Drink vintage young or leave alone and drink Tawney and LBV

[WJ Evans]

I'm still pretty new to collecting port. Here's rough numbers of what I have by vintage.

2003 - 33
2007 - 26
2009 - 36
2011 - 123
2016 - 161

That's what I have in cellar tracker, but I know I have some that I have stacked up that I haven't put in cellar tracker yet.

I'm obviously much heavier on more recent vintages and the above is probably 85% 375's and 15% 750s.

Should I just hold tight on the vintage port and drink LBVs and ready to drink Tawney's?

If I wanted to buy older ports, that are in their prime to drink, are there any online retailers that can be trusted with the older vintages?

[Frederick Blais]

Enjoy what you want when you feel you want it :)

Nothing wrong about opening a young VP if you enjoy it. LBV will provide less pleasure as it is less intense and pure but offers great QPR. Tawny brings a different style and experience in my opinion.

I used to drink my 375ml in the first 5 years while I hold on the 750ml until they reach their prime.

[Glenn E.]

As Fred said, drink whatever makes you happy! There's no harm in opening a young bottle of Port if that's what you want to drink. Some might argue that the wine would have been better, later, but that's completely subjective.

Do note that 375s will age faster than 750s. None of your bottles are in any danger of getting too old, though - good Port will age gracefully for at least 40 years, and in most cases 60 or more. Great Ports can reach 100 years old! Just to give you a frame of reference, I'm about to participate in a tasting where several Ports from 1970 will be served, and I'm sure there will be much discussion about whether or not the better ones have even reached their peak yet. These Ports are 51 years old and we'll be arguing about whether or not they're even fully mature yet!

If you're going to buy online, right now I recommend Ports from the 1980s. Those are starting to increase in price, but at least currently are still very reasonable given their 40-ish year age. Port is such a sturdy wine that there is less concern about provenance when buying online, but it's still a good idea to use a reputable online retailer. At minimum, a reputable retailer will refund your money (or exchange) if you get a bottle with bad provenance.

[WJ Evans]

Glenn, thanks for the advice (both threads), and good to know that Port is hardier and less affected by questionable provenance.

[Frederick Blais]

Also, do not forget Crusted Port, often referred as Poor Man's Vintage, it offers great quality price ratio and can age beautifully!

[Moses Botbol]

Looks like you are at a good clip already. I would hold them and start buying Tawny, Colheita, or LBV/Crusted. After drinking non-vintage for a bit, open a young vintage and see if you think that's something you want to continue doing.

I do not get much joy out of drinking young vintage port. Seems like cradle robbing to me. I'd rather have a Tawny or Colheita. LBV's need to have at least 10 years for me to be a fan (in general).

20-30 years from now, you'll be kicking yourself for drinking down the bottles you did of young vintage port.

[Thomas V]

The question is: "What is your preference"?

How do you like the taste profile of your VP?

Once you have figured that out you need to identify how the VPs of the different brands age so you know when to drink what. The vintage plays a role also but modern wine making has taken some of the random-ness out of that equation.

For instance a Fonseca matures slower than a Ferreira (In my opinion). So with the profile I prefer I would drink my Ferreira 1985's within the next 5 years where as the 1985 Fonseca's I wont touch for the next 15 years.

The Brits "used" to have a rule that they didn't touch VPs until at least 21 years old. That could work as a baseline.

For me personally I prefer when the VPs have shed all of the primary fruit and become more ethereal with tertiary fruit such as strawberry, rhubarb, orange and mint while still some zing to it. That is usually at around 45-60 years of age for the best producers as Taylor's, Noval, Fonseca, Graham's, Warre's, SWC, Gould Campbell etc.

I do indulge from time to and open a younger VP, but I try to limit it and use LBV's and Single Quinta VPs to protect the VPs from being drunk prematurely.

[Mike J. W.]

Glenn's suggestion to buy 80's Port is spot on. Most of them are drinking very well right now. Overall, I feel that '85 is the most consistent year for Vintage Port in the '80's but there are some very good VP's in '80 and '83 as well. Most of them are at very good prices for VP, especially considering that they are aged VP. You'll also find some good SQVP scattered throughout the '80's as well.

I also noticed that you don't have any 2017's listed in your cellar. I would recommend you do something about that as 2017 was an excellent year for VP and the breadth of good Port is wide. If you're a subscriber, you have access to the newsletter downloads from past years. The Nov. 2019 100-3 newsletter has a comprehensive write up of 2017 VP's by producer with great tasting notes by Roy. Refer to that as a guide.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the '94 vintage as well. There are many excellent Ports from this year that you might want to add to your cellar. The top one's for '94 are Fonseca, Taylor's, Graham's, Quinta do Vesuvio and Dow, but it's hard to go wrong with any '94. You can drink some of them now with a long decant, but they are still improving in the bottle.

[WJ Evans]

Thanks for the replies and advice. I am a subscriber and do check out the newsletter.

I've been torn about how much longer I should buy young ports, but had been looking to buy some 2017 and probably will. I'm in my early 50's and figure if the target is 20-30+ years of aging, that it might not make sense to buy new releases for too much longer.

[Mike J. W.]

I'm 63 and I decided to buy some 2017 VP because of the quality. Clearly many will out live me, but I'll try some and leave the rest to my kids. They can keep them or sell them and hopefully make a few $.

[Eric Menchen]

I've been torn about how much longer I should buy young ports, but had been looking to buy some 2017 and probably will. I'm in my early 50's and figure if the target is 20-30+ years of aging, that it might not make sense to buy new releases for too much longer.

I understand that. I'm in the same age group as you. 2011 was perhaps my last vintage to buy big. I bought a couple of 6'ers of 2015, and a few later bottles. Some 2015 Niepoort has been tempting me, but so far I've been able to resist.