Seeking feedback

[John M.]

I love the newsletters.

That being said, there are a lot of newbies who read these, and while it is great to read all your tasting notes many are things a newbie won't likely get a chance to drink or even have a chance to buy. I'd like to see you include some more ports that are readily available in B&M shops or on the internet now within the constraints of a budget and not having to age; that would likely mean LBVs and 10/20 Year Tawnies. Something the newbie could read about, then buy and try for himself/herself to see if they perceive the same flavors, structure etc you do....almost like you were teaching a class.

Echoing your comment John, awhile ago Rune also asked something about why we didn't post more TN's of "lesser" ports (lower scores). So we can learn more from eachother. I still think that was a very good call and we all (not only Roy in his newsletters) should do so. I presume most of us don't drink Noval Nacional or ports from 1945 or 1963 every week, so please post TN's of "ordinary" port too..

I agree 100% and try to do so. But will be more diligent.

[Al B.]

I know I'm late to the thread, but I thought I'd add my comments too.

I love reading the newsletters and love the pictures. I would prefer smaller newsletters which come out more frequently because they would suit my lifestyle better, but understand why that might be difficult for you. I also love reading Guest Corner articles and once I have more time on my hands I will go back to writing them once in a while.

More pictures would be great. I know we have the Portraits Gallery, but it's great seeing pictures in print of bottles, people, places, events, grapes etc. I'd be happy with a coupe of pages just dedicated to your photos or those of others from the Douro.

And speaking of grapes, how about starting a series of 1 page "How to recognise a Douro grape variety" photoguides. A picture of the vine, the leaf and the berries all together on a page with a few words about what properties the grapes bring would be really interesting. I really struggle to tell the difference between one grape variety and another when I'm in the Douro and a photoguide would be useful.

A series of articles from you on a theme would also be interesting, and Monique's suggestion is a good place to start. You could head down to a local store and buy 3-4 of their ruby reserve ports, taste them (cook with them) and then pen a short article with your thoughts on how they compare and which one you would recommend a new port drinker to go for. We had a real surprise when we did the Ruby Reserve Taste Off in 2012 and it could be interesting to follow that up with a similar tasting 5 years on.

[Roy Hersh]

Thanks for all the feedback, I am paying attention. I don't know if I will ever get to do more than 4-6 newsletters any more, regardless of size. Just being honest. What I will try to do is be more timely with producing an article in proximity to reporting on an event. That may not be true for the one big Madeira event each year, but with Port, I'll try to be quicker.

When I rent the same tasting venue, (Holiday Inn) where we do most of our tastings, honestly, it is not all that exciting to write about, except the wines and lots of our readers don't care all that muchfor reading about 10-25 tasting notes in a row. So these elaborate and fun tastings, don't make for the most exciting reads.

I try to continue to intersperse the A Question for the Port Trade with Port Personalities in Focus, and hope that remains interesting for everyone; but typically I am the one who has to come up with the question worth reading. I'd love it if others would contribute those more often; but realizing these have to be interesting to a broad audience and NOT just a question an individual wants answered.

I love having FTLOP beginners or experts to write up articles and try to include as many as I can obtain and find worthy. I am happy to do edits and formats, so that is far less important than the content itself.

Several years ago, everyone pretty much said, "the more the merrier" including Alex, when it came to feedback on the newsletters. Now there seems to be an about fact to more frequency and smaller number of pages. Having gone from 125 pages to the current newletter and about half that length in December was difficult for me. But I was certainly pay attention to this dynamic.

For the past half year, I've been trying to cajole one particular individual to do the "Guest Corner Host" and while he has agreed to do so for a full week, his calendar has not allowed this to happen yet. But I am not giving up on that, as it has been a couple of years and I am long overdue on this.

I have typically reported on what I drink, addmittedly too few entry level Ports nowadays. A big part of that is for health reasons, as I am concerned with all of the sugar intake as I get older. You can read between the lines there. So, like most others here, I do occasionally drink LBVs and Ruby Reserves, but less often and take my Ports and Madeira up a notch for the most part. But at least 1x per year, I am happy to do a more low key Port tasting to get impressions of those Ports, but I have had all the Ruby Reserves that you want me to review, and while they do change over the years, I have to be careful nowadays. But I do hear you loud and clear.

Thanks to all that have bothered to and taken their time to provide feedback. I am listenting, I promise!

[J yuen]

As a newbie, i would love to see an affordable/readily available section to give us newbie's who are exploring the port universe some guidance... it's an expensive hobby and some guidance would be greatly appreciated... Along those lines maybe a guided tasting?... for us newbie's to learn from?