2007 Goodbye list to your favorite Ports

[Roy Hersh]

Whether you want to narrow it down to one, two, three, five or ten Ports of the year ... it would be great to see which Ports everyone enjoyed the most during 2007.

I'll add my list later on.

[Marc J.]

One wine that stands out in my mind is a 1964 White Colheita port that I had the pleasure of tasting during a offline. It was very unexpected and from all accounts the 1952 Dalva (which I have not had the chance to try as of yet) would blow the 1964 away!

[Gary Richardson]

1963 Fonseca. I just picked up another bottle at a local shop this afternoon.
1970 Graham's.
1944 Royal Oporto Colheita.

These would have to rank as my top 3 over the past 12 months.

I almost always keep a Graham's 40 around for an 'everyday' bottle, and certainly have a weakness for this tawny.

My most pleasant surprise this year was the 1952 Dalva white colheita. I never thought I would enjoy a white port, but was happy for the surprise.

[Andy Velebil]

Ohh my, this could be hard. As I've been so lucky to have some great ones this year, but these stand out in my mind....

1815 Royal Oporto (cause this will probably be the oldest port I ever drink)
1955 Quinta do Noval VP
1996 Quinta do Crasto Touriga Nacional (for a Douro dry wine)
1945 Morgan's VP
1912 Niepoort Colheita
1977 Taylor's VP
40 year tawny by Vista Alegre

Berry Brothers & Rudd Vintage Character, believed to be around 30 years old. While not great, a good friend and I shared this while catching up on old times so a bit more sentimental.

and a Cruz 20 year old tawny...I must explain, becuase the port sucked. It was the first Port, of many many more to come, with a really great group of guys that embarked on a 1-week long epic adventure.

There are some more, but these really stick out in my mind.

[Luc Gauthier]

- 1958 Krohn Colheita , head an shoulders above any Port tasted in '07.
- 1977 Warre VP , #2 ( an excellent VP nonetheless )

[Scott Anaya]

2007 Highlights:

1880 D'Oliveira Terrantez - Brought it to my brothers wedding and wow, yummy!

1897 Byass VP - Went into this one with very low expectations and was not only surpised, but throroughly impressed, as were a few other Port lovers who I opended this with.

Sandeman 20 yr tawny - so yummy it is now my house 20 year.

1998 Ramos Pinto LBV - the lush and velvety tannins on this one make it my house LBV until to 2 cases run out.

1963 Fonseca (nuff said)

[João Rico]

1938 Burmester Colheita
1967 Kopke Colheita
40YO Calém
40YO Taylor's
2003 Quinta do Noval VP
2003 Quinta de Roriz VP

[Al B.]

A really tough question, but since there's no limit to the number of ports I can list then here goes:

1815 Royal Oporto that Andy mentioned - I have the bottle at home!
1912 Cockburn - which is what an unknown bottle turned out to be
1955 Cockburn - my first 1955 VP and a great bottle to share with Roy and Nicos in London
1920 Fonseca - so delicate, so fragrant, so Fonseca
1983 Grahams - a port which amazes me with its stunning aftertaste
1945 Morgan - also shared with Andy and Stewart. Just gorgeous (the port, that is).
1991 Morgan - wonderful quality for an everyday drinking house port
1931 Noval - better than the Nacional, but not up to its reputation
1997 Noval - a truly astonishing port
2003 Noval - almost as good as the 1997
1931 Nacional - disappointing, but a terrific memory
1960 Nacional - great port, and a bargain since I bought it as a regular 1960 Noval
1963 Nacional - simply the best port I have ever drunk
1994 Nacional - almost as good as the 1963
2000 Nacional - superb potential, but in a dumb phase
2003 Nacional - superb, but brutal
1863 Vesuvio - the oldest Vesuvio I am ever likely to drink and wonderful drinking at the age of 144
1994 Vesuvio - I love this port and opened two bottles this year
1853 Don Pedro vintage by Whitwams - quite astonishing and tasting so fresh that some wondered whether this was made purely from wine of the 1853 vintage.

And that would be a selection of my highlights from my port drinking of 2007. I hope that 2008 will be just as good!

Alex

[Andy Velebil]

Alex,

I forgot to add that 1853 King Pedro...a truly great bottle and a fun discussion that ensued......

[Kris Henderson]

2007 was a great year of Port tasting for me. Thanks to Roy and other FTLOP members, I have had the opportunity to taste Ports and other wines I wouldn't have on my own. I have tasted so many geat Ports I couldn't list them all but here are a few that stood out for me:

1937 C. Dasilva Colheita
1937 Niepoort Colheita
1815 Ferreira
1912 Niepoort Colheita
1927 Constantino Colheita
1970 Taylor
1985 Fonseca
1953 Royal Oporto Colheita
1960 Kopke Colheita
1983 Cockburn
1983 Dow
2000 Fonseca

[Stewart T.]

I've also had some absolutely stunning Ports this year, but I'm going to pick a single bottle as my favorite.

1815 Royal Oporto

Like others here on the forum who were there to taste it, it was a remarkable experience both for the age of the bottle, and for the Port inside.

[Derek T.]

Berry Brothers & Rudd Vintage Character, believed to be around 30 years old. While not great, a good friend and I shared this while catching up on old times so a bit more sentimental.

and a Cruz 20 year old tawny...I must explain, becuase the port sucked. It was the first Port, of many many more to come, with a really great group of guys that embarked on a 1-week long epic adventure.

I seem to remember having these not so long ago with a good friend too

Other highlights for me this year are:

Noval Colheita 1937 - the best port I had on my trip to Porto this year

Neipoort Colhieta 1957 - shared with some good friends in London

A Fonseca Vertical from 1920 to 2000 - phenominal - the 66 is superb

Dow 1980 - a great bottle at a blind tasting in The Crusting Pipe

The 2008 Offline season is about to start for me with around 15 bottles of 1966 VP - I expect some of these to make my list next year

Derek

[Blair Curtis]

I've also had some absolutely stunning Ports this year, but I'm going to pick a single bottle as my favorite.

1815 Royal Oporto

Like others here on the forum who were there to taste it, it was a remarkable experience both for the age of the bottle, and for the Port inside.

Hi Stewart,

Yeah that was quite something - a superstar among many stars.

Cheers,
Blair

[Roy Hersh]

Well shimber me timbers Blair. I had given you up for frozen solid in the great North woods, doing the snow shoe thing in the perma-frost up there. How the heck are you?

I hope you are drinking some Port for a change!

Let's talk soon, I have a plan.

[Blair Curtis]

Let's talk soon, I have a plan.

I like the sounds of that...

I'll send you an e-mail!