For The Love Of Port

We used to do this every single year. With only 3 weeks left in the year, it would be great to hear what was the finest bottle or example(s) of Port wine that you have consumed in 2016?

Roy Hersh wrote:We used to do this every single year. With only 3 weeks left in the year, it would be great to hear what was the finest bottle or example(s) of Port wine that you have consumed in 2016?

Maybe not the best i had this year, but impressed me the most the Quinta do Crasto LBV 2011

I had two, one from both sides of the aisle.....a 1960 Ferreira VP which was subtle and stunning and the San Leonardo 40 Year Tawny which was awesome.

The worst of the non-flawed bottles was a Delaforce Ruby Reserve, too much pomegranate and dijointed.

Not an easy one....

Best one is obviously the Niepoort VV bottled in 2011. But the most special one was a Castelo Borges 1880 made from Bastardo only.

Repeat from last year, S. Leonardo "60".
On the VP side, a 1963 Taylor came close.

S. Leonardo Velhissimo Tawny Port. With only a couple of weeks left in the year, I don't expect that answer to change.

Niepoort 1912 colheita

Tough one...

1948 Fonseca is first, 1970 Dow is second.

Difficult one, untill now I would go for the fabulous barrel samples we got to taste at the Quevedo winery this summer (including to old Colheita's white and red from the same Vintage) excellently hosted by Claudia Quevedo when we visited during our holiday in the Douro.

The best white Vintage Port I've tasted is a 1947 Cockburn's white VP (bottled 1949). Of course it's the only white VP I've ever seen or heard of but it was excellent regardless.


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Going with the San Leonardo "100"

Niepoort 1992 LBV was the best LBV i've tasted so far.

Andy Velebil wrote:The best white Vintage Port I've tasted is a 1947 Cockburn's white VP (bottled 1949). Of course it's the only white VP I've ever seen or heard of but it was excellent regardless.


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Do you know anything on how it was made? traditionnal lagares? aged in what type of wooden container and for how long? Is it an official VP declaration approved by IVDP or just an experiment :) Curious!

Frederick Blais wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote:The best white Vintage Port I've tasted is a 1947 Cockburn's white VP (bottled 1949). Of course it's the only white VP I've ever seen or heard of but it was excellent regardless.


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Do you know anything on how it was made? traditionnal lagares? aged in what type of wooden container and for how long? Is it an official VP declaration approved by IVDP or just an experiment :) Curious!

No idea how it was made. I would assume, as it was an experiment, that it was made in a traditional red VP way.

I had a very good 77 Warre's VP fairly early in the year, and a 66 Taylor's which probably wasn't any better than the 77 but was perhaps a bit more special as I was able to open it for a close friend's 50th birthday.

Gerwin de Graaf wrote:Difficult one, untill now I would go for the fabulous barrel samples we got to taste at the Quevedo winery this summer (including to old Colheita's white and red from the same Vintage) excellently hosted by Claudia Quevedo when we visited during our holiday in the Douro.

The Avery's Finest Reserve Vintage 1963 we had yesterday (Dec 26th) rocked as well!

Having had my 50th birthday this year and spending 10 days in Porto and the Douro Valley to celebrate makes it very difficult to pick one great wine... S.Leonardo's 100 Year old Wine stands out, the 5G from Wine&Soul also... plus so many other great wines.
But for me it's very important which were the most memorable moments that were created/accompanied by Port Wine... And there are also quite a few...The best was being in a pool and drinking Noval's Colheita 1995 out of a bottle at the celebration of Portugal's victory at the UEFA 2016... or was it toasting to the birth of my granddaughter? Or was it drinking the 40 year old Quinta da Devesas in the Yeatman Hotel at my big birthday party, listing to amazing live Fado-music?
If I would have the chance to live one year again in my life, I would chose 2016... Great year!!!!!!

As for tawny, hands down DR's Vinho Muito Velho do Porto do Roncão 1885. Sipping that in the tasting room at DR together with my best friend in the compnay of Elisabete Almeida it just doesn't get any better than that. Did I mention it was served fresh from the pipa. My GOD! - 98 points.

Vintage I will go fanboy mode and say 1994 Quinta do Vesuvio, with Ramos Pinto 1983 as a close second.

New Years eve, I had a Niepoort Colheita 1908. Pretty good .
But it did'nt beat the Niepoort VV (old bottling) I had this summer.

This Year has been Portcrazy, taking part of the historic Niepoort Garrafeira-tasting in DK and enjoying some nicely matured VP's from 1935-1945.

What a Year. And this Year is going to be the same....

Unsurprisingly, my best was the Quinta do Mourao S. Leonardo "60" that I've now had many times. I have enough of it that it will probably be my best Port each year for many years to come.

On the VP side, the 1966 Noval Nacional at the FTLOP 11th Anniversary Party received 97 points from me, which was the highest score I recorded for a VP all year. I had several bottles at 96, including the 1963 Graham at the FTLOP Holiday Party and the 1970 Graham at Andy's tasting in LA shortly thereafter, but that Nacional stood alone at 97.