.

[Edward J]

What a fun time starting to learn about all these great wines! I managed to hit a home run over Christmas and saved the best for last

1964 Krohn Colheita Branco, everyone loved this.
1970 Dow Vintage Port, everything a young, mature port should be.

[Aaron B.]

For me, 1995 Krohn Colheita was a surprise to me, as my first Colheita. I think I'm convinced =D

But my favorite, the 40 year S. Leonardo. Probably would be the 60, but I could only afford the 1 bottle so I'm saving that for a bit until I have 3 or 4 really good friends who will really enjoy it.

[Allan Engelsted Laurents]

My New Year's port took the price, as the Best port consumed in 2015, AND is now on top of my All-time Portlist.

The Niepoort Colheita 1900 bottled in 1972.
I am not good at describing ports, But the Nose was the most komplex I've ever experienced.

Wowfactor was lid....
My thoughts and thanks goes to Eduard Van der Niepoort, Dirks grandfather, for producing this fantastic liquid happiness, and to Rolf for bottling it....

[John Trombley]

This should be put on the TN forum, which I'll attempt to do. This is the most recent classic port this year; but the 2009 Taylor exceeds it by far. Do I need to post a Taylor 2009 tasting note too?

12/17/2015 rated 95 points: 2005 Croft Vintage Porto Quinta da Roeda, 20 pabv, Quinta and Vineyard Bottlers Vinhos SA, Vila Nova de Gaia, Kobrand, New York, Arbutus inedo (Strawberry Tree) labeling. Cork finished, ciean sided when removed with Durand double spiral-clamp. Undecanted; quick-falling tears.

Colors beginning to soften and fade, call it out to 10 mm. Thick-textured and teary. Nose comes on with sweet orange and sweet cherry, an interesting blend. Underneath there is anise and a hint of savory tomato and pepper broth and a still-energetic background. with some high tones still lurking there. Palate expresses all this very well. The previous greenness has now melted into mint julep with no hard edges at all. Still lots of fruit to concoct and more to look forward to. There's lots of sweet vanilla in the finish mixed with thyme and tobacco, and the previous sight hardness has now become the merest hint of heat, with a tannic presence coming out at last in the wash. All in all, I've hit this a little too early, treating it at $32 like a LBV, which is sort of a no-no in my books, but there are still 3 left, probably giving best results if not drunk up before 10 more years. After aill, that's their 20th birthday, so need to save one for 2025, if I'm still here and able to enjoy. 94/100.

After about 14 days in a decanter, the appearance is the same. There is a tarry cherry juice and mint nose, very lovely, with tobacco smoke and with a note of vanillin oak underlying. It has come together with a more harmonious texture and savory finish, and a mouthful of ripe tannins needing some resolution yet. The powdered-sugar palate on this is very nice. This wine has a definite upside, and it's being drunk way too early. Needs a minimum of 10 more years to peak, and plenty of time from then on. 95/100

Here is the 2009, which may have seduced me by being sooo good as a young wine. Whether it will rate the 99-point score (my highest score, don't give 100s) only time will tell. But it's an emotionally gripping wine, and others who have tasted it found it a life-changing experience.

2009 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port

Postby John Trombley [This user is an FTLOP Subscriber] » 10 Aug 2013 20:42 Tasting Date: August 10, 2013
Erom Eric Jerardi, Little Store Dayton, OH, Heidelberg Importers and Wholesalers, Cleveland, OH, 20.5 % abv.

2 mm edge, basically opaque prune color, with an almost grainy optical texture; very full sheeting and thick legs. Comes across very shy at first but with a little work begins to yield itself up. First notes are clearly thyme, gentle graphite, and mint, earthy baked biscotti scents. Rich bacon fat, leather, and violet scents appear over a most unusual and lovely earth-laden minerality and the scent of an old unused brick fireplace, if that makes sense. There's something about this wine that reminds me of an old wooden schoolhouse building, too.

This is one of those wines whose fruit is so intense that it coats the tannin and hides it. Very, very grapy in the best sense, and having a gentle sweet-plum note, with an impression of sea salt; a huge but highly disciplined wine. It has that cotton-candy Taylor sweetness, even though it's not very sweet, that's so reliable in most fine Taylor Vintage Ports. Much of the subtlety on the nose is translated into the palate impression, and its remarkable sensory integration really cries out 'very old vines'. Like to know if a Velha Vinha was made this year, truly. This facet can be found in recent great Taylors (like the 2000, to pick a for instance), but it seems to have reached an apotheosis here. Only after quite a few swallows does the guts, energy, and punchy tannin begin to show itself, and a sweet and lovely sailing anise note sings out as a top-note.

This wine will undoubtedly outlive those who began their careers or saw the birth of a new baby in 2009. It is a compete Taylor and meets with a well-deserved 99 points, my highest score. I agree that it's on a different pole from the 2000, but both are very long-lived, potentially. 99/100. May be drunk very young but it's a shame not to give it another 12 years at minimum. Drink now-2020 and onward.

[Roy Hersh]

Better late than never:

Quinta do Mourao "60" which I had on 3 occasions on successive weekends in November. It definitely took the prize this year in the Tawny category and possibly overall.

However by ratings of Vintage Ports I have a tie for 1948 Fonseca, 1931 Noval and 1945 Croft. I gave this weeks of thought and can't pick a favorite as all 3 showed in top form and any of those would be fine to sip on my death bed in a few decades.

[Allan Engelsted Laurents]

However by ratings of Vintage Ports I have a tie for 1948 Fonseca, 1931 Noval and 1945 Croft. I gave this weeks of thought and can't pick a favorite as all 3 showed in top form and any of those would be fine to sip on my death bed in a few decades.

Roy, I wish You a looong great life. My Portmentor died at the age of 94, and just weeks before his passing, he had both A Niepoort 1955 and and old VV using a straw.....