Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[Eric C]

Hi,
I´m Eric from Ger Ma Ny and I´ve been a long standing port lover. ´Came from my grandma, she coming from the lower states (= Netherlands ), which dispensed me as a kid every now and then a spoon of port .
In the meantime I started a small online shop, as a hobby in my spare time, specialized in produce from Portugal, with port wine and other nice things from Portugal

[Miguel Simoes]

Hi Eric, can you share a link to your online shop?
My sister lives in Germany and might become a client :)
Welcome to FTLOP!

[Eric Menchen]

Welcome to both Dr. Leo and Eric C. I too am an Eric from Germany, but I left when I was three after being born near Ramstein AB. My wife's father is from the Netherlands, and she and I both lived there at different times with a little overlap as well.

[Roy Hersh]

Eric C.,

Thank you for the introduction. I hope we get to learn more about what goes on in Germany with Ports through your posts here!

We're glad you joined us and look forward to your participation when time permits.

[Andy Velebil]

A big to Dr. Leo and Eric. Glad to have you with us!

[Stefano Marello]

Stefano Marello wrote:
Dear all,

After a (very) short presence at FTLOP a few years ago, I'm pleased to say I'm back. I hope to contribute whenever possible to discussions. Having spent 12 years at The Fladgate Partnership, I joined Sogevinus Fine Wines at the end of last year to take on the UK, Italy and Ireland markets, as well as closely follow together with Sandra Marques the USA and Canada markets. Feel free to call on me whenever necessary. I am very happy to put my knowledge (small as it may be) at the service of FTLOP.

Cheers!
Stefano,

Welcome back! And congratulations on your new position at Sogevinus.

Thank you Andy. Good to be back!

[Michelle L]

Quick update: Over the last two weeks we've gone through the Sandeman Founders' Reserve as well as the Graham's Six Grapes. I liked them both but think that I may have a slight preference for the Taylor First Estate and SFR over the Six Grapes, which I found slightly more muted and less "bright" and lively in comparison to the other two. I also found that I liked all the bottles a bit more a few days after they'd been open, which I'm afraid may mean I like oxidized port?! I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but I found them to be more... settled, familiar, comfortably drinkable after a day or two open! Poured right after opening the bottle all of the above seemed a little unsteady to me, like all the flavors were still trying to decide where to seat themselves at the start of a dinner, vs after a couple of days when it felt more like the dinner party was in full swing with everyone taking part in a good conversation. Perhaps what I'm reacting to is my own tastebuds' comfort level with the port? I'm not very good at talking about wine.

We just cracked open the 2007 Fonseca LBV a minute ago, and as of right now I'm not sure I'm loving the first glass - the nose reminds me a bit too much of a "traditional red wine" (I've never really taken to drier red wines), though the taste is not dry at all. There's also a bit too much alcohol burn right now. I'm looking forward to seeing how this dinner party settles down in a day or two :)

[Miguel Simoes]

Think you'll love it in a day or two. Consider drinking it a little colder than room temperature, felt that helped, since so rich. Opened a bottle last week to share w friends, left it in the decanter overnight and poured back into the bottle in the morning before heading to work. By the evening, when shared w friends it was v nice.

[Michelle L]

Yeah Miguel, after I posted that I did some more clicking and stumbled upon your recent experience with the exact same wine, down to the funky initial smell. I don't have a decanter (yet!) but did leave the bottle unstoppered overnight. I just poured myself another glass, and I like it SO MUCH BETTER now vs yesterday! It's fruity and rounded and exuberant, and there's almost no alcohol burn anymore. I will try chilling it just slightly to see how that goes!
Isn't wine weird and wonderful!

[Bradley Bogdan]

Yeah Miguel, after I posted that I did some more clicking and stumbled upon your recent experience with the exact same wine, down to the funky initial smell. I don't have a decanter (yet!) but did leave the bottle unstoppered overnight. I just poured myself another glass, and I like it SO MUCH BETTER now vs yesterday! It's fruity and rounded and exuberant, and there's almost no alcohol burn anymore. I will try chilling it just slightly to see how that goes!
Isn't wine weird and wonderful!

Welcome Michelle! A great place to get a starter decanter is a cheap home goods store like a Ross or a Marshall's. They usually have glass carafes or decanters for ~$5. It makes life much easier to have one or two kicking around for sure.

[Eric Menchen]

Welcome Michelle! A great place to get a starter decanter is a cheap home goods store like a Ross or a Marshall's. They usually have glass carafes or decanters for ~$5. It makes life much easier to have one or two kicking around for sure.

+1, on both the welcome and the decanter advice. BB&Beyond sometimes has them for $10, and Target may be an option too, although they have some expensive ones too.

[Eric C]

Hi Eric, can you share a link to your online shop?
My sister lives in Germany and might become a client :)
Welcome to FTLOP!

Hi Miguel,

I will be very pleased to have your sister as a valuable customer. I´m not sure though if it is OK to put a link of my online shop here, so in case this is wrong, admin please feel free to delete them.
www.produceofportugal.com (german and englisch) and www.produceofportugal.eu (only german).

To Roy and all other guys who welcomed me, Thank you
I´ll try my best and don´t hesitate to ask whatever questions you have.

Thank you.

[Miguel Simoes]

Thank you Eric. Will pass it along!

Reg decanters, a friend offered us this one http://www.wineenthusiast.com/menu-wine ... carafe.asp

It is super practical, you can pour the wine from it back into the bottle and do it back and forth as many times as you want to air the wine out quicker. V engenious.

[Roland Broersen]

Hello, let me introduce myself as a new member of this site.

My name is Roland Broersen, I’m almost 50 years and living on the countryside is a small farmhouse near Heenvliet in The Netherlands.
I’ve always enjoyed port more than wine. But only recently I’ve considered Port to be more interesting than I initially thought.

As you get older,(I will be 50 this year) you start to think what life is all about. And…. I’m still wondering about that, so no real smart answer there.
But slowly while as humans we are maturing, some pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of life are falling into place.

So what is life about… besides being health and having a nice job, nice house, nice family and friends, I’ve found that life is about enjoining things.
And then trying to understand what the enjoinment is about.
I can really enjoy a good gals of port, but only recently I’ve considered port to be more than just something you can drink, but I didn’t know really much about port.
Of course I knew that there are a lot of varieties, in taste in price and in quality.

I had several bottles of wine and port in my little study corner, and on one day I decided to take the port bottles apart. I had one VP, two LBV and some Ruby’s and a Tawny. And then I looked on the internet for some more information. The world of Port opened up to me.

So part of the enjoinment is now collecting knowledge, planning purchases and drinking it with much more attention and awareness. I’m reading the form, the Port forecasts, the tasting notes , I’m using Google to translate some of the flowery language and some specific Port vocabulary from Roy. I'm thirsty for knowledge, so I love the For the love of PORT site and I’m learning every day.

I’ve bought a wine cooler , so I can properly store my new VP’s and I’m learning and learning to be able to have more enjoinment out of my new hobby.
I’m planning to be 100 years. So I should only buy VP that I can drink before 2063 ....

So I’m happy that I have found this site, and my enjoinment is now not only drinking Port, but also collecting, planning purchases, making a wish list and who knows traveling someday to the Douro

Glad that I found this site.

Roland Broersen

[Andy Velebil]

Roland,

Thank you for the wonderful introduction and I am really glad you've found us. Please ask any questions you may have and be warned this group will have you spending money on Port to fill that wine cooler in no time

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Roland,

Thank you for your introductory post and explanation of your fascination with life, aging and Port. There is a common thread afterall!

Very nice to have you join us.

We have had quite a few people from the Netherlands here on the Forum, recipients of the newsletter and even a few from your country that have joined us for tours of Portugal. I hope someday we get to share bottles of fine Port together with others from the Forum.

[BEN BBB]

Hello all.

Live in lovely Sweden just north of the capital. I started drinking port when I met a friend thru my cigar smoking (will get back to this) who works with wines and is a collector. While red wine really does not work well with cigars a vintage Cuban pairs like a dream with vintage port.

I have never been a fan of regular wine but love port and desert wines. I am lucky enough to be able to get my hands on some good stuff easy and from time to time some more HTF bottles. I have tried some few ports without age but just like cigars I guess you can't rush the hands if time, the magic takes 20 years.

Back to cigars, it is no longer a hobby but a huge part of my life and I arrange the biggest annual herf(a gathering where you smoke cigars) here in Scandinavia and hold a charity auction where we donate to MSF/doctors without borders. I have a pretty decent palate and while I don't think I have the time or energy to get involved in the same way regarding port as with CCs(Cuban cigars) I do want to learn more and get some input from others with knowledge.

I hope I can contribute to the forum :)

[Eric C]

Hi Ben,

a warm welcome to the FTLOP world

[Miguel Simoes]

while I don't think I have the time or energy to get involved in the same way regarding port as with CCs(Cuban cigars) I do want to learn more and get some input from others with knowledge.

And we'll all profit from your knowledge of the cigar world. I certainly need some help. Last time I smoked a cigar I ended up throwing up

[BEN BBB]

while I don't think I have the time or energy to get involved in the same way regarding port as with CCs(Cuban cigars) I do want to learn more and get some input from others with knowledge.

And we'll all profit from your knowledge of the cigar world. I certainly need some help. Last time I smoked a cigar I ended up throwing up

I would be happy to help out, feel free to ask anything. I don't know if this is allowed, if not admins please delete the post but I do think I have a family good knowledge. May I ask what you smoked when you got sick?