For The Love Of Port

2012 Niepoort LBV, half bottle. For tonight.

1985 Fonseca to help get me through a board meeting... it worked! No time to decant, but still drank about 40% of the bottle during the meeting and after. Was even better the next night.

1994 Presidential Vintage Port (Dalva). 3 bottle I have tried over the last couple of years. This one is actually not bad. A lot of spirit on the 1st night, but day 2&3 are actually pretty good. I won't be as dismissive towards it. Was just a 6 bottle OWC, so at mid-point now. The lesser 94's are in a good place for multi-night drinking.

1977 Taylors. A decent bottle.

Eric Ifune wrote:1977 Taylors. A decent bottle.

Funny, I just brought a bottle up from the basement to let it sit upright for 12 hours before I decant it tomorrow.

Taylor 1955

From a slightly evolved and ullaged stash that I bought a decade ago and have been slowly working my way through. Wonderfully fragrant and classic Taylor signature - a delight..

Rocha Over 40 year old.

2007 Quevedo VP, note is posted

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=41889

Cockburn 94

I took my time drinking this one.

On day one this had more body than most of the 94s recently tasted, but with quite a lot of bottle stink on the nose, although this was not a muddy bottle. This subsided and the body grew substantially over days 2,3 and 4. Even on day five when I finished the decanter, there was no sign of it getting tired. At it's peak this wine affords class on the palate, but not on the nose. Score 4-5

Note to self: Give 94's a full 48hrs decant time

Warre 81 LBV

This is a wine I have quite a lot of and come back to each year. Although marred by bottle variation, most are good and this is one of the best yet. Would easily pass as vintage, the wine is dark, rich and well rounded, approaching it's peak of maturity but perhaps not quite there yet. Remarkable, given the disastrous vintage..

1995 Fonseca Guimaraens VP

I've opened lots of 2017 Vintage Ports recently, mainly for the members of The Port Forum, to see what we think of the vintage as a whole. The verdict is that we really like it. Among the wines we tasted were:

1. Bulas 2017;
2. Burmester 2017;
3. Churchill 2017;
4. Churchill Quinta da Gricha 2017;
5. Cockburn 2017;
6. Quinta do Crasto 2017;
7. Croft 2017;
8. Croft Quinta da Roêda Sērikos 2017;
9. Dalva 2017;
10. Dow 2017;
11. Fonseca 2017;
12. Graham 2017;
13. Graham The Stone Terraces 2017;
14. Quinta do Javali 2017;
15. Kopke 2017;
16. Quinta das Lamelas 2017;
17. Martha 2017;
18. Maynard 2017;
19. Maynard Organic 2017;
20. Niepoort 2017;
21. Quinta do Noval 2017;
22. Quinta do Noval Nacional 2017;
23. Pintas 2017;
24. Poças 2017;
25. Portal 2017;
26. Portal Muros 2017;
27. Quevedo 2017;
28. Ramos Pinto 2017;
29. Ramos Pinto Quinta de Ervamoira 2017;
30. Quinta da Romaneira 2017;
31. La Rosa 2017;
32. Quinta da Sequeira 2017;
33. Skeffington 2017;
34. Taylor 2017;
35. Taylor Vargellas Vinha Velha 2017;
36. Quinta do Vale Meão 2017;
37. Quinta do Vallado 2017;
38. Quinta do Vesuvio 2017;
39. Capela da Quinta do Vesuvio 2017;
40. Vieira de Sousa 2017;
41. Warre 2017;

Tom Archer wrote:Note to self: Give 94's a full 48hrs decant time

This rings true for me on the lesser 94's. I have been avoiding the big guns of the vintage; maybe try in 2024? The Presidential '94 was actually really solid on day 5 as is the Sandeman. Really is a special vintage.

'99 Dow Crusted.

'63 Sandeman VP

1970 Borges VP

Mike J. W. wrote:'63 Sandeman VP

Wow nice. How was it?

Thomas V wrote:

Mike J. W. wrote:'63 Sandeman VP

Wow nice. How was it?

I'm still deciding on it. It's a very strange bottle. Sometimes it tastes thin with a little too much alcohol and then it seems to settle a little bit.
Right now, it's not bad, but also not great. It was only a 2 1/2 hour decant, so I'm hoping it's a little less spirity and a little smoother tonight.

2000 Warre LBV - opened last night in celebration of our national independence day. Floral, smooth and delicious. Looking forward to night two tonight.

Went well with the fireworks in our neighborhood, but our dog wasn't digging any part of it.

S Leonardo 30 year old Tawny Port - Bottled in 2009

Mike J. W. wrote:

Thomas V wrote:

Mike J. W. wrote:'63 Sandeman VP

Wow nice. How was it?

I'm still deciding on it. It's a very strange bottle. Sometimes it tastes thin with a little too much alcohol and then it seems to settle a little bit.
Right now, it's not bad, but also not great. It was only a 2 1/2 hour decant, so I'm hoping it's a little less spirity and a little smoother tonight.

It's improved with more time in the decanter. It's more integrated even though the alcohol is still prominent. It's not bad, but still not a world beater.
The capsule was pretty beat up and the store I got it from (at a very good price) stored it standing up, so all in all, it was worth taking a chance on it/