What to buy for now and later

[Dale B.]

Am big fan of vintage ports, especially Warre's. Looking for advice on ports for drink now and over the years, as well as much later, i.e. 2003's. Also seeking advice for Christmas gift ports for my children, using their birthdates of 1976, 1978, 1980, and 1985. Possible vintages they could appreciate now or over the next few years. Obviously, I expect them to help finish the VPs etc. after I am gone! Would like advice on acquiring cases of such VPs for now and much later. Of course, I might live long enough to drink the '03s. Have also enjoyed Dow's Crusted Port. Any thoughts on the longevity of the crusted? Any wisdom would be much appreciated.

[Todd Pettinger]

Hi Dale, and welcome to FTLOP. We hope you join us often in discussions in time to come.

I'll try to hit on as many of the questions you have asked.

First the easy ones: with the birth year Ports:
1976 - is my birthday so I know you won't have an easy time sourcing many VPs from this year. Fonseca Guimaraens appears to be the big winner, for a 2nd label from the major player Fonseca. Everyone I have heard has tried it says it is a phenomenal wine. I have one lonely bottle of it myself and have not grabbed the gumption to open it as of yet.
I have come across several Colheitas from '76 (Niepoort, Smith Woodhouse to name a few) and have even tried the SW myself. It is lighter-bodied but very tasty - if you and the kids enjoy tawny-style ports, these Coheitas (single year VPs that have been aged in-cask) are sure to please.

1978 - I seem to recall that this was a terrible year for VPs. I know someone with more of a natural memory than my own feeble mind will be able to chime in and confirm/deny this, but I don't think there are too many examples of fine Ports from this year. It is my brother's birth year and my efforts to find something for his 30th birthday have ended in zero leads, at least here in Canada.

1980 and 85 will have many choices because both are declared years.
Lots of major VPs from these years, although '80 is generally considered the weaker Vintage from what I can gather. My own experiences are more limited (due to budgetary constraints, availability locally, etc) but again, I know that others will chime in with their thoughts.

1980 Dow is apparently a big winner here. So much so that Roy placed it on his "Top 12" Vintages to own. 'Nuff said for me!

I have only tried the weak Gould Campbell and found it turning tawny already, a sign that it does not have much improvement left. It seemed mature now on bth occasions where I have drank it (within the past 14 months.) It will drink well for a few years methinks, but not being an expert, iI may get contradicted later on in this thread by someone with a lot more experience.

1985 Fonseca '85 is supposed to be phenomenal juice - again, so much so that it earned a nod from Roy on his "Top 12" list. I have personally tried the Dow from this year and was absolutely blown away by it. It is still young but drinking beautifully already; a powerful, fruit-bomb. Again, Graham's is supposedly a fruity monster with good long-term potential. I also have tried the Warre's which, while good was not fantastic. Solid and typical of Warre's style. I do not recall what I rated it, but thought that it might get better with 5-10 more years of aging.

On the flip side, the Taylor '85 seems to be a big disappointment to a lot of people. I found it extremely dull and closed, at least right now, this Vintage may or may not get better. For the price being demanded for it, I have to say skip it (my own humble opinion - it would have to improve SO dramatically before I would consider getting a bottle of it.) I was disappointed by a lack of nose and distinct flavours on the palate - it seemed there was very little, so I would recommend avoidance of that one for the time being until it starts showing better.



Secondly - you state that you seem to be drawn to Warre's. Of VPs, I have had a few vintages of this, the oldest being 1963, which was still holding fabulously. The 2000 was closed and uninteresting when i tried it last year, but it admittedly was infanticide... I should have know better.

Many people would rate Warre's as a second tier producer (meaning they would not list them with the big traditional "heavy-hitters" of Taylor, Fonseca, Dow and Noval, although IMO they make consistently solid Ports of a very good to great quality. The monetary demand may not ever be as high for a Warre VP as for others such as Fonseca and Taylor, but that is okay by me because I do enjoy their style and would consistently stock the cellar with anything offered from them as I know I will get a consistent quiality just about every time.


Recommendations? wow, where to start?
Well, you mentioned the year 2003, so here are a couple of my favourite Vintages from 2003, a blockbuster year, if not a tad over-priced out of the gates. If you can get any of these at discounted rates, do so and I would bet you will not be disappointed.

Noval '03 I love this Port and would kill to be able to afford to stock the cellar with it myself.
Portal '03 Loads of blueberry jammy goodness, with sufficient tannins t last a long time. Takes a nod as one of Roy's "Top 12" and I personally loved it to death.
JM Fonseca & Van Zellar '03 Not a label seen around much, this is a solid VP with loads of potential. I just stocked up on another half-case I got at a great price and if the store hadn't run out, I would have taken all they had. Phenomenal juice - one which I expect to love almost as much as the Noval.
Graham's '03 Sadly, I have only one bottle of this but really really wish I had more. I missed the boat on a discount from a large merchant around me and am kicking myself every time I see the regular price on the remaining bottles.
Taylor '03 I loved this, although it could be a VP that lasts 80-100 years it is just massive. It almost HURT how tannic and in-your-face it was... loads of depth and concentration - one for the kids' kids!

Okay, that is what I KNOW of the '03s. I haven't the budget nor the desire to take any more of these babies down at such a young age, so I can;t lend much more personal experience on them.


Lastly, I come to Crusted Port. The UK guys I hope will chime in on this. If they don't in the next few days, use the search function to search on Crusted - there are a couple of really good threads on Crusted Ports. It is a style not seen much of in North America. The one bottle I personally got to try, I enjoyed it a lot. I placed it somewhere between an excellent unfiltered LBV and a lower VP. Mind you, I had it with not a whole lot of bottle age, so there are many who might argue that I killed it off too young. If I see more, I will definitely pick a few up because I would like to compare the one that I had with a couple that have significantly more age, to compare the differences.

Hope this helps, and again, hope to see much more from you in the future!

Todd

[Andy Velebil]

Dale
Welcome to the forum. Todd did a very good job, so not much to add except my personal opinions. I'd Avoid the Smith Woodhouse Colheita's, I've had the '76 and it wasn't very good. Niepoort makes great juice so you won't go wrong there.

I also love Warre's and there really isn't a bad one in the bunch over the last over the past 40+ years. There is plenty from 1985 (Dow, Fonseca, Graham's to name a few). 1980 is a little harder, but still some good ones there. Your biggest issues is with the remaining 2 years. not much there in the way of VP, so you may want to fudge a year and go with 1977 for them both.

Do let us know what you end up with, we'd love to know. And please ask as many questions as you want, this is a really good group that loves to answer questions.

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Dale,

Glad you stopped by and I hope you enjoy learning about Port along with the rest of us! You've already received lots of solid advice, so let me impart a couple of words just about the 1978 vintage. You can find a few nice Colheitas from 1978 which are solid. Also, I've had the Nacional which is good but not worth the money. But I have also had the Ferreira, Quinta do Bomfim a couple of times and also the Feist and Quinta de Vargellas. So there are options, but I am not sure what is available today. I enjoyed the Ferreira the most of all though.