Besides Vintage Port, what is your favorite style and ...

[Roy Hersh]

... additionally, what is the Port that you drink the most of?


Last but not least, with Vintage Ports ... what vintage have you consumed the most bottles from?

[Mike Kerr]

Interesting question, which I initially figured was an odd one until I actually thought about it and surprised myself with my answers.

I'd have to say my favourite style is the Tawny, specifically the aged ones, the older the better for me. Unfortunately I can't say I've had a lot of them because my tastes are pricey.

The port I drink the most of is the LBV's, mostly because I find it's an economical vehicle to educate myself on the various house styles, and to contrast vintages. (And it helps me keep my mitts of my more expensive VP's in the cellar and let them age.)

As for which vintage I've had the most from, including LBV's, it would be 2000 and 1997. Part of my port education in the VP realm has been to try different vintages, so I'm thinly scattered with one bottle from several vintages from 1980 through to 1997. Throwing in the LBV's though, I've had more from '00 and '97 than any other. Which just reflects avaiability in my local area more than anything, because I prefer older port.

Mike.

[Andy Velebil]

Well, I would have to say my favorite is VP's. Although I drink more LBV's right now than anything else. That is mostly due to still being relatively new to the port world and my desire to try as much as possible from different houses. LBV's are much easier to find near me and are more in my budget for daily drinking.

That being said, just a tad behind LBV's are tawny's of all types. For now it is more important for me to try almost anything I can get my hands on to broaden my experiences.

As for what VP I have consumed the most of is easy. Dow's 1986 Quinta do Bofim. Several years ago, when I was just getting into port, I bought 5 of these on sale for around $20.00 (US) each. That was my first major port purchase, I'll never forget it as I was so nervous. I have loved everyone and I now have one left. I keep telling myself I need to drink it soon. But I guess for sentimental reasons I keep delaying opening it.

[Jay Powers]

VP is my favorite, and second favorite would probably be a tie between Tawny and LBV. The tawnies go really nice sitting by the fireplace, and I like that I can keep them for longer once opened. The LBV's are a cheap way to determine which houses I like (and taste good too!).

My VP experience is probably spread out evenly from 1966 (Grahams) to 2003 (Warres most recently) as I experiment to find out what I like best and what I might want to lay down. If I include the LBVs then the biggest vintage would be 2000.

Favorite houses would be Grahams, Warre, Niepoort, and Vesuvio for VP, Warre and Niepoort for LBV, and Grahams, Niepoort, and Roriz for Tawny.

Jay

[Derek T.]

Traditional LBV is my preferred style after VP, Warre's, Noval and da Silva being the 3 TLBV's I have had most often. After that it would be anything I could find at 50% off in Tesco's 8)

I don't drink lots of classic VP, perhaps 1 or 2 bottles a month when it's cool enough to appreciate it, so I can't really claim to have had significantly more of one particular vintage. However, if pushed, I would say 1977, mainly Dow's.

In terms of pure volume I have probably had more SQVP's from off vintages in the 1980's than anything else as that is where I started my journey into the world of port in the early 90's.

If prices keep going the way they are I think if you ask this question again in a few years time I will say 1997 - I spent a while brousing the net the other day focussing on this particular vintage and found 3 VP's that score between 94 and 98 points for between £19-£27 a bottle when purchased in cases of 12 - these seem to be the QPR buys of the moment.

Derek

[John Conwell]

While I do enjoy Tawny, I'd have to say my favorite drink is Colheita. The problem with tawny that I've found is that while I've never had a bad one, I've never had an amazing one. They never fail to please me, but that's the problem. Tawny are mixed to produce a good flavor (of course, no house would ever mix a crappy tawny and release it).

But, to me, what makes wine so fun is the discovery. The discovery of an amazing wine. But that discovery isn't nearly as exciting if you never run the risk of finding a not so great bottle. And since Colheita is released from the efforts of a single year, as with any other single year wine, sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t.

For example, I recently purchased a 1980 and 1982 Rocha Colheita. I tried the 80 first, and what a disappointment. It was cloudy, bland, very little flavor. Then I tried the 82 and WOW, an explosion of wonderful flavor in my mouth! What an amazing drink. Probably my second favorite Colheita ever, next to the 63 Rocha. The experience of drinking the 1980 added to the pleasure of the 1982.

The other aspect of Colheita that I like is the sense of (affordably) experiencing a piece of history from a specific year. You get to taste a part if 1977, or 1963. With a tawny, you don’t get that sensation. Yea, it’s a 40 year, but what years went into it? Do you know? Can you pull them apart in your mouth if you did? I couldn’t.

I know this sounds a bit masochistic and romatic. But in my opinion if you never suffer, you never really appreciate something wonderful. And if anything in the world should be romantic, wouldnt it be wine?

Now, that being said, if I was to share either an unknown and untried tawny or Colheita with a friend, I'd definitely pick a tawny for the reasons stated earlier. A tawny is predictably good. It will hardly ever let you down.

[simon Lisle]

After vintage port it would be colheitas I have not much experiance with older one's.While recent Krohns have dissapointed the Burmester are superb value but have shot up in price in the last year.I have a few old Niepoort but have no plans to drink them soon.I quite like Tawny's and also think some of the single quinta's are good value.