What was the first Port you ever tasted?

[Roy Hersh]

This should be interesting.

Mine was a 1963 Sandeman Vintage Port circa 1982, at the ripe age of 25. I was working in a restaurant that poured this by the glass from a Cruvinet system. I got to try it every time we opened and decanted another bottle. I loved the stuff as it was in its prime and was so very tasty!


So what was your very first Port and how did you come to try it? Did you like it.

[Andy Velebil]

unfortunately, I have no idea what the very first Port that I tried was. It was given to me, circa 2000, at the end of a dinner and i was only told it was Port. I loved it and a few weeks later found a bottle of 1966 Taylors VP. Bought it, took it home, tried it, and fell in love. The rest is history.

BTW, I still have that empty '66 Taylor bottle.

[Marc J.]

My first port was a Taylor 30 year old. The experience was amazing! I had no idea that Port had so many layers or that the flavors would be so pronounced. Like Andy said, the rest is history....

[Ronald Wortel]

Don't know, probably some cheap stuff, because that is what we used to drink as students. The first port that made me realise that it could be better than: 'sweet and gets you drunk' was a Niepoort tawny. I was impressed with the 'real' flavours, if you get what I mean. My first VP was a Kopke 1985. I loved it it bits and it was the beginning of a serious addiction.

[Paul Eddy]

One of the best questions ever! I know, way back when, my first
port must have been a ruby port and after that I know I had,
and much enjoyed a vintage port at my engagement dinner but no idea
of the producer or year!. So to answer the question, my first accurate recollection of the type and age of port I have drunk has to be the
1970 Fonseca. I purchased this and drunk it in 1981 having bought it for
£11.00/bottle. By luck more than judgement I decanted it the day before and it was consumed on Christmas day to the delight of my family. A great port
burned into my minds memory bank

Paul.

[Scott Anaya]

Not sure exactly, but I really do suspect it was an Aussie imitator and very likely the Penfolds Tawny Port which I now use exclusively for cooking. One of my first purchases of real Port was the 1992 Taylor purchased at auction......and the rest is history, present, and future of yet another Port Loving Fools life

[Moses Botbol]

The first port I had the pleasure to try was a double magnum of Fairbanks behind the local arcade in high school. :twisted:

[Eric Ifune]

Not as good as most posting here. First Port was a Sandeman Ruby. I think I was about 16. My father gave it to me. It was OK but I didn't think too highly of it. The next year he gave me some 1970 Sandeman. It was very young at the time, and I hated it. He actually has a bottle left of the original case. I bet I'll like more this next time!

[Frederick Blais]

It was a 1985 Warre's at the VERY RIPE age of 16 During a card game, my Grand Father gave me a sip of his glass since I was his partner. I did like it so much I was able to get my own glass. 3 glass later a bit under the influence, I was hooked with Port.

It was only 3 years later though that I really started collecting with limited student budget buying mainly 10yr tawnies and colheitas.

[Todd Pettinger]

Graham's Six Grapes. Posted previously and rehashed below for your viewing pleasure.

Graham's Six Grapes was the very first port I ever tried, at the most unusual of places: a BEER TASTING. A guy that I played hockey with used to put on beer tastings on a monthly- or semi-monthly basis. The most exciting of these always fell around the big events (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Octoberfest, Robbie Burns day, etc). This particular tasting was the Christmas edition, and for a few bucks more than the regular $17Cdn, we had 11 different beers sampled and a generous pour of port as a Christmas treat.

Now I have to say that when they announced the last drink sampled on the night would be a port, I was disappointed. Having never tasted port before, I assumed it was much like red wine which, many of the ones I had tried were all very dry, I disliked immensely. I tried to pawn mine off on a friend, in trade for his two remaining glasses of dark ale that were the subject of the last two beer samples of the night. He insisted that I try the port, he loved Graham's, etc. I tried, grudgingly. And here I am today!

I ended up talking three or four people out of the glasses that they were not interested in. We left the tasting that night, walked across the parking lot to the liquor store where the beers and port had been provisioned from, and proceeded to buy a bottle of this, my first port purchase. Brought it home, enjoyed it, went back for another. It has been my "best buy for the money" port for a couple of years now. The rest, as they say, is history!

Ever since, it has been a very slippery slope.

(For those keeping score, my first VP ever tried was several months ago and was a Ferreira 1997.)
Todd

[Kris Henderson]

I wish I could recal the exact bottle and moment of my first taste of Port. Unfortunately I can't, so I'll have to guess.

Back in college my room mate and I would cook a nice dinner once a month for some friends (who might have been girls we were trying to impress). This monthly ritual usually involved a trip to a nearby QFC to pick out a bottle of wine. For a grocery store, this had a very nice wine department and someone in charge who was very knowledgeable. We would tell the clerk what we were cooking and ask for some bottles that fit our budget. Eventually, a recommendation for a Port came our way. Curious, we tried it. I don't recall the bottle but it was most likely a Warre's Warrior or a Graham's Six Grapes. I do have a memory of sitting on the couch sipping a ruby Port and nibbling on chocolate. If I recall, I thought the alcohol was a little too strong but really loved the vivid fruit flavors.

I have a book that I paste all my wine labels in. I started doing this early in my wine appreciation career. A few pages in, I see a label for Whiskers Blake Tawny port with a note of "very good" next to it. Almost certainly, that was my first tawny port. One more page in, there is a label for 1992 Fonseca LBV (would be my first LBV). Looking farther, I see a label for Taylor Fladgate 10 Year Tawny. Likely my first real tawny Port. It's really interesting to flip through this book and see the evolution of my taste in wine.

My first Vintage Port is even tougher. It was probably a 1977 Taylor or Warre at one of the swanky steak restaurants in Seattle.

[João Rico]

My first? Hum.........


Real Companhia Velha - Porto Desintervenção (Aloirado/Tawny) 1978

At the age of 13 :)



João Rico

[Raj Patil]

Clocktower Port

[Roy Hersh]

Raj,

Like Alex Killer B. says, "Port is from Portugal."

I think what you had was Clocktower port.

[Raj Patil]

Ahh, yes. First port was in fact Sandeman Vau 1997.

[Gary Banker]

1985 Warre in 1997 at a store tasting session. I think that the owner had bought a lot of port that had been sold off by Lloyd's people. There was also 1990(?) Graham LBV, KWV tawny, Taylor Chip Dry white port, and a few others.

That's not counting Gallo (I think) white port around 1962.

Gary

[simon Lisle]

I would have to ask pops it was late 70's I was in my teens I know it was a 55 but I don't know which one it was'nt Grahams or Taylors Probably Dow's or Warre's.He still keeps some of the bottles and puts beeswax candles in them for special dinners.They now look like props from a horror movie.

[Rich Greenberg]

'70 Taylor. My dad bought a bottle of port from the closest, broadly declared vintage year after the birth of each of his children. He shared this bottle with each child (and gathered family) on the occasion of each 21st birthday.

You might think that I lucked out with this one......sadly, through the entire 4-hour dining experience aat L'Hermitage in LA (including the consumption of this wonderful bottle of port), I was thinking that my buddies were all waiting to help me "properly" celebrate my 21st birthday.

I choked down a glass or two of port with my dessert, and prayed that everyone would finish up soon so we could leave (wine was not a drink I had discovered yet, let alone port!)

I have since told my dad that while I will continue his port buying tradition for my children, I do not plan to share the bottle until each child is 30, or has shown some ability to appreciate and enjoy a nicely aged bottle of VP.

I have not had any '70 port since then.....

Rich

[Roy Hersh]

Rich,

Thanks for recounting that funny tale. Hopefully you can break the curse and drink a 1970 while they are still so fresh and beautiful these days.

[Paul_B]

Hi all,

probably a Ruby or Tawny in a tiny tiny stemmed "port" glass at the age of 14 to 16 perhaps with some dry cookies.... at least that's what was common in my family circles in the 70's.

Thank God there is more to Port than that.

cheers
Paul