What have you opened this week?

[Mike J. W.]

1983 Calem Colheita bottled 2013. Meh. 88 points. 24 hours in the decanter and it still seems a little disjointed.

[Tom Archer]

1997 Dow

After sticking to the minimum drinking age for VP at home I first set over a decade ago, this is the first '97 I've opened at home since 2008.

Good Dow 'dour' signature, although much spicier than Dow's of old. Not fully mature, but not excessively immature either; so for those who prefer the younger stuff, this could be current drinking. However for my taste, this looks like a wine to major on between year 40 and 50.

A classic Dow or an also ran? Neither is my impression. A sound, middle of the road VP. Score 5-7

[Thomas V]

2018 Pintas VP

Great idea: did you like it? I'm a great fan of Sandra Tavares and Jorge Serodio Borges and love their wines and ports !!

I have tasted quite a few 2018 early in 2020 (Graham's, Warre's, Dow's, Vesuvio, Bulas, Viera de Sousa and Fonseca) but this bottle was bought for 2 reasons. We had friends over where the husband is also into wine and he loves a good ruby port. Especially young. The second reason being I haven't before had Pintas (I think I might have once tried the Wine and Soul 10YO).

I tasted / drank it over 6 hours and it had good concentration of fruit with a lot of blackberries. The tannins gave a good structure and it presented it self with nice aromas. It is still an infant and you can clearly distinguish the aguardente from the juice at this point. My only gripe with this port was that the aftertaste wasn't as long and complex as I had hoped for. (Not up to Graham's / Warre's level from the vintage). All in all a very well made port that drinks very nicely now and for sure will improve and drink well the next 15-20 years. 91 points

[Paul C. Metman]

2018 Pintas VP

Great idea: did you like it? I'm a great fan of Sandra Tavares and Jorge Serodio Borges and love their wines and ports !!

I have tasted quite a few 2018 early in 2020 (Graham's, Warre's, Dow's, Vesuvio, Bulas, Viera de Sousa and Fonseca) but this bottle was bought for 2 reasons. We had friends over where the husband is also into wine and he loves a good ruby port. Especially young. The second reason being I haven't before had Pintas (I think I might have once tried the Wine and Soul 10YO).

I tasted / drank it over 6 hours and it had good concentration of fruit with a lot of blackberries. The tannins gave a good structure and it presented it self with nice aromas. It is still an infant and you can clearly distinguish the aguardente from the juice at this point. My only gripe with this port was that the aftertaste wasn't as long and complex as I had hoped for. (Not up to Graham's / Warre's level from the vintage). All in all a very well made port that drinks very nicely now and for sure will improve and drink well the next 15-20 years. 91 points

Thanks Thomas for your review, much appreciated! In 2019 we visited Sandra Tavares at Vale de Mendiz and she offered her 2017 VP to tast from the barrel: we were blown away by it! I have bottles of all her VP's from 2009 onwards and have never been disappointed ( yes, I tasted/drank most of them young but I like that ).

[Andy Velebil]

another bottle of Smith Woodhouse 20 year old tawny. My new summer "house" tawny this year. It's a little slow out of the gate, but picks up a lot of steam on day two and following days.

[John M.]

another bottle of Smith Woodhouse 20 year old tawny. My new summer "house" tawny this year. It's a little slow out of the gate, but picks up a lot of steam on day two and following days.

I know I had their 10 years ago--not memorable. Never seen the 20---will have to search it out. I do love their LBVs and VPs...the 95 LBV is really good.

[David Spriggs]

1976 Krohn Colheita

[Glenn E.]

1985 Smith Woodhouse

[John M.]

2015 Dows LBV
Fonseca 10 Year Tawny

Both after dinner with friends who never had Port before. Both were perfect intros. The Dows was a fruitbomb with that classic Dows dry finish--pucker up! It also evolved quite a bit over the two hours which was also fun for all. The Fonseca 10 was awfully solid--and was preferred by all but me. Both are solid casual sippers.

[Moses Botbol]

1966 Croft Vintage.

[Glenn E.]

NV Brunheda 40+ Years Old Tawny Port, bottled in either 2018 or 2019. This seemed much better than the older bottlings (i.e. "Simples not for sale") and received an average of 96.5 points from those present.

[Tom Archer]

Warre '83

When the '75 vintage approached its 40th year, a very underwhelming vintage started to blossom. In 2015, tastings of the '85 @30 and '75 @40 took place in fairly close succession in London, and there was universal agreement that the '75s won the contest.

Now that the '83s are closing on their 40th, I am suspecting from this wine that a rather light and unremarkable vintage may be finding some similar gravitas.

This bottle is very similar, both in colour and class, to the W77 - not a superstar, but very sound. Score 7-7

[Eric Menchen]

S. Leonardo 30 TWIOA.

[Mike J. W.]

1994 Croft - Very dark purple. It has the color of liquid grape jelly. After a 10 hour decant it still seemed discombobulated. 36 hours on and it started to settle down and mesh...somewhat. Right now I think it's an okay Port but it needs another 3 to 5 years to settle in.

[Jasper A.]

some young port :)

[John M.]

2002 Warres LBV....just starting to show its aging but still mostly dark. Warres LBVs are so good they are like a SQVP.

[Tom Archer]

Warres LBVs are so good they are like a SQVP

Whisper that quietly or you'll give the Sym's ideas..

The distribution strategy of the Warre LBVs remains mysterious. I'm not sure if we ever saw the 2002 in the UK - it may have appeared fleetingly, but the other years appeared steadily, one after another, until we suddenly jumped from 2004 to 2007. Then the US had 2002 and 2008 on offer for some time before 2008 finally arrived in the UK.

Was there no 2005 LBV? - or is it being held back for late release? I can understand 2006 being a possible pass, although they made 2002; but 2005 was declared by a good few houses, so a potential top LBV offering from Warre..

[Moses Botbol]

I don't know about sales numbers, but it seems like Warre LBV's are the most popular or well known in the States for LBV. Dow in 2nd place.

[Andy Velebil]

Cockburn's White Port. Add some tonic and fresh mint from my garden and

[Mike J. W.]

Barao de Vilar 10 y.o. white bottled in 2018. 500 ml bottle. I came across this in a Portuguese supermarket up near Newark. The first day it was a little simple but with 24 hours of air, it's pretty good for a 10 y.o. white. Less than $17 a bottle so I'm going to buy a few more and lay them down for a couple of years.