For The Love Of Port

To Andy Goatie, Scheiny S., Bert VD and A Dschus,

Welcome to all four of you. I am sorry I have not been to this thread in a while and missed you joining us. But I am very happy to have you guys and gal come here to spend time with us as we will be very happy to provide insight whenever possible, lend a helping hand and welcome you to our worldwide and friendly community. I hope that at some point our paths will cross and we may share a great bottle of Port together ... or two.

We look forward to your ongoing participation whenever your time and thirst for Port gets you in the mood.

Eric Menchen wrote:

A dschus wrote:Are you a home brewer or professional? If professional, who do you brew for?

I am a homebrewer, but have brewed with commercial breweries on occasion. My first semi-pro venture was making a cherry lambic with Odell Brewing (Ft. Collins), which became Friek. I brewed with a few other friends with Caution: Brewing (Denver) to make an export-style stout that we aged in wine barrels. Coincidentally, it was on the same brewing system I used at Odell. Odell replaced their pilot system and eventually Caution bought it to be their primary system at the time. Finally, I brewed a Belgian golden strong ale with a group that we aged in a soured wine barrel; and that beer was subsequently made at The Pumphouse (Longmont), although I didn't actively take part in the commercial brewing of that one.

it's funny how everything is connected. port and sherry barrels are used for whisky. the local brewery here (that makes Gouden Carolus amongst other beers) also makes a single malt whisky based on the distillate of their own beer. and strong ale infused with whiskey. and they got their distillery equipment in the US from a bourbon distillery

i am not a big fan of Lambic or Kriek (cherry Lambic) really. too sour for me. and the modern Kriek is extremely sweet, it's like lemonade.

Bert VD wrote:i am not a big fan of Lambic or Kriek (cherry Lambic) really. too sour for me. and the modern Kriek is extremely sweet, it's like lemonade.

I don't like the modern sweet Kriek much either, perhaps ironic for a Port drinker. Ours is more the traditional style, not intensely sour, but it is certainly sour. To each his own--that's what makes life interesting.

Bert VD wrote:

Eric Menchen wrote:

A dschus wrote:Are you a home brewer or professional? If professional, who do you brew for?

I am a homebrewer, but have brewed with commercial breweries on occasion. My first semi-pro venture was making a cherry lambic with Odell Brewing (Ft. Collins), which became Friek. I brewed with a few other friends with Caution: Brewing (Denver) to make an export-style stout that we aged in wine barrels. Coincidentally, it was on the same brewing system I used at Odell. Odell replaced their pilot system and eventually Caution bought it to be their primary system at the time. Finally, I brewed a Belgian golden strong ale with a group that we aged in a soured wine barrel; and that beer was subsequently made at The Pumphouse (Longmont), although I didn't actively take part in the commercial brewing of that one.

it's funny how everything is connected. port and sherry barrels are used for whisky. the local brewery here (that makes Gouden Carolus amongst other beers) also makes a single malt whisky based on the distillate of their own beer. and strong ale infused with whiskey. and they got their distillery equipment in the US from a bourbon distillery

i am not a big fan of Lambic or Kriek (cherry Lambic) really. too sour for me. and the modern Kriek is extremely sweet, it's like lemonade.

In reflection, drinking primarily stouts and lambics were an influence to trying and liking port. Both have similar qualities (heavy alcohol content, sweet, citrusy, cocoa, tobacco, oaky, etc flavor profiles, plus acidic finishes.) Good port is much easier to come by than good lambic. I can't find Drie Fountainen or Cantillon on the shelves in America but can easily find the best ports via web or store.

Maybe you can trade/sell me a few cantillon or dries?

Hi, I read this forum since 2 or 3 years and i decided to start participating. I have learn a lot of good information here.
I like port since 5 or 6 years. My cousin bring me a Taylor Fladgate 10 years tawny and since this time i started to love port. But i really start to love port since 2 years. Probably because of the 2011 vintage. The story of port, the country and the people, the way to make port... all this make me really love port. So since 2 years i buy almost all port and no more wine. The price for the wine is really too high and i have to hang up a lot of bottles but for port its almost all accessible.

I like tawny and vintage. Both have their pleasure. Almost all my ports are vintage. Just one Colheita (Single Harvest ) and just one LBV.
My favorite is Taylor Fladgate. But i really like Fonseca, Dow and Warre. Maybe Niepoort too but i just drunk once (vintage).

I drank a lot of 2011 to taste them young and have an idea (i have 2 or 3 bottles of each).
I'll open soon (in the nextyear) a Fonseca 1970 and a Dow 1977 magnum (i'm scared... i'll see). I'll open in about 2 weeks Taylor F. Single Harvest 1964. I have 3 Taylor F. Vergellas Vinha Velha 2011 (i drank one last year... awesome). I have some "big bottles" that will wait too. I tell you this so if you have comments on these bottles ill be happy to read you. I start to buy LBV to open them in 5 or 10 years too.
But I don't drink too often port (about one each 2 weeks). And often it's LBV (i like them too!).

I'll try to post some of my tasting and if i have questions or comments i'll write them.

Louis,

to FTLOP and thank you for posting on New Year's Day.

Your intro is great. Please know that many of us are big fans of LBV too. They deliver 3/4+ of the pleasure of a fine Vintage Port at about 1/3 the price. The QPR is fantastic and drinking LBV allows your young Vintage Ports to remain in your cellar.

It sound like you have the beginnings of a very solid Port collection. The 2011 vintage is so good, the Ports are delicious to drink now, yet most will last for several decades. All the names you mentioned that you own, are top producers from the vintage.

You have good taste judging by your favorite, Taylor. I hope someday you may get to try some of their oldies which are still excellent today, 1945/48/55/63/66/70/77, as examples. Also look to buy their 2000 VP, a truly great one, 1994 too!

Thanks for taking the leap of faith and joining us.

Roy

Roy Hersh wrote:Louis,

to FTLOP and thank you for posting on New Year's Day.

Your intro is great. Please know that many of us are big fans of LBV too. They deliver 3/4+ of the pleasure of a fine Vintage Port at about 1/3 the price. The QPR is fantastic and drinking LBV allows your young Vintage Ports to remain in your cellar.

It sound like you have the beginnings of a very solid Port collection. The 2011 vintage is so good, the Ports are delicious to drink now, yet most will last for several decades. All the names you mentioned that you own, are top producers from the vintage.

You have good taste judging by your favorite, Taylor. I hope someday you may get to try some of their oldies which are still excellent today, 1945/48/55/63/66/70/77, as examples. Also look to buy their 2000 VP, a truly great one, 1994 too!

Thanks for taking the leap of faith and joining us.

Roy

For the LBV i'm more and more interesting. I think some LBV are almost as good as Vintage. But once i drank a LBV and a Vintage side by side (Graham LBV 2009 and Croft vintage 2003) and i really saw what was the différences between the 2 port. Anyway i like LBV and i will start to buy some to drink in a couple of years.
For the Taylors you told (the 2000 and 1994) i have 2 of each. I drank the 2000 (in 2010) and it was really close (decanted about 2 hours... not enough). I had a good pleasure but not a great one. For the 1994 I drank once too and it was awesome! In this time i started a flu and i probably miss a little something. But i remembered the structure richness... wow! I will drink both (2000 and 1994) in 10 years approximately.

You clearly have good taste. We have a lot of beginners, intermediates and experts here on and if you read here on the Forum, feel free to ask questions, within 2016 you can exponentially double or triple your knowledge in a very short period of time. Keep on joining our discussions. People are very free to share ideas, no matter their level of expertise. It has always been a friendly place for that over the years!

Hi fellow port lovers,

My name is Chris, and I´m completely new here, and also very new on port in general. It started about two months ago with a spontaneous bottle of Dow´s Fine Tawny, before this I had only had cheap Saint Claire´s, Sandeman´s etc. After some general research, I realized how interesting the world of port really is, and I was hooked. I have yet to try any vintages/colheitas - I have an idea of "working my way up" to the really good stuff, training my senses to what is really GOOD port, so I will really appreciate it once I try it.

Tried so far: Dow´s Fine Tawny, Barros Tawny, Ferreira Tawny, Dona Antonia Reserva Tawny, Cockburns 10 year Tawny

Unopened: Quinta de Val da Figueira 10 year Tawny, Roze´s LBV 2003

My favorite so far is actually the Dona Antonia, I found it extremely smooth and pleasant to drink, and even better with some dark chocolate and smoked gouda. Heavenly. I expected the Cockburns 10 year to surprise me more than it did, but I felt that the alcohol masked the other flavors a bit too much.

Any recommendations on good ways to proceed my port journey is highly anticipated and appreciated! What´s a good next move? Should I open up the Roze´s LBV, or rather get myself a nice vintage? Perhaps try a 20 yr tawny?

Also, if anyone has recommendations on good online stores that ship within Europe, it´d be amazing. There is a specialized port wine cafe where I live, but their selection is quite limited...

Thanks in advance, and cheers!

Greeting Chris and

Out here in California our markets might have different selections than where you are but many remain the same.
you mention a 20YO Tawny, try this one, it sealed the deal for me on how good they are. Ferreira "Duque de Braganca" 20 Year Old Tawny Port
LBV are a best value for daily drinking. They taste great and priced right. As for vintages, that's up to you as to what style you may like best. While I love Dow's dryer style, almost every likes Fonseca...the fun is in the learning!

Welcome Chris!

Tawnies get much more interesting at 20 years old, so I would seek those out. LBVs are also great to try, best to find ones that are unfiltered. If you've got a friend or two, then buy two bottles of LBV, or two of 20 year tawnies. This will enhance the tasting with a comparison.

Chris!

All the things you've tried so far are tawnies, which are wood aged. So on that side, trying different ones and exploring colheitas makes sense if you generally like what you've had so far. Trying a vintage Port (VP) certainly could be fun, but before spending the money on one, you should try that LBV and possibly others first to see if you even like ruby ports, which are quite different from tawnies.

Where in Europe are you? We have a lot of forum members around here from Europe that might recommend retailers close to you, and even some of us non-Europeans have shopped around that part of the world.

Oh, wow. Thank you all so much for the warm welcomes and advice! Seems like the love for this wine brings some really good people together!

Regarding the heavy prevalence of Tawny in my tried-so-far list; to make a long story short, I´ve only had cheap ruby in the past, and in my opinion none of the tawnies I tried so far would even deserve to be compared with that. Brain says tawny=good. I guess I´ve subconsciously been trying to play a safe game by focusing on tawnies. With that said, I will definitely exit the comfort zone and open up that LBV in a very near future! Without a doubt, a colheita and a 20 year tawny are next on the list too.

I´m Swedish , but temporarily living in Kosice, Slovakia. Not sure if the eastern frontiers of Europe are that great for port shopping... however, there is a wonderful little café/wine shop here properly named "Porto", which is where I got most of my bottles so far.

Hi Chris,

to

I'd echo Eric's statements regarding trying some Ruby Ports now. I'd start with something like Graham's Six Grapes, Fonseca Bin 27, etc. then move up to LBV (both filtered and unfiltered as they will be a bit different from each other), then move onto a younger SQVP (Single Quinta Vintage Port) and VP's. Then finally branching out into older LBV, SQVP's, and VP's. That way you work your way up and through them and you can really see the difference each style has and then what age does to them. That would also allow you to see what you prefer and can focus on.

I would caution you not to buy a bunch of one thing all at once until you find out what Port suits you the best. Once you do that then you can focus on building a cellar and of course your tasting experience.

Feel free to ask any question, or bring up an older topic, as no topic is too trivial.

Andy Velebil wrote:Hi Chris,

to

I'd echo Eric's statements regarding trying some Ruby Ports now. I'd start with something like Graham's Six Grapes, Fonseca Bin 27, etc. then move up to LBV (both filtered and unfiltered as they will be a bit different from each other), then move onto a younger SQVP (Single Quinta Vintage Port) and VP's. Then finally branching out into older LBV, SQVP's, and VP's. That way you work your way up and through them and you can really see the difference each style has and then what age does to them. That would also allow you to see what you prefer and can focus on.

I would caution you not to buy a bunch of one thing all at once until you find out what Port suits you the best. Once you do that then you can focus on building a cellar and of course your tasting experience.

Feel free to ask any question, or bring up an older topic, as no topic is too trivial.

This really sounds like great, logical advice. Kind of feels like you´re seeing straight through me... I have to admit I´m a bit hyped up about my new found love for Port, and in that state of mind rash decisions can easily take place since you just want to try everything. Thank you so much! I will try to follow your advice as good as I possibly can. I was actually recommended by the shop owner to get a bottle of Graham´s Six Grapes, so I think I´ll go from there on the Ruby side, and open up the Roze´s 2003 Unfiltered LBV that I have after that.

Again, thanks!

welcome! i'm also new, and am mostly exploring Reserve Rubies and LBVs. i had the Quevedo Tawny Reserve this year, along with their white, Ruby, and an LBV, and loved them all. look them up if you can.
browse through old threads! and don't be shy about posting in an old thread, even if it's years old. [i actually asked whether that's ok and got a green light.]

can't wait to see more of what you have to say!

Hello everyone.

I've been reading this forum for a few weeks now after stumbling across it whilst searching for a bottle of Port for a friends 30th birthday.

I was introduced to Port whilst serving in the Military during my induction to the Mess. A "messy affair" (no pun intended) called the "Wheel of Portune" (terrible play on words I know.) This mostly involved drinking a "shot" of port every 5 minutes until you couldn't stand up to collect your next one.

Suffice to say this put me off the drink for the foreseeable future. However a few weeks later during my first function where I could drink at my own pace, I really enjoyed it.

I've since learned that the Mess only serves the cheapest Port they can get their hands on.

I left the military last year and decided recently to try Port again, I splashed out a whole £10 on a bottle of Taylors LBV 2010. It was easily one of the nicest things I have ever tasted, needless to say I'm now hooked.

I've dabbled in a few cheap Ruby bottles and I've gone back to the Taylors LBV 2010 whenever I spy it on the shelf in my local supermarket.

Fortunately (or un depending on your point of view) I'm the only person I know that drinks Port (I use the term loosely as I'm not even scratching the surface yet I realise) so I'm in the market for all the help, advice and pointers you can throw my way.

I'm turning 34 this year so would like to know about buying newly produced Port to lay down and enjoy in my retirement. I'm also in the market for trying as many different varieties etc as possible.

Thanks for the great resources here that I've read already, I look forward to this journey through Port with you guys!

Welcome Ben! I'm presuming you're in the UK given the price unit you mentioned. Where specifically? You've probably got lots of good sources there, and while you may not know anyone immediately to drink Port with, there are probably some close by you could meet. Of course there are a lot of us on this forum that would be happy to share advice.

If your are looking for stuff to buy now to lay down for retirement, 2011 Vintage Ports are the first thing that come to mind. It was an outstanding year and I'm guessing you can still find some to purchase. There have been a few labels released since, but nothing so widespread as that year. That just one thought. Of course you probably want to buy some older years for earlier drinking, more things like LBV, and maybe tawnies and colheitas. I don't know of any 1982 or 1986 VPs, but there are some colheitas from those years that might interest you.

Ben



"Wheel of Portune".....OUCH!! Not a great way to be introduced to Port. Glad you decided to give it a go again and found out the good stuff is really good.

Any of the major declared vintages are worth checking out and buying*. The younger ones you can lay down the older ones start drinking. Before you start buying lots I would suggest you buy a few different things and see what your tastes likes more. I'd recommend buying something from 1970 (a bit pricey but it will give you a good reference to tell if you like old VP or not), a younger VP from say 1994 and 2011, and some older and younger Colheita's ("Single harvest tawny" as it's often referred to in the UK). That will give you a pretty wide view of how they age and how they change with age. A young VP will be totally different than an old VP. A good tawny will be very different than a Ruby (VP, LBV).

*1975 thru 1983 was tough and I'd caution you to buy carefully. Lots of bottle variation and cork issues during this time. Before buying from this era I'd recommend asking us or checking out threads on them to make sure it's something you want to buy.

Eric, Andy,

Thank you for the warm welcome.

I am indeed in the UK, in South Wales if anyone is else around is interested.

I'm going to attempt to try some variations over the coming months, some Tawny, Colheita, an old vintage around 1970 if my budget can stretch (read convince the wife to let me) some younger VP and try to get my first bottle to lay down.

Outside of supermarkets does anyone in the UK, EU (or anywhere really) have some good sources for purchasing? I've had a quick look online and I'm wary about purchasing from the Web due to trust and shipment issues so any advice will be greatly recieved.

Thanks again.