My apologies. I have been so tied up in a project, I just logged on here for the first time in a couple of days ... a rarity to say the least. In fact yesterday, was the first time in years, where I was at home and never visited the www at all.
What are you up to this coming Thursday afternoon around 11:30 a.m.? Available for lunch and tasting with a friend of mine?
Argh - late to the party again. I made up for it by opening up a bottle that had a year that ended in "3" though - the Quarles Harris 1983 VP. TN is posted here.
Another aargh. I had the Niepoort LBV last week, but didn't actually write a TN. Must be one of the best LBVs I've had. I love the Niepoort ones and have tasted all the ones I've seen on the marked since the 1992, but not at the same time.
Jan-Tore Egge wrote:Another aargh. I had the Niepoort LBV last week, but didn't actually write a TN. Must be one of the best LBVs I've had. I love the Niepoort ones and have tasted all the ones I've seen on the marked since the 1992, but not at the same time.
A very tasty LBV. I picked up a good supply of these pretty cheap earlier this year. Most are going into storage so they can age for at least another 5-8 years. Depending how they hold up along the way I'll keep a couple for long term storage (20 or so years) just out of curiousity.
I'm considering cellaring some, too, but they're so good to drink now. I already have the 1994, 1997, 2000 and 2001. I'll probably buy a few, drink most of them and save one or two bottles to see what happens.
Just found this thread, and wish to congradulate Roy on the fine site he has built. The irony though is that even though I knew nothing of this annoucement, that week I did open a bottle of Port to celebrate being in the States with some old friends!
Congratulations Roy! You in FTLOP have been doing a very good work to promote Port. I hope you keep this motivation for many years!
BTW, just give our input about this vintage: compared with the 2005 and 2006 the maturation is a bit delayed, but perfectly in the trend of the last decade. Touriga Nacional shows some signs of coulure in Quinta da Trovisca, at 450 meters high. Tinta Roriz is around one week late when compared with the Tourigas. Sousão, as usual later than the others, needs at least 30 more days to complete ripening. We should start to harvest in Quinta da Alegria, southern, over Douro, at September 8th. Around 10 days later we should start in Quinta Vale D'Agodinho.
Thanks for the kind words. Are you going to be anywhere near the Douro or Porto during the harvest this year?
Óscar,
Welcome to FTLOP and we are very pleased you have stopped by to join us! :hello:
Yes, I do plan to continue promoting Port for the rest of my time on this planet. Thank you for the very kind words. I hope you will like to know that we are going to include a link to your website on our Port Producers page!
I look forward to trying your Ports at some point. Email me at Portolover@aol.com as I have a great idea.
Andy it was a 2003 Quevedo LBV, very nice, from a half bottle. No notes, but I have to say it was very enjoyable and my friends did make it disappear pretty quick! :)
Thanks for joining us here at . We always very much appreciate it when producers join in us here. I do have a question. How is the harvest looking this year. We've not heard much about it, and although there is still a few weeks to go I'm curious as to how the vintage is lookking overall.
Thanks again for joining us and I hope to meet you and try some of your Ports in the near future.
The ripening is around one week delayed because during the blooming period the whether was irregular, quite damp with cold nights. All that also originated poor fruit set (Touriga Nacional was one of the most affected). Beside that, during May rained very much, not just in Baixo-Corgo and Cima-Corgo but also in Douro Superior.
Same varietals are showing different ripening, depending on the altitud. And even within the same bunch we can find huge baume amplitude. Some berries are completely ripe while others are still a bit green. So this two weeks are really important. The weather is currently hot, with some cold nights, but next days is expected a decrease in temperatures with increase in the dampness.
For now we expect to star harvesting September 8th in Douro Superior and 18th in Quinta Vale D'Agodinho, which is located between Cima-Corgo and Douro Superior. End this week we will have a clearer idea, after have made ripening control, which we will publish in our website.
Thanks for the report. Time will tell, but it doesn't look that great so far. I know when I was in the Douro during last years harvest everyone, except one that lost all his crop to odium, everyone was very excited at that time about the quality of the harvest.
If you have time during the busy harvest, I look forward to hearing more about how the next few weeks go. Then when I am there at the end of september/begining of October I will be able to see things first hand and be more knowledgeable about the vintage as a whole. Thanks again
Just to give you some update about the harvest: we have started to harvest last Monday, September 8th, in the early ripening vineyards of Quinta da Alegria and Quita das Olgas. The Bé is 13.8º in Quinta da Alegria and 13.4º in Quinta das Olgas, lower than last year due not only to the higher yield but also to the rain of the last week. Yesterday we started harvesting the younger vines of Quinta das Olgas and we got a Bé. of 12.9º in the Touriga Nacional varietal. The weather is quite uncertain and rain is expected for Thursday. If this forecast doesn’t come true, we should finish the harvest of these two vineyards on September 11th.
This week-end I took a walk with my sister into Quinta da Trovisca and we were really scared with the lack of bunches of Touriga Nacional. Those vines exposed to the northern winds during the blooming period have really few bunches. And there is very diverse ripening berries within the same bunch. Bad year for Touriga Nacional...
Do you have any news from other producers harvests in Douro?
I had a glass of Delaforce 20 year old Curious and Ancient Tawny. Happy birthday 
