For The Love Of Port

Is anyone there yet? Come on guys, give us some tales of drinking 30 glasses of port in 2 hours and being poured a 300 year old Colheita at Neipoort

42 hours to go and Alex and I should be joining you in the Crasto Lagare, providing Alex is brave enough to get his feet wet :?

Derek

Well, you missed the horizontal tasting of 1994 vs. 2004 with the Symington Family which was pretty amazing, a deep tasting of wines at Ramos Pinto including 1983 Vintage Ports made from individual grapes (just to prove to Uncle Tom that I DO know what I am talking about ... when he said he did not think such a thing existed).

We have had a visit to Vinologia and Avepod shops. So far we have seen Calem, Vasconcellos, Kopke, Sandeman, Ramos Pinto, Niepoort, The Symington Family and that is just in Gaia.

Then there have been Colheitas from the 1930s, 1950s and 1890s ... but I do not want to torture you with more details for now. After lunch today we are off to the Douro to stomp on grapes. Hurry up before you miss out on the fun!

While Roy is downstairs at Avepod, i will give you my

This trip is GREAT this is the best trip I have ever had. Totally amazing. I am sipping a awsome 40 year tawny from Quinta do Mourao that will just knock your socks off :!: :!:

Derek, you should already be in town now, so I shall see you in just a couple of hours.

For the rest of the forum members, this is a trip you should plan on going to next year. We are only the beginning of day 3 and it is just amazing

just to prove to Uncle Tom that I DO know what I am talking about ... when he said he did not think such a thing existed

Ouch! - are you sure that was me??

Not heard of it being done before, but don't recall disputing the fact...

What do they call it? - Porto d'Yquem...?

Tom

Just got back today - don't have the energy for a legthy note now so will jump straight to the overall score - 100, 5*, 10-10, 20/20 Wow-Wow - pick whichever scoring system suits - this trip was unbeatable

Derek

Derek Turnbull wrote:Just got back today - don't have the energy for a legthy note now so will jump straight to the overall score - 100, 5*, 10-10, 20/20 Wow-Wow - pick whichever scoring system suits - this trip was unbeatable

Derek

I just got home tonight and agree with Derek 100%, I don't want to give all the secret details away of what we did. But, I will say it was absolutly amazing and way beyond what I thought possible.

Many thanks to Roy, Mario, and the other members of the trip for a great time!!!

It was a truly amazing trip - I met people and drank wines I have only read about and have some memories that will live with me forever. It was made such a good time by the people I met, the wines I drank and - most of all - the great group who I did all this with.

Can all the guys on the trip please email me their email addresses (and Derek his postal address). I have a spreadsheet of purchases and amounts owed to send out to everyone and would like to do this sooner rather than later.

But to Roy and Mario - thank you! That was an astonishing three days and an incredible finale on Friday night!

Alex

Any wine casulties on the way home? Hope everyone's wines made it home safe and sound.

My new additions were safely added to my cellar this morning.

Mine all made it home safely, but I think Eric had a casulty. As there was a smell of Douro grapes coming from his bag.

Only one casualty for me - my liver :?

Derek

Mine all made it home safely, 3 in the hold and the 3 most precious in hand luggage.

Derek, apparently, also managed to bring home part of a bunch of grapes!

My only casualty is that I can't look at a bottle of port at the moment, just makes my stomach turn when I think of more port.

Alex

....they are in the freezer

Mine all got home with me, intact!

Jay

No problems for me. All of my wines arrived just fine.

-Dave-

I am pleased to report that I didn't lose a single bottle! When I picked up my luggage it was soaked and smelled of wine and I was a bit worried. When I got home it turned out that someone else must have lost a Douro white, and it all seeped into my luggage as well. So thankfully, no broken bottles and minimal staining. But some poor traveller had a big mess to deal with...

On the whole, the trip was absolutely astonishing, but right now I can't even look at a bottle of wine or eat anything but the blandest of foods. Talk about overindulgence! It will take a week or two for me to fully recover, I think!

I was really impressed with how graciously the owners/winemakers treated us at every stop. They went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and seemed to genuinely care about connecting with us, the consumers. The meals were fabulous, if a bit overindulgent, and the wine and port flowed freely. I can say that I tried more different ports on this trip than I have had in my entire life, and I learned a great deal!

Well, it's my turn to come back from a trip to Portugal. I did try to meet the gang on your day to Vesuvio but unfortunately I did not know that the road to the Quinta by car was that bad. I had to turn back since our car was lacking the 4x4 transmission and also we did not want to push it too much as it was missing the motor oil container cap: the joy of renting a car! Anyway... we did used 3 cars for our trip and I brought back 16 intact bottles and enjoyed a few great meetings with nice tasting. I am a bit jealous of yours of course but my liver is intact at least.

More details and pictures to come in the following days.

I assume that the bottle I left for you with Maria Teresa, is safe and sound in your possession Fred?

Yes Roy it is, I was about to send you an email about it. Thanks again very much!

Fred,

We did wonder what had happened to you that day - thankfully you made it back safely. Next time, take the train or a boat to Vesuvio - what a wonderful experience it was 8)

Derek

I must admit, that train journey from Pinhao to Vargellas / Vesuvio was quite something. Beautiful and rugged countryside.

Alex