What was the first Port you ever tasted?

[Robert O.]

I have no idea what the first port I ever tasted was. I am guessing it was a ten year tawny of some kind or another because that was all I could probably afford. I can tell you that the port that made me fall in love and begin to collect port was a 1994 Graham's. I actually dreamed about this port for days after trying it.

[Roy Hersh]

This has turned out to be one of my all time favorite threads as there are so many fun stories in here to read.

I've told mine here so many times, so I will just mention the Port again:

I was weaned on many a bottle of 1963 Sandeman (between 1982-1988) working at a restaurant in NYC where they bought cases of this early on and sold it BTG from a slick Cruvinet system.

[Al B.]

... a half bottle of Taylor 1992 (thinking to myself, 'gee, it's not as cheap as the stuff my uncle used to drink'), brought it to a friend's house and drank it 'on the rocks'...

This made me laugh and cringe at the same time. Good to see you back here Eric!

Alex

[Alex R]

Bin Twenty Seven; open the flood gates for me!

[Roy Hersh]

We have a LOT of new people posting on the Forum since this thread last came to the fore. I hope some of you who have not yet posted, will feel free to at least enter the name of the Port you first tasted.

[Carl D]

First Port? No idea - probably six grapes or bin 27, I'd guess. First Port that I drank and really liked? That's easy - Taylor 20 year old Tawny. We'd become rather unenamored with tawnies, having had only the basic tawnies that appear on restaurant dessert menus, but the waiter in a place Phyllis and I were dining described the flavor of the Taylor 20 as "liquid French toast" so we tried it and we haven't looked back!

[Glenn E.]

I can't swear that it was the first Port I ever tasted, but the first one that I remember and the one that created the monster was a Porto Rocha 20-yr Old Tawny. A friend gave me a half bottle for my 40th birthday, and as they say the rest is history. I still have that bottle, along with several other "firsts" including:

1st bottle: Porto Rocha 20-yr Old Tawny
1st Colheita: 1977 Porto Rocha
1st 10-yr old that I actually enjoyed: Niepoort
1st Vintage Port purchased: 1970 Martinez, 1977 Royal Oporto - both as yet unopened
1st "aged" Vintage Port: 1983 Warre
1st "old" Vintage Port: 1938 Hooper
1st "old" Colheita: 1947 Barros, 1952 Barros - these and the '38 Hooper are all from my first Port tasting, the "Old & Odd" in NYC in November, 2008
1st magnum: 1995 Quinta do Crasto Vintage Port ($50!!! I still have one more.)
1st cask sample: 2007 Kopke Vintage Port
1st Madeira purchased: Rare Wine Co. Historic Series New York Malmsey... which is still half full and going strong!

[John M.]

1985 Fonseca VP in 1989...I was in a friends wedding and it was a groomsman gift. I knew nothing of decanting, etc. I know I opened it and drank it over a month or so using a shot glass. I remember getting gritty sediment at the end. (What a NOOB)...and enjoying it immensely. Funny, while I liked it a lot I did not get hooked. Occasionally over the next 17 years I'd get a bottle of ruby then Christmas 2006 someone gave me a bottle of Presidential Ruby (raving about how good it was). I thought it was OK but remembered better. So next visit to the nice wine store in town I asked a lot of questions, bought a few bottles of ruby and LBVs, lurked here and got hooked. I then got some friends into it and formed a very informal port club. First meeting in March 2008 we had a 2002 Dows Crusted, Grahams Six Grapes, 2000 Silval VP and a 2005 Fonseca Quinta do Panascal.

[Paul Fountain]

I can't be 100% certain, but I think it was something from the Kopke tasting room in 2008. It would have been what ever they serve up in their tastings. What I can say with certainty, is that shortly after that, a bottle of 85 Kopke vintage port was purchased and 6 of us sat in the tasting room and consumed the bottle. The group I was with were enthusiastic but not knowledgable and in hindsight the bottle could have done with several hours of decanting, although we enjoyed it at the time. Later that day, a half bottle of 1991 Vargellas was also consumed, and despite the lack of time in the decanter, this was a bit of a wow moment for me!
My first taste of a fortified would have almost certainly been an Australian tawny probably from the glass of whichever parent or grand-parent wasnt watching closely enough, probably at age 3 or 4.

[Miguel Simoes]

Despite growing up in Portugal, the first contact I had w Port wine that got me excited about it was while I was studying abroad in Bristol, in the UK, in early 2002.

The Sainsbury's on Whiteladies Rd was running a promo on a Taylor LBV (cant recall which year) and for some 10-12 GBP I got myself a bottle.

Drank it over the next few months and really enjoyed it!


Back to the part on being from Portugal. I find it interesting that in my extended family there isnt much of a habit of drinking port. That said, there was always a bottle at home that would come out around Christmas but people wouldnt take to it, so each bottle would last for years! And it was prob some inexpensive ruby to begin with! Not the best recipe for getting to love port!

Can only blame it on decent port being relatively expensive, especially a few decades ago, shunning the masses from getting to know and love it.

[Bradley Bogdan]

Mine was unknown, probably not even true port, in a ruby style, and used as the communion wine at the church where I sang in the choir growing up. The dean was fond of a tipple or three at church functions, so I can only guess that he couldn't stand what passed as communion wine at other local parishes. The other church I attended regularly used some badly oxidized pink wine-like substance, so I can understand where he might've been coming from. While it wasn't what turned me on to wine, it did create a positive memory to link back to when I did first jump into fortifieds after the wine bug bit.

My first legit port was Graham's Six Grapes, served at the restaurant I worked at for a few years in college.

[Al B.]

Somewhere above, I talk about the first port I remember drinking and which had the effect of persuading me to give up (almost) all other wines and just concentrate on port.

The first port that I ever tasted from magnum was Graham 1966. This was a part of the first matrix tasting that was held in London in November 2005 where we drank Fonseca, Graham, Sandeman and Taylor from the 1963, 1966 and 1970 vintages. The Graham 1966 was the only one to be served from a magnum - and it was really good.

It was nearly a year later in October 2006 that I next tasted a port from magnum. That was a disappointing Dow 1970, probably disappointing because it was not given long enough in the decanter before being drunk.

And it was only in December 2009 that I opened my first magnum!

[Peter W. Meek]

My first port was at a "comp" dinner/wine-tasting put on by a casino where my wife played frequently. Among some other very good wines was a 1966 Graham VP. They were posting bottle prices, so there may have been some extra bottles available. The Graham was listed at $600, so as a previous port-unaware person, I was quite shocked. (I now think that may have been a very inflated valuation! 25 years ago? Now really.)

That said, it was an epiphany. I spent several years trying all kinds of port with no idea what I was looking for. I was mostly disappointed, although some other ports from the 1960s came close. What I finely discovered was that I really don't care all that much for ruby ports (consequently most VPs except some fairly old ones), but that I did like some tawnies (once I discovered that there were two main kinds of port) and settled on Warre's Nimrod as my favorite. Over time, I must have bought several dozen cases of that port. When Warre discontinued that wine, I set out to search again and finely settled (again) on Ferreira 20 year old as my regular port.

[Russ K]

1988 Grahams Malvedos around 2004...It hooked me instantly to see what a nicely aged VP could be. Been hooked ever since, and that started not only my port craze, but me being just wine nuts in general!

I am sure I had the odd tawny here and there before hand in restaurants, but that Malvedos did it.

[Kurt Wieneke]

I was part of a 3 person tasting group in 1997-1999. The other 2 guys were Bordeaux and Port aficianados. I think the first VP they served me was Dow's 77, I didn't like it that much (too medicinal). In the following months came Graham's 70, Gould Campbell 77, Graham's 85, etc. It was the Graham's 70 which set the hook.

[Rune EG]

This was September 1979. I was working with a Norwegian ocean shipping company carrying rolling vhicles around the world. I had just become Trade Manager for a regular shipping line to the Middle East and was visiting one of the major car producers in UK at that time. I was invited to a dinner in a old castle in the outskirts of Birmingham, U.K.

Towards the end of the meal my host asked me whether I wanted to taste port wine. At that time I had only heard about it, but never tasted. It was definitely a bottle from Cockburn's and I am 90 % sure it was a Cockburn's Special Reserve.

My immediate reaction was that this was something for me, and on the way home I purchased a couple of port bottles at the tax free shop at the airport. Since then I have always had port bottles in my house!

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Rune, so is the rumor true or not, that you also carry a hip flask of a 40 year old Tawny around in your coat pocket?

[Pete W]

We live close to Niagara One day while out for a drive we stopped an interesting looking winery .Named De Sousa after wandering around the shop looking at all the different wines I asked the woman behind the counter what their most popular product was? She answered "the Port" simply called De Sousa Port . Since I'm new I didn't ask what year or where it made (they said it was imported) so I bought a bottle for $35 dollars ...one of the last 5 in the store . That was 2 and a half years ago last summer I bought 6 bottles. Gave a couple as gifts and drank the rest. I Don't know if it was a top grade port but it was something I was happy to drink . No its time to have some fun, refine my taste , and enjoy more Port

[Rune EG]

Well Roy, although it is tempting to say it is true, it is not.
During the three FTLOP Harvest Tours 2010+11+12 I have found out that I can actually enjoy a lot of tawnies/colheitas provided I am not hit in the face by an aroma full of spirit. So that means in most cases that I like the older tawnies/colheitas.

BUT, I am still more interested in vintage ports, but the weight scale between the ports are slowly moving!!

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Rune, so is the rumor true or not, that you also carry a hip flask of a 40 year old Tawny around in your coat pocket?

I've got the pictures to prove it