For The Love Of Port

An emergency purchase and drinking to celebrate (?) the full moon on Friday the 13th. The price was high ($38) but the need was great - the last time this quirk of nature happened was on October 13th, 2000, shortly after the grapes for this LBV were harvested. It won't happen again until August 13th, 2049... and hopefully some 35-yr old 2014 Ports will be showing very nicely by then! (Also, hopefully I'll still be around to repeat the exercise!)

2000 Smith Woodhouse LBV

I didn't take formal notes as this was more of a drinking than a tasting. The aroma turned heads part-way across the room - which is saying something because we were in a barn-sized processing room at a winery. Pop-n-pour resulted in a bit of a harsh edge early on the palate, but it was pretty easily overwhelmed by the abundance of juicy fruit. Very smooth, almost meaty. Juicy, vibrant, and mellow all at the same time. A hearty drink.

Made 2 more converts to Port who started out with "I've tried Port but didn't like it." "Here, try this," says I, feeling smug. A short explanation of what is and isn't Port followed, as the "port" they'd tried before was low-end Aussie stuff. When I explained that this was essentially the middle tier of 5 for real Port, the response was "you mean there are 2 better than this?"

Score: 91 points. At a tasting I might have been a little bit more critical, but given the 3.5 hour car ride and then immediate pop-n-pour consumption this score seems fair.

I love this port and my TN notes the expressive nose, too. I decanted about 12-20 hours before which I think is a good window for this. But that price....well, Love does not know $$....

John M. wrote:I love this port and my TN notes the expressive nose, too. I decanted about 12-20 hours before which I think is a good window for this. But that price....well, Love does not know $$....

I've found it in the $20-$25 range before... this was just a last-second purchase so I had to pay full retail.

They had 2000 Noval for $90 sitting right next to it... might go back for that one. :)

Glenn E. wrote:

John M. wrote:I love this port and my TN notes the expressive nose, too. I decanted about 12-20 hours before which I think is a good window for this. But that price....well, Love does not know $$....

I've found it in the $20-$25 range before... this was just a last-second purchase so I had to pay full retail.

They had 2000 Noval for $90 sitting right next to it... might go back for that one. :)

From what I've seen on this forum over the years I was under the impression that port prices in Canada are much higher. It may be true in most cases but for both ports mentioned on this thread the prices are on par with what it costs here in Edmonton. The '00 Smith Woodhouse LBV is available here for C$38 while a both the '00 and '03 Quinta do Noval VPs are selling for $95. of course it might just be a situation where these older vintages are still on the shelves at original prices.

I haven't had the '00 Smith Woodhouse LBV but the '00 VP a couple of months ago was delicious - eminently drinkable as a young port. The '00 Noval VP seemed much more closed and backward in comparison though it must be said that it was more than a year ago when I had it.

Mahmoud.