For The Love Of Port

Please no lists of great ones you've tried. Give it some thought and please choose only one that has made a great impression on you so far this year.

Thank you,


Roy

I'm sorry about this, but the standout wine for me was the 1963 Nacional that I had a glass of 24 hours after Linden's Noval vs Nacional tasting in March.

With around 28 hours of air contact time, this was a marvellous and magnificent wine. The best I have ever tasted let alone the best in the first half of 2007.

I wish I could do a Tom and buy a dozen of these on a hunch and suddenly find I had hit the jackpot. I guess the only way I will be able to manage having a dozen in my cellar is to win the lottery.

Alex

Note to self - must start buying lottery ticket each week

The best impression on me was a bottle of Croft 1984 LBV.
The bottle was picked up at a local auction for just over a tenner
and I put it away and forgot about it. A couple of months later
in a desperate need for a port I found it and opened it.
It was just beautiful soft fruit, mellow tannin with an impressive
length of finish. Wonderful stuff. If I could find a case I would buy it.

I am sure that as my expectations were not great, the quality
of the wine I had at such a low price is the reason this wine
is the one that has had the biggest impression on me this year.

Rather like an "off the cuff ceilidh" usually much more enjoyable
than a preplanned event!

Paul.

Krohn colleita 1958 . . . sweeeet

Romariz 1944 Colheita - freshly drawn from cask: yummy! Thanks again, Stefano!

Roy,
A tie, Fonseca 70 and Taylor 70.
Dave

I would have to say the 1955 Quinta do Noval VP

Okay, I'm gonna go with a Port that matches more along the lines of Roy's text in the body of his Post, not the title, as the following wine made more of a great impression on me than was the best Port I've had in 07 so far:

1998 Ramos Pintos LBV" The silky-velvety tannins reminded me just how darn enjoyable a LBV can be and got me hooked on them all over again after a few year hiatus and string of very unenjoyable and low QPR LBV's.

Scott, thanks for reminding me as to the real question in this thread.

I would have to say the 1983 Croft LBV (Filtered). I would have never guessed an old filtered LBV would have lasted that long and still been a very nice drink. Quite the surprise indeed.

If were talking VP , then no doubt It's a Warres '77 . . .

Luc

Roy Hersh wrote:Please no lists of great ones you've tried. Give it some thought and please choose only one that has made a great impression on you so far this year.

Thank you,
Roy

Luc,

I wasn't paying attention to the REAL question, and thus my second reply. Thanks to Scott for pointing that out to me. Looks like Roy is looking for something that isn't the usuall greats (i.e. Nacional from 1963, etc.). But rather something that maybe turned out to be very decent when you thought it would not be good. Of course I could be wrong and mis-read his question too :?

But the Warre's '77 is a very nice VP and one I've had on a couple of occassions now.

I'd have to go with Quinta do Ervamoira VP 1994. It was a very classy port, but with a remarkable amount of power.

Warre 1970

Jay

Andy - I protest (mildly) - I did not list out the great ports that I have tried so far this year (just look at the tasting I went to). I chose only one bottle, but it was by far and away the best bottle that I have tasted this year and outshone its more famous compatriots at that tasting.

However, if I have to choose my most pleasant surprise of the year it would be the bottle of James Eadie Finest Douro Port that Alex K, Stevie K, Ian Wright, Christopher Gee and I all tried a week or so back. This was probably a filtered ruby from the early 1950s and was surprisingly drinkable.

Alex

Alex,

No problem, as you can see I listed the 55 Noval as my first choice. Then Scott's post made me re-read Roy's body and I interpreted it as being something other than the "Greats" as Roy calls it (hence my second reply with the 83 Croft LBV).

BTW, Even though I've only had the 63 nacional one time (in your company no less), I agree it is an awsome VP.

i would have to say the 1964 Krohn Vintage White Colheita Port. Thanks again Andy

1990 Niepoort Colheita. This is better than any 10-year that I have had and better than most 20-yo. Nice complexity; clean,smoky sweetness; balanced acidity, nice viscous feel in the mouth

Gary

My surprise of the H1/07 was the noval colheita 1986.

cheers
Paul

Krohn Colheita 1958 - so complex, and the slightly rancioed character of Colheitas is one I can't get enough of.

-O-

Surpirisingly 1977 Warre's. It's not the best one that I've had this year, but it was an amazing "eye opener". I've been quite the critic of this wine, but this one was just perfect. I'll have to put a TN in soon.

-Dave-