Alan,
Aiyiyiyieee, here we go again!
You
know I would prefer drinking the older port to the younger (more readily available) stuff. I can, however, rebuke your point a slight bit:
Alan C wrote:Why do you think the glories of a 45 are so rare today? Its not because we're all popping down the shops and drinking them every weekend. Its because wellmeaning folk from the 40's and 50's, like yourself, decided not to drink the other stuff around and knocked off the young VP of the day. Thus denying our generation of this drink, which might have been more freely available, when its in its prime!
In my world, we pass on the legacy of the Vintage Ports being made now to our childrens generation. We have our current drinking window Ports, and we all have a myriad of lesser Ports to drink between the 'Special' VP's.
You never know when you are going to leave this world. As a police officer, I am sure you know the dangers that can lurk around every corner and as such, you have to face these risks head on every single work day of your life. Some of us take life for granted and never realize that we could be gone tomorrow.
The point is that if you do not occasionally take the time to drink a "younger" VP now and again, you may never realize the glory that is there, available at your hands now. Certainly these ports will be better in 30-40 years - I will not debate that point. What if you had lived in the 1930-40s and had cases of the Noval '31 ready to drink when they turned 30 and you (just pulling a number out of my head for an example) turn 60. Now what happens if you die on the night before your 60th birthday - never having sampled one bottle of the greatness that the '31 Noval of legend has become. THAT is a tragedy.
I'm really
not saying drink
cases and cases of young stuff... not at all. If I buy a case of 2003 for myself, I will likely sample one young and still have 11 to go. (Or better, buy a case and one or two odd bottles so that the full case can be preserved and I have two samples from which to draw comparisons from.) But if I die at the age of 40 (2016 AD) with only 13 years of maturation for the 2003 line, I would never have gotten a chance to sample the greatness that the 2003s apparently offer.
Yes, it is a tad selfish. I am buying a case for my kids so that they too will have a case of their own for when it is mature... but if I buy a case for myself, you're damn rights I'm going to try one, cuz if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I want to die knowing that I have tried something that may one day be one of "the greats." And if I DON'T get hit by a bus and live to be 60, I'll be sipping the 2003 lineup when they are fully mature and be able to look back and compare between the young, the mid-aged and the truly aged.
Yes, every bottle drank means it becomes more and more rarified, but if we left ALL VP for 30 years minimum, it just means that the rarification process would occur all at once, and usually only to a privilidged few, the wealthy who can afford to snap up the cases and cases that would be made available on the port's 30th anniversary. We would all gorge ourselves of 12 bottles of the 30 yr old VP in a couple of months or a year rather than enjoying the port during its aging process along the way. In the end, it will get drank, and when it occurs doesn't necessarily mean anything.
Hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion... yours obviously is fairly closed-minded for an OLD drinking window (and I can understand your passions on the subject. My own view is just as passionate the other way... doesn't mean either of us is wrong. I respect your right to have that opinion.) I try to look at this as a learning journey. I can't afford many older bottles, so I enjoy trying a few now and again that may not be as mature as they will be. I may not be getting AS enjoyable an experience than if the ports were 30 yrs of bottle-age, but I certainly enjoy the experience, regardless of the age. (On that note, if I die tomorrow with not a single "Aged" bottle under my belt, I will be an extremely sad spirit that will likely come back to haunt your arse and persuade you, as Scrooge was persuaded by his ghosts, to enjoy a port NOW, no matter its age!
)
On that note, Alex, you are welcome here with open arms if you do get 'deported'
But don't leave the bastards any port. Take it all with you or blow it up before you leave! :twisted:
ok.. my rant = over :blah: :blah: :blah:
Todd
This whole thread was started 'tongue in cheek' by me. Yes I believe in the point I make. No I dont really mind you guys drinking them young, but I'd rather you didn't. The clue was in the title. I'm not important enough to trumpet my opinion as though I am, and so it was titled 'Alan C's Late April Rant' Late April also suggesting I'm always Ranting.
