For The Love Of Port

Do you have one or two standout Ports from this year that have captivated your full attention?

Haven't had as many Ports as Madeiras so far this year. Vintages less then Tawnies. So I'm going to choose the San Leonardo 40 year old. I'm hoping this weekend will change this.

According to my TNs, 1966 Taylor VP (at the big LA vertical), followed by 1967 Kopke Colheita Port. Next up was the surprising 1997 Quinta do Vesuvio VP.

1963 and 1970 Fonseca VP at the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tourney tasting in NY back on Mar 8th. The 1955 was a close second. Will look to post my notes sometime before the next ACPT!

It's a tie. I've had a bunch of good ports this year, but the best showings were the 1970 Fonseca VP and 1976 Krohn Colhieta. No question.


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I had two bottles of Amandios Colheitas. One Tawny from 1955, and a White from 1957.

I told my guests, that the Vinho from 1955 should be particulary good. And it was. But after 1-2 hours, the White port surprisingly gained some strength. And it showed in the end, as a much better Wine!

Allan

At the Sunday FTLOP tasting, the 1970 Fonseca.

1970 Fonseca was also best for me.

It is certainly infanticide, but I must say, of all of the ports I have tasted in 2014 (admittedly not that much, as I drink way more "table wine", both whites and reds, than port), I was most impressed by tasting Graham's VP 2011 and Fonseca's VP 2011. Hard to say which I prefer, but I'd give a very slight preference to Graham's.

Less so by Warre's VP 2011 (though still very good, I felt it had something lacking compared to the other two). I also thoroughly enjoyed Quinta do Noval unfiltered LBV 2007 (for the price, I thought it was wonderful), Fonseca Guimaraens 1978 VP (very good, like a Cherry Marnier with more density) and Taylor's 20 y.o. which grew on me after a few days.

In summary, Graham's VP 2011.

Burmester Tawny Reserva Ultra. A blend of 40 yo tawny bottled in the later 30's.

Allan,

Do you remember what these were? Curious!

One Tawny from 1955, and a White from 1957.

At the FTLOP 9th Anniversary Sunday gathering we had a fantastic showing of many older VP's. One stood out from the rest, as it was a perfect showing for it. The 1970 Fonseca VP was stunning and I gave it 96 points.

Roy Hersh wrote:Allan,

Do you remember what these were? Curious!

One Tawny from 1955, and a White from 1957.

Just one week after I had the "pair of Amandios" I got the opPortunity to get another set
Both bottled in 1971.

And as I mentioned, both where fantastic, but in the end the White port turned out a little better.

For me, two stand out this year so far (I haven't had that many VP's this year): the Avery 1963 Finest Reserve VP and the Cálem 1970 VP are at the top of my list

1970 Graham's. Just perfect--everything a Port should be.

I was lucky enough to get to taste the Taylor / Krohn 1863 earlier this year - and it was as fabulous as everyone whose tasted it on one of Roy's trips said it was. Very, very impressive and a worthy successor release for Scion. Pretty close behind were a bottle of Fonseca 1994 - just starting to show what it might offer when at it's best in 30 years time - and a bottle of Quinta do Noval 1931 that was opened and shared with others at Dirk's unofficial 50th birthday party in June.

But I'm also going to add that I had one of my worst bottles of port ever earlier this year - a bottle of Dow 1970 that stank, was dried out and bitter. Most bad port is flavourless sugar-water. This was offensive.

Taylor 1863 single harvest Port and Graham's Vintage 1927


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So many great bottles ago in febuary 2014 I opend a gigantic bottle of Borges Junco Vinyard vintage 1920.

What a beauty! And as I wrote elsewhere, the second bottle of the Night was a Cockburns 1963.
The old Junco was just excellent

Allan