Sitting here in Oporto

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 5:39 am

I got in here yesterday late in the afternoon, after nearly 2 days of travel from the w. coast of the USA. It is a breath of fresh air and wonderful to be here!~

I walked around last night looking for a place to eat and wandered into a restaurant that was in the old rock cavern that was about 600 years old. The food was fabulous and the wines were amazing. What i did not realize is that it was part of a Port lodge ... C. da Silva, which here in the EU is Dalva and in the US we know it as Presidential. I had lots of single glasses, first a white Port, then a refreshing glass of Vinho Verde, onto a Douro red to accompany a fabulous cod entree. They have one of the best versions of Caldo Verde soup I´ve ever tried. Then came the moment I have been dreaming about, the Serra de Estrella cheese. I ordered a 40 year old tawny to enjoy it with. Afterwards as a night cap a wonderful Dalva White Port from 1952. The owner took me to the Cava and showed me around the old wines. Wow!

Today, so far, I have walked around with my camera taking great pics of the area, which I am very familiar with. Stopped and had a Portuguese version of a pizza, some more sightseeing and then to meet Mario later today.

Seems like finding internet cafes is pretty easy here. The keyboards are a bit different but otherwise ... easy. The Portuguese people are friendly and always willing to stop to answer questions in my lousy attempts with Portuguese.

I will report in when I can.

Al B. · Post by **Al B.** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:32 pm

Roy

Good to hear that you arrived safely - and managed to wander innocently into a Port Lodge! May the rest of your trip go as smoothly!

Alex

Alex K. · Post by **Alex K.** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 2:03 pm

Roy - if they can actually understand you then your Portuguese is not that lousy. Mostly they give up and start speaking English to me I find it that hard. The French will suffer my terrible attempts as will the Germans and Italians but the Spanish and Portuguese just look at me blankly and start pointing at things to be helpful.

Good to see you're over and awake - the West-East jet-lag does me in.

AlexR · Post by **AlexR** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:13 am

Thanks for that "you are there" feel to your post.

I'm a sucker for these Old World pleasures.

I hope you have a wonderful stay.

All the best,
Alex

Steven Kooij · Post by **Steven Kooij** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:29 pm

Roy, could you share a TN on that Dalva '52 White Port? I've tasted the Presidential bottling last year (not sure, but probably the same wine in a different bottle). When was it bottled?

Stephen M. · Post by **Stephen M.** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:33 am

Of course i will share a tasting note, but I am not going to do that from here. So far we have been to Ferreira, Cockburn's, Taylor and great tastings of each with a boat ride and visit to the Port Wine Institute. We had dinner with George Sandeman and his wife last night and tonight are heading to Dirk Neipoort's home for dinner. The guys on the trip are blown away as we're only onto day two and they've had literally dozens of all types of Ports, from very old white Ports, to a ton of '03 VPs, to rare LBVs and a plethora of 20, 30 and 40 year olds ... not to mention Colheitas from the 40s to the '80. Crazy stuff and we met up with Frederick Blais too and invited him along for our private tour of the IVDP. I did not realize that he is so very young. I was pretty surprised. Anyway there will be many other BB members to meet next week. Thanks for keeping this place moving along in my absence!

BEST REGARDS

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:57 am

Sorry, I was using one of the folk's laptops who is on the trip. But the previous posting was mine... Roy Hersh.

Alex K. · Post by **Alex K.** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:19 am

Alex and Alex,

Could you please stop signing off as 'Alex', as it's confusing me,

Thanks,

Alex

Jason Brandt Lewis · Post by **Jason Brandt Lewis** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:00 am

KillerB wrote:Alex and Alex,

Could you please stop signing off as 'Alex', as it's confusing me,

Thanks,

Alex

Mind if we call you Bruce? Save the confusion.

Alex K. · Post by **Alex K.** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:57 am

Lemme think "Broooooooooce Broooooooooce" - nope, it's not me.

Sorry about the meandering off-topic but there was a triple-Alex above.

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:42 am

A crazy day. After a tasting with my buddy Dirk Niepoort, Mario and I took our guests to tour and dine with the Symingtons. They poured 24 VPs from all of their properties back to 1882. Interesting to say the least. Dinner with a surprise guest with the boys ... David Guimaraens, who they met at Fonseca yesterday, will join us for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we head to the Douro. So far over 140 Ports in the first 3 days. I sent my liver out to the dry cleaners this afternoon, so I am good to go tonight. Some fantastic Douro whites and reds to report on ... in the next newsletter. See some of you very soon.

mwaters · Post by **mwaters** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:26 pm

happy to see everyone is enjoying themselves. Sounds like an amazing trip! Look forward to reading more. Cheers.

Ronald Wortel · Post by **Ronald Wortel** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:32 pm

Sounds great Roy!
Did you say you were passing through the Netherlands with the leftovers on your way back?

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 10:21 am

Back from the Douro and what a fabulous time. Pictures just don`t do the Douro Valley justice. The food albeit rustic, is delicious and esp. if you really enjoy the style. The hospitality of friends, old and new was really great and I can`t wait to get back here in the springtime.

Two days of leisure and then Mario and I will be headed to Madeira for the rest of the week, until we meet up with the London Boyz. Just what I need ... more Port to drink.

I hope you are all well and I will get back to posting here on a regular basis when I get back to the USA. With between 30 and 50 tasting notes of Douro whites and reds and over 200 Ports ... I am going to be busy. Hopefully the other scribe on the trip, will pitch in with his impressions too ... although we normally differ consistently by 2 to 3 points. It will be fun to share our impressions which we only did sporadically.

We probably had 15 or more VPs from 2003 and it was great to revisit them. I also have possibly 5 new ones to add to the list of 47 already tried. I think the highlight for me, in terms of Port were the aged White Colheitas and red Colheitas too. An amazing array were tasted in the past week. More in the future.

Best regards!

ryan opaz · Post by **ryan opaz** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 2:10 pm

Sounds like the first trip was a success. In the future, I'll have to try to make it to Oporto from Madrid, for a pre or post trip cup of port! That is if your liver is ok at the end of it. Glad to hear it went so well!

For The Love Of Port

Sitting here in Oporto

Sitting here in Oporto

Here's wishing you a wonderful time, Roy!