For The Love Of Port

There are some very nice Single Quinta Vintage Ports. As a subscriber Simon, you can check my article on 2004 Vintage Ports in the archives and see dozens of them reviewed in detail.

By the way, it was a true pleasure to meet you and your with Kath on Wednesday evening.

I first heard this idea from Stewart on the Fall Harvest Tour 2008 and I think it's a fantastic idea - I am now planning on doing so for each of my children (1995 and 2003 "vintages"). Any help in assembling a potential list is greatly appreciated!

Rich

Having become a dad for the first time in 2008 (and having been the grateful recipient of Dow 1960 from my grandfather) I am a very serious advocate of this practice. Interesting to hear the suggestion it is a British tradition not generally practised elsewhere.

My own take on it is thus: Edward, born 19th July 2008. Conceived 2007. Options:

• 2008
  2007
  2006 (bottled 2008)
  2005 (bottled 2007)
  Any other random but great vintage he will appreciate - my Dow 1960 was for being born in 1970!

Ben,

I think you have a nice bunch of choices. You'll make a fine decision I am sure!

When 2007s come out, I am sure I'll selectively purchase some bottles, maybe a total of 3 cases (purchased in lots of 4 and 6 bottles) of the top half dozen VPs, all to go into my daughter's part of the cellar. I see no reason she should not have not only birth year wines, but VPs from the great years of her childhood which should be beautiful Ports by the time she is my age. If only my parents had been Port lovers!

Roy Hersh wrote:When 2007s come out, I am sure I'll selectively purchase some bottles, maybe a total of 3 cases (purchased in lots of 4 and 6 bottles) of the top half dozen VPs, all to go into my daughter's part of the cellar. I see no reason she should not have not only birth year wines, but VPs from the great years of her childhood which should be beautiful Ports by the time she is my age. If only my parents had been Port lovers!

No kidding!!! I wish my dad had been into Port then like I am now! He seems to be liking the VP just fine now that I have discovered it for him!

That is a good point Todd. I am sure he is pleased that you've turned him onto Port. Then again, without him, you certainly would not be enjoying any bottles at all.

I will try to buy some 2006(and bordeaux) for our son, but I am sure with all the port we have now he will get some after we are gone. I hope we drink up at least everything before 1970 though.

MIchael

Michael,
But how about leaving some of those older bottles for him too...if he turns out to like Port. Older bottles are so hard to come by, especially in good condition. And they come in handy for those occassional deep verticles like the Cockburn's one.

We actually get requests to send vintage ports by the case for wedding anniversaries. So the bride and groom can open one each year in the day they were married.

Mark,

It is nice to have you back visiting with us. I wondered where you went.

Andy Velebil wrote:Michael,
But how about leaving some of those older bottles for him too...if he turns out to like Port. Older bottles are so hard to come by, especially in good condition. And they come in handy for those occassional deep verticles like the Cockburn's one.

I would consider this too. Imagine a case of '66 or '70 vintage 20+ years from now!

Roy/Andy,

Sorry, I try to get here when I can but a career, two businesses, wife (keeps me extra busy), two small boys, soccer, baseball, ay-yi-yi. And Kings and Ducks on TV almost everynight.

Funny, I posted a few things awhile back but they never saved or made it on the forum...were there problems?

Going to taste a few great ports this Christmas season, so I'll try to come back in the Tasting Notes.

Mark

Excellent, we enjoy reading tasting notes about as much as anything else here.

Mark, I don't remember there being any issues with posts not showing up. Sorry about that, anyway! Hopefully it was an anomaly.

Glad to have you back with us.

What a wonderful site! I just registered and know next to nothing about port other than I love to drink it. I'm a 40 year old who has unexpectedly (!) become a father again... a shiny new baby daughter arrived on Christmas Eve. I want to buy a bottle or case for her that she can have on her 30th or 40th birthday and went out to buy a bottle of Taylors LBV 2003. I soon realised that this might not be a good port or it may not even be the kind of port you would store (as it says on the bottle it can be drunk immediately.

My next issue is that I have 2 children already (both boys...born in 1993 and 1998) so I would also like to do the same for them. Can anyone advise me on a good port for 1993, 1998 and 2008 that will delight these little ones when they finally get there hands on them?

musicsyellow wrote:What a wonderful site! I just registered and know next to nothing about port other than I love to drink it. I'm a 40 year old who has unexpectedly (!) become a father again... a shiny new baby daughter arrived on Christmas Eve. I want to buy a bottle or case for her that she can have on her 30th or 40th birthday and went out to buy a bottle of Taylors LBV 2003. I soon realised that this might not be a good port or it may not even be the kind of port you would store (as it says on the bottle it can be drunk immediately.

My next issue is that I have 2 children already (both boys...born in 1993 and 1998) so I would also like to do the same for them. Can anyone advise me on a good port for 1993, 1998 and 2008 that will delight these little ones when they finally get there hands on them?

Welcome to the best site on port (and Madeira and Douro wines). You might get a tweak from the administrators to change your handle... I'm pretty sure this is a "real names" only site.

Anyway... congrats on your new daughter!

I think with 2008 it it way too early to tell. If it is a "declared" vintage, we won't know until 2010. I might add that 2007 is looking to be a very good year and probably WILL be declared, so another declaration in the following year might be unlikely.

Both 1993 and 1998 are not generally declared vintages, although some others might have recommendations on particular bottlings and SQVPs that might go the distance. I think Dow made a decent Single Quinta VP in 1998.

As a backup, you could always do right bank Bordeauxs and German Rieslings in 1998. They will surely go the distance. The only region in 1993 that immediately comes to mind is Burgundy... which requires caution.

Congratulations on a wonderful Christmas present and indeed, welcome!

I honestly do not know of any VPs that were decvalred in 1993, I seem to recall a disastrous year for the Douro that year...

As far as 1998 goes, 1997 was a generally-declared year so mainly second labels and Single Quintas were declared that year. I know Vesuvio was declared in '98 and is normally a good bet and Dow's Senhora da Ribeira (Single Quinta) release is normally solid. I would suspect Fonseca Guimaraens and Graham's Malvedos would be good Ports as well.

2008, as someone above has mentioned, we won't know whether 2007 or 2008 may be declared (There have been mentions of a potential split declaration where many houses declare one year and many declared the other but almost never both.) The economy may also have a negative impact on a 2007 declaration to see if an '08 declaration may be better for the trade. Regardless, with SQVPs and second label VPs being made so much better these days, almost anything you can pick up will be of good, if not great, quality.

Hope to hear from you again real soon and learn more about the shared passion we have for this wonderful juice!

Todd

I have bought my children a case of port from each of their birth years, plus an extra bottle. The extra bottle will be opened on their 21st birthdays but the case will only be given to them if and when they show an interest in learning more - at the moment they are both totally disinterested.

Right now, I'm still buying for my own consumption and expect to have the time to be able to drink all the bottles that I own but there will come a time when I have to decide whether to continue buying for my children or to stop buying. Of course - I might continue to buy just so that I can have plenty of the latest vintage to drink while they are still full of baby-fat fruitiness.

There is an alternative to leaving your wine to your children. You could leave your wine as a memorial legacy to a trust or university college or similar...

I´m waiting for the 2007 Vintage´s , and I will keep for my daughter some 3 or 4 nice vintages (Niepoort, Quinta de Vale Meão, Quinta do Vezúvio and Rozés) for now, because I´m waiting for tasting new one´s. I can consider myself a lucky man because I´ve tasted a cask sample of the best 2007 Vintage with Roy Hersch , the most well balanced 2007.

The only kids we have who are interested in port are twin boys born in 1966. Lucky them! I think they will have to do their own birth-year port buying, although I did give them each a bottle on their 40th birthday. Our daughter, a little younger (1970) doesn't much care for port.

The only ports I have that are currently aging:

• 1998 Justin Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Obtuse (This, of course, is not really port but a California fortified wine. A friend who regularly gets a case of Obtuse each year gave me the bottle with the recommendation that I save it "for a while".)
• 1991 Niepoort Porto Colheita (I just happened to acquire this for reasons that I can't recall.)
• 1983 Warre Porto Vintage (Our marriage year; second time around for both of us; we'll drink this on some anniversary or other.)

Being 65 or so, I expect it is possible that some of these may end up being inherited.