For The Love Of Port

Does anyone know of some good quality 1982 VP or SQVP that are drinking nicely at the moment? They are to be drunk at my 30th birthday later this year.

Thanks

Andreas

Boy a tough year for top notch VP's, that's for sure. From the small handful I've had and from others who's palates I trust, I'd say most are fully mature and ready to drink now. None are blockbusters, except for one I've had, but the rest should at least offer up a pleasant drink. My favorites are the Graham's Malvedos and the Niepoort. The former I've never seen for sale so the odds of finding it are probably pretty small. The Offley Boa Vista is also decent and up there with the Niepoort. Sandeman is still pleasant but fading and a bit simple.

With 82s you have a lot of options - I think Derek once identified 43 declared VPs from 1982 - taking into account that this was pre-1986 rule changes, it was a wide declaration even by comparison to other more illustrious vintages (cf in the region 33 declarations from 77?). I view some of these wines from this vintage more favourably than most, though they are rarely spectacular...and the vintage certainly does not provide any particularly good candidates for your 40th or 50th!

I have had extremely good Churchill and Croft 82s before - but the bottlings are not 100% reliable...

I do enjoy the Sandeman 82 - the venue where we hold some London tastings had it on their lists for a while and it made a thouroughly acceptable end-of-evening emergency port. There seems to be a fair bit of this port about so it might well be the easiest one to acquire. If needed, i could also provide you with one (depending on when you need it and if is possible to work out transport/handover in time).

Delaforce made a good port (based on the one bottle i tried), though it is certainly no longer one for long-term cellaring! Noval 82 is a solid and enjoyable port and i think it is better than the Noval 85 (though, again, my sample size of the 82 is only 1!)

The Niepoort, Eira Vehla and Terra Feita all have good repute, though i have not tried any of these. Ramos Pinto 82 is also supposed to be worth a look. I would be extremely impressed if you can find the Malvedos 82!

I would suggest avoiding Royal Oporto 82.

And for a truly excellent 1982 port...the Andresen 1982 colheita...
(Dow also do a 1982 colheita that is supposed to be good)

Rob C. wrote:(Dow also do a 1982 colheita that is supposed to be good)

I've had it several times and it is quite good. Great finish on it, as I recall.

Glenn E. wrote:

Rob C. wrote:(Dow also do a 1982 colheita that is supposed to be good)

I've had it several times and it is quite good. Great finish on it, as I recall.

I concur. I had a couple of these and was quite pleased. I could find it locally for a while about a year to 2 years ago. It seems the supply has dried up, though.

-- Gary

Andy Velebil wrote:Boy a tough year for top notch VP's, that's for sure. From the small handful I've had and from others who's palates I trust, I'd say most are fully mature and ready to drink now. None are blockbusters, except for one I've had, but the rest should at least offer up a pleasant drink. My favorites are the Graham's Malvedos and the Niepoort. The former I've never seen for sale so the odds of finding it are probably pretty small. The Offley Boa Vista is also decent and up there with the Niepoort. Sandeman is still pleasant but fading and a bit simple.

No it would have been much better in my primary interest centered on Bordeaux given my birth year

Thanks for good advise.

Andreas

Noval is decent, but on the downward trend.

I have been very impressed by the Andresen 1982 colheita that was available in the UK a few years ago through Laithwaites and the Sunday Times Wine Club - it might still be available, I haven't been into one of their shops for a while.

If you're looking for vintage port, I can recommend the Niepoort, Eira Velha and the Churchill. Also worth trying would be Croft, Delaforce, Malvedos, Noval and Sandeman. I have found bottle variation in all these ports.

A little way behind these for my taste are the 1982 ports from Fonseca Guimaraens, Royal Oporto and Vargellas. I'm in no rush to try any of these again.

I've never tried the Warre Traditional LBV from 1982, but suspect that this would be pretty good.