For The Love Of Port

In a year when I didn't have very many ports the 2004 Quinta do Roriz turned out to be a winner. It was a recent find and not one from the cellar. I opened a bottle to see if it was worth buying more and it turned out to be a delicious, hedonistic, elegant port with plenty of life ahead of it. One could drink this one on opening or with many hours of airing, it is that good and versatile.

Runner-ups would include the 1996 Smith Woodhouse 'Madelena' SQVP and the Wine & Soul 10 year-old.

Happy New Year and may the ports be with you .......................... Mahmoud.

Mahmoud Ali wrote:In a year when I didn't have very many ports the 2004 Quinta do Roriz turned out to be a winner. It was a recent find and not one from the cellar. I opened a bottle to see if it was worth buying more and it turned out to be a delicious, hedonistic, elegant port with plenty of life ahead of it. One could drink this one on opening or with many hours of airing, it is that good and versatile.

Runner-ups would include the 1996 Smith Woodhouse 'Madelena' SQVP and the Wine & Soul 10 year-old.

Happy New Year and may the ports be with you .......................... Mahmoud.

The Roriz is a very good Port. And not often seen as there wasn't much of it made since the focus is the dry wine production from that Quinta.

I was so lucky in 2016. I was in the right place at the right time to share a fabulous bottle of Cockburn 1908. I gave it 99 points.

My best barrel aged port was when I visited Oporto and gave in to temptation and bought a glass of Scion at the bar in the Yeatman Hotel, which I gave 98 points.

But my Port shock of the year was when I was given blind a glass of Port which I guessed to be an old and slightly oxidised LBV when it turned out to be a 60 year old barrel aged Porto Quinado, a category of Port I never knew about and was tasting for the first time.

It was a crazy year with a handful of fine local tastings, another bunch of events with FTLOP'ers around the USA, two each in Denmark and Canada, and one in France. Additionally 2 PHTs and the first part of the Fortification Tour. All in all, more than 420 Ports counted ... or at least one's that were written in tasting notebooks. The 1966 Quinta do Noval Nacional was my BEST Port tasted in 2016; the standout of all of them.

There were 4 other Ports that left their mark above any others I tasted during the year, but for different reasons; (I don't count the 60 and 100 year old S. Leonardo's, which I experienced yet again in 2016):

a. Sentimental favorite: 1963 Sandeman Vintage Port in magnum, my only magnum of this Port, which was the first VP that I ever tasted, (now almost 34 years ago). But, it was the fact that George Sandeman was coming to my home along with Jorge Rosas, (who heads up Ramos Pinto) for a special dinner to welcome FTLOP along with two of our staff members into the Confraria do Vinho do Porto: Andy V. and Stewart T. Great night all in all, but due to a calamity of airline errors (and weather) both out of his control, George missed two scheduled flights and was not able to get in to Seattle until way too late.

b. Oldest in category: Andy organized a event in LA in early Dec. that I was fortunate to be able to attend. A 1929 Cockburn's Crusted Port was not even the POTN, but I loved it nonetheless. Given the bottle had to survive two flights over a few days, it still showed amazingly well, had great color given its age and drank better than any of us ever expected it would. The vast majority of blind guesses leaned towards a considerably younger VP. I've never seen nor heard of an older Crusted Port, although I am sure someone likely has. Either way, this was a great experience that I'll likely never get to repeat, as it was my only bottle. Definitely shared with the right crew at the right time and place.

c. Most unique packaging: While tasting through a lineup with the winemaker of one of Portugal's finest lineups of Espumante, (sparkling wine) she brought a bottle of 1934 Casa do Douro Colheita for dessert to share with participants on the PHT1 Tour. It had one of the coolest and most colorful Port labels I've ever seen. It was in the cellar of her company since it was bottled from cask in 2004. But more importantly, it was phenomenal!

d. Most surprising ringer: On our PHT2 we had what I am assuming is the identical Quinado that Alex mentioned, (but I could be wrong of course) in the post above this one, which reminded me, I had not included my "BEST" from 2016 either. It was both old and a spectacular Port. I was surprised when two well-known individuals from this Forum, known for their ultra-conservative scores, give this Poças Port a pretty remarkable rating. Nonetheless, it was a shock to all of us, when we saw the reveal. No guess was even close!