If 2007 DOESN'T end up a Vintage year (which if the tradition of the last three decades follows, it likely will be) here's hoping '08 will be a good VP year. The reason??
You heard it here first folks... We are expecting our third child in March of 2008. If not a VP year, hopefully there are some good names that do declare '08. It's looking like Taylor and Roriz for my son (2003), Niepoort and Fonseca Guimaraens for my daughter (2005) and who knows what for the yet-to-be-determined baby, coming soon to a change table near me!
Seriously though - that's IT. No more. Daddy has already gotten snipped as this is becoming far too expensive simply in terms of Vintage Port I have to buy and NOT drink myself! :?
Wish me luck - the Mrs and I will soon be outnumbered!
Grats on the 1000th post and the incoming problems... Joking of course.
Don't trow the towel on 2007 too early. If august was not as hot as usual, september was full of sun and maturation were slow but steady growing. Who knows if some big names can fare better and make a declaration, this could be very interesting... split declaration 2007/2008?
Living the dream and now working for a Port company
Erik - that poll might just be a good idea. Taylor and Graham might be possibilities, although Vesuvio, Noval and Warre might not go over so well with the missus.
Al - very wise of you. A certain operation happened a bit too late to prevent the 3rd, but sometimes the unplanned is a blessing in disguise.
Fred - I won't throw in any towels yet. a split '07/'08 declaration would give the third and last junior Pettinger something to talk about with his/her siblings: whether '07 (year of conception) was better than '08 (year of birth.)
Yeah, laying down cases of VP for these "oncoming problems" is starting to get very pricey... :?
Wow, you are up in the big leagues now with over 1000 posts. I think that there is a pretty good chance that 2007 will eventually wind up a declared vintage and if nothing else, this is the first time I have thought this in any year since 2003, and I have been here a few times every year since then.
So, here is hoping that 2007 winds up being declared as I know that the folks here in Portugal from FTLOP) certainly will be keeping their fingers crossed.
Thanks for all of your participation. The trip ends on Sunday and I will then be returning to the Douro to check out a brand new hotel property and then heading to the UK to meet up with Alex, Derek, Nicos and others for a Port tasting as well as an offline too.
What a crazy time we have had here! FYI, there is a gent from Edmonton along with us who is a great guy and a lot of fun to have with us!
Well Roy, continue having fun. Sounds like you have already gotten a good number of tastings in and have yet more to go!
You'll have to make sure that the person from Edmonton either gets on here, or at the very least sends me an email and hopefully we can get together and get a tasting or two going.
His name is Conrad and hopefully he will now be a regular, rather than a lurker. He will be at the deVines tasting in Nov. as he has been the past two years that I have been doing them up there.
Today we are in Oporto and everyone has half a day of free time to "play" before our last supper with some fine Douro wines and 5 bottles of Port to make sure everyone has some alcohol in their blood long enough to re-enter N. America.
A good number of producers were quite upbeat and optimistic about 2007, even with a little late rain. So you should be able to find some very good juice for new one on the way.
No matter if it winds up being a general declaration (which would not surprise me) given the off-hand comments that were made by more than one or two producers ... there will be some very fine Ports made from 2007 grapes.
With a string of 1917, 1927, 1937 (a plethora of fine Colheitas ), 1947, 1957 (exc. Colheitas too), 1967, 1977, 1987 (should have been declared), 1997 ... the long string of success with the "7s" is better than any other digit throughout the 20th century. The only one that is even close is "5" but imo, it is a very distant second.
Roy Hersh wrote:With a string of 1917, 1927, 1937 (a plethora of fine Colheitas ), 1947, 1957 (exc. Colheitas too), 1967, 1977, 1987 (should have been declared), 1997 ... the long string of success with the "7s" is better than any other digit throughout the 20th century.
This is exactly the 'tradition' I was referring to. That's fine, perhaps if '07 is declared generally, we'll see a non-declaration in '08 and some very good (and hopefully cheaper) Single Quintas and 2nd labels will be released. Cheaper for dad to lay a case or two down! Always a silver lining.
Sorry, I seem to have missed this thread. Congratulations on the impending blessed event! I already have my three, and I can tell you that the change in your life from 2 to 3 is really not that much different than the change in your life from 0 to 1 or 1 to 2. All are somewhat momentous changes, but you adapt. Depending on how old the first two are, you should do just fine. I have a feeling that you and your wife will soon excel at the Zone Defense, just like we have here!
As far as the port goes, just be miserly like me.....I'm buying 2 bottles of the closest, generally declared vintage for each of the kids' birth years. One of those bottles is to be shared with them on the occasion of whichever post-21 year birthday I determine that they are able to appreciate the experience (my dad popped ours on our 21st birthdays, and I can tell you, I was very uninterested in port when I was 21 -- sad, as it was a '70 Taylor.) The other bottle is for my wife and I to enjoy as a gift to ourselves for (hopefully) successfully seeing each child into productive adulthood!
Rich,
thanks and your "zone defense" comment damn near made me spill wine all over my laptop!!! Too funny, but I suspect very accurate! :)
(I say wine because tonight is not a Port night... I am trying something new, a dessert wine from Italy although I'll be damned if I could tell you what it is :? The label is entirely in Italian, with only a sticker with the mandatory English/French description of "sweet red wine, Product of Italy, etc etc."
The name of the product is Recioto Della Valpolicella "Classico" and I think it is by the company/producer Fratelli Bolla. It is sweet, but I don't believe fortified. Certainly thin, although interesting! :) It's good to try new things! :)
Joking of course.
