Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[Anders C]

Hi

Now I have been a menber for about 2 years - maybe it`s time for intruduce my self

Im From Denmark - have been drinking port for 8 years - been in the Douro 6 times
Have tasted about 500 ports

[Roy Hersh]

Anders,

Nice to have another person from Denmark here and good to see you. I will look forward to meeting you later this year if you're going to the tasting on Odense.

I hope you will enjoy your time here. There are lots of participants from your country here. They post sporadically, so just be patient and they will say hello when they see your posts!

Please feel free to tell your other Port loving friends about us.

Best regards,

Roy

[Anders C]

Hi Roy

Yes Im member of "The vintageport Club" in Odense, and of course Ill be there.

When are you comming to Denmark ??
Yes Denmark is well known in Portugal, we have a lot of portvine lovers, and we drink quality port

[Roy Hersh]

Private Message sent.

[Rick V]

Hello all! My name is Rick. And I'm 23 years old now. I don't now how young this is in comparison with other people on the forum.
Last summer, I went to Porto for holidays, visited some port houses and I am really sold to port now. Especially tawneys I find very good.
I'm just getting started with introducing myself to the world of port. The intention is on starting my own cellar.

Came to this forum to get some advice on starting with it.

[Moses Botbol]

Rick welcome.

Good age to start building your collection! What has been your favorite tawny so far? Where are you from?

[Andy Velebil]

Hey Rick,
Welcome to the Forum and many thanks for the introduction. This group will have you buying Port in no time flat, so get ready to warm up that credit card

Also, we are a really laid back forum, so please feel free to ask any question. No matter how trivial you may think it is. We're all here to learn to from each other.

[Rick V]

Rick welcome.

Good age to start building your collection! What has been your favorite tawny so far? Where are you from?

Well, I haven't bought/tasted many port until now, but now I'm enjoying the Graham's 10 year old tawny. Probably, I'll buy the 20 year old one of the next weeks. I also tasted 'the tawny' from Graham's, but I liked the 10 year old more.

White port is the port I like the least, but I still enjoy it.
Never tasted a Vintage port though, so that's also on the list. Any recommendation for a not to expensive vintage port as introduction?

And I'm from Belgium.

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Rick and thanks for joining us here. Glad to have you and happy you were able to see Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia in person. That is a great way to get started. I was 26 when I got started with Port drinking, but 36 the first time I could afford to visit Portugal. So while you are young, it is a great advantage for collecting and future Port appreciation. Having seen where Port comes from is a huge bonus at your age!

While you may not enjoy White Port today, and maybe you did not get to try any of the higher end White Ports, more than likely, your tastes for Port and everything else may change in time. I know people here who really only liked Tawny Ports who now find some love in drinking Vintage Ports and LBVs etc. Vice versa too, there are loads of people on this Forum who are very serious about their Vintage Port (VP) and are nowhere near as smitten by Colheitas and/or Tawnies.

You will gain tremendous insight into the beverage which is Port here and as your funds permit, you can taste more widely.

I believe it is important to get some fundamentals under your tasting belt, so that you can later truly appreciate where a Port has come from. By that I mean, gain some experience with tasting some younger vintages of Port, 1994-2011 and appreciate those initially. That way when you eventually wind up tasting the likes of 1977/1970 no less something crazy like a 1945 or 1927 someday, you will have a much greater understanding of what those Ports started like in their youth. Just my . Either way and no matter what you decide, you won't go wrong in tasting Port.

If you let us know where in the world you are located, we can help make better and more specific suggestions too. Again, thank you for joining us here!

[Glenn E.]

I know people here who really only liked Tawny Ports who now find some love in drinking Vintage Ports and LBVs etc.

Hi Rick, welcome to FTLOP!

There are a couple of other people here who are from Belgium, so hopefully they'll chime in with some recommendations for you. It's hard to know what is available for you locally. We can provide suggestions, of course, but they're not much use if you can't find them!

[Monique Heinemans.]

Hello Rick,

I can give you some adresses where I buy my vintage port as I'm living in the Netherlands. So f.i. you can take a look at the belgiumwinewatchers, they are located near Antwerpen. They buy private cellars and are reasonably priced most of the time. Than there is Collin in Gent, they have a huge cellar with a large stock of younger and older VP's. In the Netherlands Ton Overmars in Amsterdam has a pretty large range and is also reasonably priced. Than there is Sauter in Maastricht, they still have the 2005 Croft Quinta da Roeda for about 35 euro. Gute Weine Lobenberg in Bremen (Germany) has the 2007 Quinta do Vale Meao for about 35 euro. I haven't had these, but they were pretty high rated on this forum. You can also take a look at the website of Saint Vincent in Bruinisse (Netherlands).
I hope this will help you in finding some nice vintage ports.

Regards, Monique

[Roy Hersh]

Thank you Monique, very nice of you!

[Peter McIver]

Evening all!

Just a quick introduction prior to my barrage of foolish 'newbie' questions. Almost a non-drinker for the past decade i have always partaken and enjoyed the many loyal toasts i've been privy to over the past 6 or so years. With a sweet tooth i still consider myself a non-drinker but have begun to explore this attraction to Port a little further and a few recent VPs (1966, 1983 and 2001) have given me an appreciation for an occasional past time.

With an Aeronautical/Mechanical Engineering background i can't leave things well enough alone and see problems as a challenge. With nowhere to store any future purchases i have drawn up plans for a 240 bottle store which should let me store at a regulated temperature for practically free (its solar powered with a mains backup) and have a crazy solution to storing at in constant humidity/low oxygen environment.

Part way through Richard Mayson's updated book i'm still very much learning and definitely have a crude and uneducated palate. Having enjoyed a 2007 Maynards LBV i've bought a dozen or so bottles to see how a single vintage develops over time but am aware that the rate at which a LBV develops differs from a VP. So to some basic questions which i'm sure will be answered swiftly here rather than chocking up the basics area...

1, The mass of LBV i've just laid down, despite being unfiltered is stoppered and not corked. Is there any benefit to swapping these out for corks prior to laying them down.
2, Sourcing VP: Retailers with a range of VP seem to be few and far between. Where would you recommend for variety at a competitive price, (i'm currently looking at a few different cases of 2011 VPs on Vintagewineandport.co.uk but cannot find anyone else with the variety and stock they have to compare prices.)

Again, Hi and i look forward to contributing.

Pete

[Glenn E.]

Hi Peter!



You'll have to let us know how your self-sustaining Port storage cellar works. Sounds really cool!

As far as your questions go...

1. That really depends on a couple of things. a) Can you tell how long the stopper corks are? If they're decent length, then it should be a problem at all. Most are in the 1/2" range, but some can be as long as 3/4". b) How long do you plan to store them? Stoppers are sufficient for 5-10 years and possibly more. I have had tawnies that were stoppered and in bottle for as long as 22 years before and they were fine.

2. Winesearcher.com is a great resource. I'm unfamiliar with most UK retailers, though, so can't really make good recommendations. There are plenty of UK-based members here, though, so hopefully one of them will chime in.

Glad to have you aboard! Go ahead and fire away with any questions you have... don't worry about cluttering up the Basics forum, that's what it's there for!

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Peter,

First let me say Thanks for the introduction and...this group will help you fill that soon to be cellar in no time flat. So you may want to start planning for a larger version very soon.

As for your questions...I'm going to repost a copy your post into a new thread in the main Port Forum. They are great questions and more people will see them and hopefully respond more than in this thread.

Here's the link for that thread
http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... =1&t=17429

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Peter, nice to have you join us!

I couldn't even begin to consider answering your questions, but will watch the progress of the thread to learn something new. Thanks!

[Grant H]

Hi All,

My name is Grant Henneberg, from Saskatchewan, Canada. I have been a frequent reader of both FtLoP and TPF for the past two years or so. I am in my early twenties and am studying Mechanical Engineering.

I'm here mostly to sit back and learn. I appreciate the wide ranging discussions of port on this site, and as disposable income becomes a thing (one day....) I shall hope to be more active on this site.

Thanks again to everyone for their postings, especially for the tasting notes.

[Glenn E.]

Hi Grant, welcome to FTLOP!

[Andy Velebil]

Hi All,

My name is Grant Henneberg, from Saskatchewan, Canada. I have been a frequent reader of both FtLoP and TPF for the past two years or so. I am in my early twenties and am studying Mechanical Engineering.

I'm here mostly to sit back and learn. I appreciate the wide ranging discussions of port on this site, and as disposable income becomes a thing (one day....) I shall hope to be more active on this site.

Thanks again to everyone for their postings, especially for the tasting notes.

Hi Grant,
to the forum, great to have you with us and thanks for the introduction. No need to wait till you have more income to participate here. Chime in whenever you feel like it :)

[M Torstensson]

Hello all!

My name is Martin Torstensson, from Malmö, Sweden. I am 35 and working at a MediTech company. I have been looking around at this forum for 3-4 weeks and l realise that I have so much to read at the site

Port is very new to me, tasted my first port when the family was on holiday in Cape Verde 1month ago and it was love at first taste and this was a local no-name port(I guess they know a little about port since its a former Portuguese colony)


My goal right now is to find some since port from 1978 that I can open and enjoy at my birthday this year, if you have tasted any nice port from this year please let me know.

/

Martin