Thomas V wrote:Your comments about the 1980's are spot on and I share your point of view. I am focussing on building out my collection with bottles from 80, 83 and 85.
Currently I have these
1983 Grahams (2)
1983 Ramos Pinto
1985 Smith Woodhouse (2)
1985 Ferreira
But I want to expand with
1980 Ferreira
1983 Dow's
1983 Gould Campbell (These are hard to find)
1985 Gould Campbell
1985 Warre's (I have tasted this and quite liked it)
1985 Dow's
1985 Fonseca
1985 Grahams (Had 1 that was faulty. Need to give this another shot)
I like the wines from '83 and '85. There are some really good value for money ports from these vintages with great quality at reasonable prices - Smith Woodhouse and Gould Campbell being two of them and I would add Offley 1983 and Martinez 1985 to the buy list. Not easy to find but usually quite cheap when you do.
Thomas V wrote:I like your pointers on the LBV where I really would like to get some Warre, SWC or Crasto. What SQ could you recommend from the eighties?
I would also highly recommend recent LBVs from Quevedo, Noval, Niepoort, Sandeman, Offley and Ferreira. All are very serious ports which represent stunning value for money with virtually no drop in quality from the full vintage port. For SQ from the 1980s I would start with 1987 (Fonseca Guimaraens, Vargellas, Roeda and Tua especially), 1986 (Fonseca Guimaraens, Malvedos, Terra Feita, Vargellas) and 1988 (Fonseca Guimaraens, Quinta da Madalena). The Sandeman 1982 is not SQ (nor is the FG) but it is rather a nice wine in an elegant style.
Thomas V wrote:The stars of the 1994 vintage are really expensive, but it will only get worse. But I need to include the into my collection at some point. Where sooner rather than later will be the least expensive. I have tasted the Grahams (Was really bad, we even opened a second bottle) and the Vesuvio. The Vesuvio was stellar and the best port I have ever tasted 95+ points. I have also taken a liken to the 1997 vintage. I find they peculiar and interesting had the Graham's and Dow's.
I can't argue with the logic, but I might gently question whether you really do need to have the best of the 1994s in your collection. While they are stunningly good, so are quite a few of the lesser known names. Warre 1994, for example, is a beautiful port but sells at a substantial discount to Graham, Taylor, Dow or Vesuvio.
Thomas V wrote:Regarding my tasting preference I am kinda of a limbo at the moment. I really enjoy the 2011 I have tasted, as well at the Vesuvio 2013. I am also really into the 1994 Vesuvio I have had as well as Smith Woodhouse and Warre's 1985. I also was huge on the 2003 and 1997 Graham's. The oldest vintages I have had were a 1970 and a 1977 Graham's. I liked the1970 but I wasn't blown away and some of the others youngsters in my Port Club have been teasing me that I haven't yet learnt to appreciate older vintage ports. I don't think that is the case. I have had plenty developed vintages like the 1985 Warre's & Dow's that I have thoroughly enjoyed. But the circumstances for the Graham tasting was also sub par. The wines were not decanted ahead of time so it was basically a pop n pour when we arrived. So they had gotten like 2 hours of air time when we drank them. Not optimal.
Interesting. It could be that your preferred maturity point is around 30-40 years, in which case your plan to build up a cellar from the 1980s and 1990s supported by more recent wines is a very sound one. Have you worked out yet how many bottles you will need once you reach your optimal cellar size? For example, if you drink one bottle per month and you like to drink 30-40 year old port you will need 12 x 35 = 420 bottles in your cellar and to buy an average of 12 new bottles every year (which could be 36 bottles when there is a declaration). But don't panic - you have 35 years to buy all these! If you buy more than one bottle per month, on average, you are increasing the size of your cellar. And then, of course, you have to figure out where to store all the bottles...
Thomas V wrote:I love Vesuvio. It is my favourit quinta and producer of vintage port. I just immensely enjoy their style and elegance. Thank you for you personal rankings and recommendations.
On my Vesuvio buy list I now have. Let me know if you are going to do a full vertical some time. I would travel to the UK or Porto for that.
I too love Vesuvio's ports. I find they have a wonderful combination of power and finesse. I have no idea though if I would ever be able to spot a Vesuvio port blind!
Thomas V wrote:P.s. General question. Might seem silly. Is Offley Boa Vista a SQ vintage? I don't know why. I just always thought of it as the name of the company, but I realised that is just Offley right?
For many years, most of the grapes which were used to produce Offley ports came from Quinta da Boa Vista so in some years the ports would have qualified to be called a single quinta port if desired. However, the name of the port is "Offley Boa Vista" which is carefully crafted not to represent that this is SQ and therefore allowed Offley to buy in grapes from outside the Quinta. These days the Offley brand is owned by Sogrape and the Quinta by a separate company. I would guess that the Boa Vista branding will be quietly dropped and future ports will be "Offley".