For The Love Of Port

Roy Hersh wrote:Carl,

Welcome aboard and nice to have you with us. Some mighty fine wines in your list. Please tell Darrell Corti that Roy Hersh sends his regards. He is one of the more brilliant men in terms of wine I've ever met.

Roy - I recalled this post when I came across this article about Darrell Corti today. Still haven't had a chance to pass on your regards, but I haven't forgotten!

http://www.sactownmag.com/April-May-201 ... e=0#artanc

Makes me want to make a visit to Corti Brothers this weekend! That's dangerous, as we nearly always end up leaving there with 2-4 old colheitas and a dent in our wallet.

Amazing article.

Had never heard of him but he seems truly extraordinary.

Was sad not to see any references to Port or any Portuguese products in general.

Maybe Roy can take him on one of his trips to the Douro??

Miguel Simoes wrote:Maybe Roy can take him on one of his trips to the Douro??

Now THAT would be a trip to remember! Touring the Douro with Roy Hersh and Darrell Corti! Sign me up!

Carl D wrote:Makes me want to make a visit to Corti Brothers this weekend! That's dangerous, as we nearly always end up leaving there with 2-4 old colheitas and a dent in our wallet.

Went to Corti Brothers - came back with:

Smith Woodhouse 1980 VP x2
Smith Woodhouse 2000 LBV x3
Martinez 20 Year Tawny x1

Carl D wrote:

Carl D wrote:Makes me want to make a visit to Corti Brothers this weekend! That's dangerous, as we nearly always end up leaving there with 2-4 old colheitas and a dent in our wallet.

Went to Corti Brothers - came back with:

Smith Woodhouse 1980 VP x2
Smith Woodhouse 2000 LBV x3
Martinez 20 Year Tawny x1

Not TOO bad given you could have left with a bigger dent in the wallet

2x Taylor's 2009

Splitting a mixed case of Croft 07, Quinta do Crasto 00 & 07 (mostly the 07 Crasto) with some Portly friends.

2009 VP Vieira de Sousa x 12

I bought 6 bottles of Taylor 1992 today - a port which has been on my target list for a long time. I got to try it for the first time earlier this year courtesy of a fellow port lover and was really impressed. That just made me even more determined to buy some.

The only drawback was the ridiculous price it has been achieving...until today!

The only drawback was the ridiculous price it has been achieving...until today!

Hundredpointitis...

T92 is a big wine that is still hugely immature - but 100 points? - who can say..?

Paul Symington once observed that you really can't tell where a vintage port is going until it's at least 25 years old - an opinion I readily concur with.

One can sometimes be greatly impressed by a young port, and be very optimistic about it's future prospects; but certainty that it will emerge as a classic is impossible during it's formative years, and it is not hard to find glowing reports on young wines that have subsequently failed to make the grade.

Conversely, some VPs that were poorly received, or expected to have an early demise, have also confounded their critics..

So when a published wine writer accords a 100pt score to a young VP, my mind focuses on a single word...

..Idiot!

Tom Archer wrote:

The only drawback was the ridiculous price it has been achieving...until today!

Hundredpointitis...

T92 is a big wine that is still hugely immature - but 100 points? - who can say..?

Paul Symington once observed that you really can't tell where a vintage port is going until it's at least 25 years old - an opinion I readily concur with.

One can sometimes be greatly impressed by a young port, and be very optimistic about it's future prospects; but certainty that it will emerge as a classic is impossible during it's formative years, and it is not hard to find glowing reports on young wines that have subsequently failed to make the grade.

Conversely, some VPs that were poorly received, or expected to have an early demise, have also confounded their critics..

So when a published wine writer accords a 100pt score to a young VP, my mind focuses on a single word...

..Idiot!

While I agree with much of what you say, I also think that this port is something pretty special. I've only drunk it once, this year so with 20 years of maturity behind it. While a single tasting hardly provides me with a strong base from which to comment, when I put my experience into the context of others such as Parker, Robinson, Hersh, Wine Journal and Decanter who have all been impressed, I come to the conclusion that this is an outstanding port with huge potential.

As of writing this, I have only ever scored one port as a 100 pointer; that was the Nacional '63 at the age of about 46. I tend to score ports that I drink for their drinking experience at that time, not for their future potential. Perhaps if I am still around in another 25 years time I might be able to decide whether I feel that the mature Taylor 1992 is as good as the Nacional is today.

Time will tell whether Parker was right to give the Taylor 1992 100 points, but for the moment all I can say is that in my opinion it is up there with a number of other modern day classics such as the Vesuvio 1994 and Noval 1997. A great port, with a great reputation sadly comes with a hefty price tag - and there doesn't seem to be a lot of it around. Does anyone know what was the production volume?

other modern day classics such as the Vesuvio 1994

I've had the V94 a couple of times in the past year (in Portugal) and on both occasions it was very much in 'Kevin' mode. It will be interesting to see how it emerges in a few years time..

Tom Archer wrote:

other modern day classics such as the Vesuvio 1994

I've had the V94 a couple of times in the past year (in Portugal) and on both occasions it was very much in 'Kevin' mode. It will be interesting to see how it emerges in a few years time..

Very true. It took ages to become a goth, but now it is dark, surly, awkward and unbalanced and nothing like as good as it was 5+ years ago. Still, it has another 3 years before the old and traditional rule of thumb for vintage port says that it should be mature and ready to start being drunk - I know how I shall be celebrating 2015...

I also plan to open one before the end of this year which has been in my cellar since 1997. I will be extremely interested to see how it performs since it's about a year since I last had a bottle of Vesuvio 1994. I might open this at home and take some extended notes on the way it shows over 3-4 days of sampling.

Al B. wrote:I also plan to open one before the end of this year which has been in my cellar since 1997. I will be extremely interested to see how it performs since it's about a year since I last had a bottle of Vesuvio 1994. I might open this at home and take some extended notes on the way it shows over 3-4 days of sampling.

I you need a volunteer to help with this please let me know

two bottles of Krohn's 30 Year Old Tawny Port. I can't recall ever trying this one before.

my first "extensive" purchase of 1994s :)

4 x 1994 Ramos Pinto @ $35
2 x 1994 Martinez @ $35
1 x 1994 Quinta do Crasto @ $29
1 x 1994 Quinta de la Rosa @ $29

thanks everyone for posting tasting notes on them!

got them from cellaraiders.com

Miguel Simoes wrote:4 x 1994 Ramos Pinto @ $35

That's a great price for that port! Only had it once, but i thought it was superb.

Only five bottles this week, all ex cellars:

Warre '97 - Imperial
Vesuvio '97 - Salmanazar
Vesuvio '00 - Salmanazar
Warre '94 - Nebuchadnezzar
Vesuvio '94 - Nebuchadnezzar

- a total of 54 litres - six cases in five bottles!

Tom, that is fantastic.

I didnt know they made VP bottles that large!

Out of curiosity, how do you plan to consume the Nebuchadnezzar bottles? That's a lot of VP to drink quickly once opened...

Out of curiosity, how do you plan to consume the Nebuchadnezzar bottles? That's a lot of VP to drink quickly once opened...

Not sure - except I don't think it will be part of a vertical or horizontal!