Portugal was wonderful

[Tym Lewis]

Hello everyone,

My celebration trip to Portugal was wonderful. Thank you all for your advice, it certainly helped.

I will start with an overview and if people have questions I will fill in some details. I also hope to add some port notes, and some reviews of the quintas and other places we visited.

My question to all of you is... why do you say port costs more in Portugal? Everything I bought was cheaper then I can find in the Boston area. Sometimes as much as 30-40% cheaper. Where do you all buy port in the USA?

My wife and I arrived in Lisbon on June 9th at 11am. The passport line took about 3 hours

Everyone says Lisbon is amazing, and a great place to visit. I believe they are under stating the situation. 3 days in Lisbon is not enough.
I had a 10 year Quinta Da Silveira that I loved, a tawny from Ferreira that was better then expected, and a vintage 1985 from Cockburn, that was wonderful and spicy, except I spilled the last two sips.

Sintra was magical. We got the early train, and this helped us avoid a lot of the lines.
I will have to fill in the details later, but Sintra would have been worth 2 days, and we only had from 9am to 5pm.

There was a port tasting shop across the street from the National palace which appeared to have great ports. I only had 10 minutes until our train though, so I can't fully review this place. I will say I gave him a price range, and he pointed to two bottles, then had me try a port at 30% more then my price range which was clearly not worth the price he suggested. With more time I would be curious to explore some... but my expectation is that it is over priced, but with a fantastic selection (compared to Boston area)

On June 12th we got up and drove out of Lisbon, thinking to avoid most of the 20 year olds at the festival. The 9th, 10th and 11th, this festival was a lot of fun from the side lines, and I wish I had done it when I was younger. Although there were plenty of people here older then us, I suspect they were locals.

Portimao: This was a surprise. We planned to spend time in Lagos and Farro, but ended up in Porimao and not leaving much.
I do not recommend buying glasses of port here. Both of my attempts ended poorly. Although there were some bottles of port that I considered trying. I do have some tourist recommendations though if anyone is considering visiting this area.

Evora. We drove there on the hottest day of the trip. Our car thermometer said it was 42 degrees when we parked here. Very very few people on the streets, and we only had two hours to look around. Definitely worth the extra driving though.

Coimbra: What an amazing city. The University is mind blowing, the history, the hills. We only spent 20 hours here, but we want to go back. I think I drank sangria here.

Ok.... so June 15th we drove into Porto about 4pm, and got rid of the rental car. Two friends from the states arrived by train and joined us for dinner, and another friend arrived a bit after midnight. The five of us had two rooms in an Air B N B right in the middle of everything.

We saw many of the sites at Porto with fresh eyes. The only disappointment would be the book store. That was a long line for an interesting inside.... but there are lots of places with interesting insides.

Tastings.... I will have to fill in the details later, but they were so good we did more then I hoped for, but less then I researched :)

Caves Ferreira: highly recommended. We are all fans now.

Quevedo: I hope to spend quite a few words explaining how awesome this port is, and what an amazing job Fredrick does.

A fantastic restaurant recommended by Fredrick.... they had as laughing all night. I will look up the name.... Ado?

Kopke tastings. I went here to get a very old port, and succeeded. My wife and friends came with me, and we spent a lot of money. I want to buy more from them someday since everything we had was so good.... but then everything we had is out of my price range for normal living, so I'm not sure what to get...

Was the 1966 kopke actually better then the 1974 from Quevedo? or did it just cost more?

The Botanical gardens, during a beer fest :)

And on Saturday our paid tour of the Douro valley. Certainly out of our normal price range but our tour guide actually arranged a once in a lifetime tasting. I hope to type in more about this tour at length sometime next week :)

- wine tasting at Quinta da Pacheca (DOC and old Ports)
yumm! I only bought 1 bottle, but I really want more.

- wine tasting and lunch at Quinta do Bucheiro (DOC, Ports and three course meal - pre set menu)
This was essentially lunch with a wide variety of wine. I don't actually care for wine. The port was excellent but with the 30 and 40 year at Quinta da Pacheca in our minds it had a tough time competing.

- Vertical Ports tasting at Quinta do Bomfim (three Tawnys and three vintage Ports)

These are the ports I get at home. It was extremely educational, and a ton of port that we could not finish. Historically I really like these ports, but is a huge producer, and now that I have had more variety I suspect I will be drinking less of these ports in the future.

- wine tasting at Casa do Romezal - Gueda Wines (DOC and young small producer Tawny and White Ports)

This is a young winery with a lot of passion, energy and plans. We were able to talk with the wine maker, and he could answer all of the questions about soil and acidy, the skins of the grapes, and more. This visit might not be for everyone, but it is now on my bucket list to come stay here for a couple of days.

We tried some wine, and some very unique ports. more about these later.

TYM :)

[Eric Ifune]

Glad you had a fun time!

[Andy Velebil]

Nice recap and thanks for sharing. Glad you had a great time!

[Glenn E.]

Great recap, thanks for posting! I can't wait to hear more details as you have time.

[Frederick Blais]

Was nice to meet you! Happy to read you enjoyed your time in Portugal!

Cheers

[Tym Lewis]

Port Tasting 1. Caves Ferreira: highly recommended. We are all fans now.

I planned this tour so we could all see how port is aged in Villa Nova De Gaia, and have some basic ports to show us more economic, and standardized ports. It also seemed more interesting as it focused on Dona Antónia, and not just about port. Ideally this would enable my group of varied experiences to land at a basic place to begin our tastings. The Ramos Pinto tours were first come first serve for picking the language of the tour, so we did not go there, even though it was highly recommended.

The tour was given by a local woman who had decent English skills, but it was clearly her second language. She had a lot of good information, but was occasionally stumped by our questions from brewers, or farmers. She would refer to the wine makers, as the ones who can answer those kinds of questions.

All of us really enjoyed the tour. It covered the company history, the Douro valley history, the beginning of port as a kind of wine. There were some fascinating historical pictures, and markings on the walls from prior floods. The Dona Antónia section was also very interesting, but I expected more of what she did for the industry, and less about her personal mail. Personally I was intrigued by the aging barrels. Their varying capacities, the high pressure hoses, determining what style of port was in each barrel was all very interesting for me. The tour ended with a review of their various ports over the years.

The tasting was in a plane room, after the tour, and each port was pre-poured with the bottles right next to us. As it was my first tasting of the trip, I did not make any score for each port, but I did 'star' the two I wanted to buy, and I gave them scores a week later.... so maybe not as accurate as when I was in the mood. Although all of my scores are affected by mood, and recent history, these scores feel very inaccurate a month later.


My first white port. A great taste of raisons, with mild burn. My eventual score for this is a 70. I would enjoy it for cheap buys.

Ruby - I have learned that a basic ruby is not for me. This one felt young and syrupy. I scored this a 67. At least it is a port I can drink.

My first Reserve Tawny. Cinnamon and dry fruit. Clearly better then a tawny. I would buy these all the time at this price point. In fact I did buy one of these. I scored it as an 85 thinking back on it I can't imagine it was that good, I was probably just that surprised. I am very curious how it would fare in a blind tasting with some 10 year tawnys.

LBV 2016. It turns out like like LBVs. This is my 2nd starred one from Ferreira. I should buy these someday :) Anyway my notes say good fruit, pepper and strong tannins. My score for it was an 82.

20 year Tawny - Elegant, brown sugar, layers of interesting. I only scored this as an 82. I suspect I liked it most out of all the ports I tried on this day, but for the I guess I thought it was not as valuable per dollar as the Reserve Tawney.

We left Ferreira in a great mood, and all of us were devoted to buying their port in the near future. Clearly more interesting then similar quality ports we had experienced before.

TYM :)

[Andy Velebil]

Nice review. Ferreira is a very good place to visit so glad you enjoyed it. And may I add, you’re a tough scorer…I like it!

Can’t wait to hear more…

[Lindsay E.]

Tym,
I found it very heartwarming to read all of the helpful advice that the members of this site were eager to provide in order to ensure that you had a wonderful birthday trip experience. It was even more fun to jump to this thread and hear how it all played out. Glad you had such a wonderful time and I hope I get to do something as memorable on my 50th.

-Lindsay

[Tym Lewis]

Port Tasting Number 2.
Quevedo: I hope to spend quite a few words explaining how awesome this port is, and what an amazing job Frédérick does.

My expectations:
I was not entirely sure what to expect with this visit to the Quevedo tasting room.   I knew I could taste good ports, get advise and knowledge from Frédérick  , and eat some food.  I mistakenly told all my companions we could get dinner here.

Arrival:
We happened to arrive moments after a tasting tour group went in.  We followed them upstairs to where there was a live singer and a number of staff members running around.  The tasting hall was about half full of customers, including the tour group we followed in.   We eventually convinced one of the staff members we were not with the tour, but were there to meet with Frédérick.
When Frédérick broke away from his other customers, we introduced ourselves letting him know I had met through this forum, and we wanted to try some interesting ports.... and eat right now.
He gave a great amount of detailed information about the selections. .. I just realized how long this post could become.... instead of telling the story, let me describe Fredrick's service first, then the ports... and skip all the sections about what and why and when we ordered different bits.  
Frédérick is one of those people who has spent a lot of time drinking and tasting port.  In addition he spent a lot of time learning how to distinguish the subtle differences and articulate them with educated wine enthusiasts.   When I speak with my friends about port, and get excited about the differences between a tawny and a vintage, and how an LBV is something entirely different, they appreciate my fondness and my ability to use what seems to them to be educated speech.  They look at me, blink and say something along the lines of "Port  Yumm!"  Frédérick is ten times more articulate than I am.  I could "sense" the differences between a 1992 colheita and the 1994 colheita, and say spicier or longer finish.  But Frédérick  understood the differences and could explain the years and conditions that caused them to be different. He could identify the kinds of spices each one had differently from the other, and identify how that would assist each of the ports with pairing choices, and why someone might choose one over the other.   There were a lot of "oh yeah!  I can taste just what you are describing" moments along the way with our visit.

One of the topics he described was the process of how he picked which chocolates paired correctly with the ports.  I immediately ordered the chocolate pairing, and it was a wonderful thing that I did.   It made me wish we had done the same with the cheese pairing... but it was too late at that point, our cheeses were mostly gone.The art and complimentary tastes  presented in this pairing was far and away beyond our expectations.   Perhaps I am simply expressing my youth in regards to port pairings... but I thought I was well educated... at least within the circles of people I know that say they love port, I normally know more than them about parings and styles.... anyway  this was phenomenal.

I have asked him to help me design such a tasting in my area... since I really want to A) be better at it and B) show off how cool port pairing can be.   Hopefully I can make this happen in the fall.  Please note that I thought I already provided better tastings and pairings than anyone around here can find... but it is nice to know how much improvement I can aim for.    Hopefully this fall.
Alright on to my tasting notes:
I must apologize that I tasted the ports in the wrong order... when you start with the 1974 colheita... all the other scores suffer.  I also must admit we may have had a few more tastings than appropriate.

White Port -- sweet easy drinking, not complex.  This was very basic and enjoyable.  I apparently never scored it.  At a guess now, I would say in the low 70's.  I have no interest in buying this, but would happily drink it if people were offering it up.

10 yr white port --more depth, Jen's favorite to this point.  This was far more interesting than the white, had character and layers.  I will be buying lots of this in the next couple of years, partially because my wife loved it, and it will be nice to drink the same thing she does;  but also because I found it to be really good.  I also did not score this yet.  guessing backwards I would have to give it something in the low 80s.

30 yr white port.  -- this was very complex  In fact I thought it was too much for the white port profile, the wood character is nice... but I scored it a 70.  This port is not something I would buy, but I will drink it... one of my friends who was at this tasting already bought a bottle of this, I guess he liked it much more than I did.

Ruby Reserve --Paired with dark coco nibs.  The flavor was too raw, or young for my wife. I really enjoyed it as part of the chocolate pairing, but it was far more simple then most of what we tried.  score - 74

LBV 2017 - Very nice LBV.  Loved it with the chocolate and Fruit.   Proving once again that I like LBVs, and I like them even more when paired correctly. ... I scored it an 80.

10 yr tawny --  I believe this one simply did not compete well with all the wonderful port I had at the same tasting.  I will have to try again with similar level ports.    Fantastic with chocolate covered candied orange    My notes simply say good port.   and I gave it a 75.

20 year tawny -- This was far more to my liking then the 10 yr... but I forgot to score it, or put notes onto it.  Just that ++ which lets me know I liked it much more than the 10 year tawny.

1994 Colheita -- "Really Nice" is underlined.  I wish I had more information on this, but it made it onto my must buy in 2022 list, and I scored it a 92.  Maybe Frédérick would reply with his tasting notes for this one?

1992 Colheita --  I have no notes on this.  I liked it less then the 1994, and for the same price range that means I probably won't buy this again.  Score of 81

1974 Colheita --  OMG!! long flavor profile, no fruit at all, wonderful spicy flavors. This was mind blowing... and at the time it was probably the oldest port I had sampled. We have already purchased 2 bottles of it. I scored it a 95, and I am really looking forward to more. We started with one glass right at the start of our tastings, and as soon as the 2nd of us tried it, we ordered another glass.

2013 Vintage -- notice this is the only vintage?   I wish we had room to try more at this tasting.  Powerful & fruity, excellent. What wine is supposed to taste like. This may be my favorite vintage to date. I already bought one, and I hope to buy more. This was a wonderful mix of flavors and complexities with plenty of youth and power. I scored it a 96

My excuse for the sloppy notes and scores:
I ordered the "legendary" to start out with, and one of my friends ordered a glass of the 1974 colheita... and when we started the tasting with the 2013, the 1974, and the 1994, it was difficult to give everything else their fair attention.

We left being very hungry, and a bit drunk. The place Frédérick  recommended for dinner was really good with us, like eating with family. 

Well that review is enough for now, hopefully I can cover more of the tastings in the next week, and respond to some of your posts too.. :)

TYM :)

[Tym Lewis]

Nice review. Ferreira is a very good place to visit so glad you enjoyed it. And may I add, you’re a tough scorer…I like it!

Can’t wait to hear more…

I obviously don't know the 2nd thing about scoring. So I made something up during this trip.

Normally during one of my tastings each port is discussed at length, with discussions of pairings, and several different opinions to help me find my own score. I also collect everyone else's score so that I can buy port that people like for future tastings.

For this trip, the theory I landed on is like this:
40-70 something I would drink, but not buy.. Some wines score this highly, but not often.
71-80 I would buy it cheap, or on sale. I like these drinks
81-90 I will actively buy these, but price matters
91-95 yum! how many can I afford in the next 2 years? I may make strategies on how to buy these
96-98 - I WANT More! my taste is expensive... if ever found a $40 bottle that I scored this highly I would be buying it twice a month.
99 - I have only ever scored this highly once. I have already sold both my children and the dog to buy 2 bottles of this. I am impatiently waiting for them to be shipped.
100 theoretically I could score this highly, but once I did, it would be the best port I had ever consumed... and therefore I would be sad since I am unlikely to ever find a better drink. I actually have tried something that I considered scoring this highly... but I did not score that drink at all, since it really breaks the charts.

TYM :)

[Frederick Blais]

Good evening Timothy,

Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm glad I could make a difference and we'll keep in touch to build your tasting experience back home!

For the 1994 vs the 1992, one thing that is interesting, I feel Americans prefer the 1994 and Europeans the 1992. 1992 is quite a unique Colheita that have seen time in various type and size of barrels giving a unique profile no other house can craft. I like to present it like a peacok opening its tail, while the 1994 has a definitively more generous entry on the palate show more evolved flavours as this bottling was mostly made out of Port aging in cask and oxydizing faster than the 1992 that has spend some time in larger barrels.

Interesting fact, the 1994 is Oscar's Senior favorite Port he has produced, it is not easy to convice him to release some!

Cheers

[Glenn E.]

I obviously don't know the 2nd thing about scoring. So I made something up during this trip.

First, unless you are a professional wine critic like Roy, your point system only has to make sense for you. So yours is great if it works for you!

That said, if you want others to be able to generally understand what your scores mean, it's probably best to drift closer to what the more standard 100-point scale means. For example, here is what Wine Spectator uses:

Wine Spectator tasters review wines on the following 100-point scale:

95-100 Classic: a great wine
90-94 Outstanding: a wine of superior character and style
85-89 Very good: a wine with special qualities
80-84 Good: a solid, well-made wine
75-79 Mediocre: a drinkable wine that may have minor flaws
50-74 Not recommended

As you can see, though, those descriptions aren't terribly clear. What is a "well-made" wine vs. a wine with special qualities vs. one with superior character? The words all sound good, but unless you're very into wine and wine reviews they're not terribly useful.

So I've been a little more detailed with my system, though it's derived from the above. I try to pick a word (or a few words) first, based on first impression which I've found is usually pretty accurate. Then I reinforce that initial impression by considering how much I like what I'm tasting - i.e., do I want to finish the glass? Ask for more? Buy a bottle? BUY ALL THE BOTTLES? Once I'm happy with how I feel, I derive the points awarded from this scale.

Less than 80 - poor, sub-standard, bad. There's really no reason to drink these, short of something ancient that you just can't bear the idea of dumping. A decent Ruby Reserve should rate higher than this, so when I score this low it's usually because there's something very wrong with the Port. It's flawed, and probably pretty badly. Though that doesn't mean that it is undrinkable - just that ... why would you bother?
80-83 - okay, average, drinkable... also "meh". These aren't what I'd really call bad, but they're not good either. They're just uninteresting and probably have multiple small flaws. I may or may not bother finishing a glass.
84-86 - good, fair, fine. I'll probably finish the glass, but probably won't want another.
87-89 - good, pretty good, nice. I'll finish the glass and would accept another if offered, but I may not go looking for another glass. Yes, "good" is in 2 ranges - one is "eh, it's good" and the other is "ah, this is good."
90-93 - really good, excellent. I'll definitely finish the glass and will probably ask for another. These are really solid, really good Ports. A Port for any day that ends in 'y'.
94-96 - outstanding, great, superb... what I sometimes call "mechanical perfection" because there are no flaws - even minor ones - but they lack the magic required to get into the next range. I'll want to know where you found this Port so that I can get some for myself!
97-99 - magnificent, spectacular, amazing... magical. Wines at this level are virtually without peer, and it should be difficult to find words to describe them. There's magic in the glass. One feels lucky to own these Ports.
100 is labeled "perfect" but it doesn't really mean that, because perfect implies that it has no equal. 100 just means that it blew my mind and changed my perception of what a Port can be. What that does mean is that I rarely ever give a Port 100 points twice, because the second time I know what to expect and it is much harder for it to blow my mind. It does happen, though! A couple of Ports that I've had are just that amazing.

I find that I'm more consistent when I rate like this - using words before points - because if I try to score immediately I end up with score creep and I rate too highly. I also find that rating like this helps me avoid label bias - how much do I really like it, not how much do I think I should like it based on what it is. Later in an evening I also often find myself marking numbers down because they don't fit the words that I wrote down in my note. So I typically write all of my notes, or at least notes for a flight at a time, and then go back to score them.

You'll note that my scale isn't detailed below 80. I could do so, and have definitely given scores below 80, but there's really not much point. I'm not a professional writer and I'm not likely to be served Ports like that except rarely, and even then it's probably a bad bottle and shouldn't be rated anyway. IIRC I've rated as low as 70 for a Port that honestly felt like it was intended to taste like that, and it tasted pretty bad. So I just start at 80 and go from there as those are the numbers that I'm most likely to need at a tasting.

[Glenn E.]

For the 1994 vs the 1992, one thing that is interesting, I feel Americans prefer the 1994 and Europeans the 1992. 1992 is quite a unique Colheita that have seen time in various type and size of barrels giving a unique profile no other house can craft. I like to present it like a peacok opening its tail, while the 1994 has a definitively more generous entry on the palate show more evolved flavours as this bottling was mostly made out of Port aging in cask and oxydizing faster than the 1992 that has spend some time in larger barrels.

The first time I tasted these at the Quinta, I believe we tasted all three - 1992, 1994, and 1996 - straight from cask. And at that time, I liked them in that order. 1992 best, then 1994, then 1996. That was more than 10 years ago, though, so I'm sure they've changed considerably since then. I'd love to try them head-to-head-to-head again!

[Tym Lewis]

Port Tasting Number 3. Kopke tastings.

I went here to get a very old port, and succeeded. My wife and friends came with me, and we spent a lot of money. I want to buy more from them someday since everything we had was so good.... but then everything we had is out of my price range for normal living, so I'm not sure what to get...

The Kopke tastings were closer to expectations then Quevedo. First floor for the tourists, and upstairs with a view of the river and for tasting ports. When we got there, a couple of customers were trying to organize a lot of out of country shipping, and the staff asked us to come back in 20 or 30 minutes.

The man who took care of us was clearly British. I could spend a while describing this to you all, but I suspect many of you know what I mean. His manor of describing the port was also British, which showed much less passion and enthusiasm the earlier tastings, and his recital of information seemed more memorized, his relationship with the company also seemed more distant then either of the prior tastings. He had some great information, but had less time and attention for our questions. I would assume a more engaged tasting is possible here, but we were just one group of many customers which was a different feeling from our other outings for this trip.

We received a wide array of chocolate with our port tastings, some of them were very good. They do not serve cheeses though, and when I asked about this he told me they do not pair well with ports…. Typing that in today I am questioning my memory, but I remember thinking how much I disagreed with him. So yeah I guess he really did say that. These chocolates also came with no information about what might pair better with different ports, but at least they were very nice.
This was another shop where I told him I wanted to buy a bottle in this price range, and he suggested something that cost 20% more. One of the reasons I am a terrible sales person I guess. Haggling is not in my nature.

For the tasting, I was much more careful of going in order… although I did straight up buy the glass 1966 colheita which was the 2nd oldest on the list.

Now to the ports:

Fine White Port. Complex with character and a grape ending, a hint of apple. Score – 64
Lagma White – Sweet and delicious freshness. Apparently not my kind of port Score – 65

LBV 2018 – very ruby and fruity. Although I like LBV’s, this one was too fresh for me? Maybe note enough spice? -- Score 72

1999 Colheita- yum! Raisen, brown sugar, fruity and elegant, well balanced. I bought one  Score – 85

30 yr tawny – Wonderful green hues, Wow! Complex . Yeah 30 year mixed aged tawnys make me happy. Score 92

2009 Colheita - Hot and refreshing. – Score 78

1998 Colheita – Hot, Spicy and Persistant. -- Score 81

1985 Colheita - light with dried fruit flavors, persistint with a really nice finish. Score –85… and since the 1999 was much cheaper, I bought that instead

1975 Colheita - body and prolonged Tangy flavors. Full and Strong. Score 80

1967 Colheita - wow. Long and yummy. Great Finish. Score --94. I wish this cost less, since I want more…

1966 Colheita – Holy Shit! Smooth, no burn, incredibly complex and interesting. Score --97. I have a? next to this wondering if I could find it in my soul to score this one higher than a 97. The highest score I had ever given.

After reading these scores, I am trying to figure out how to buy more tawny’s or Colheita from the 60’s…




TYM :)

[Glenn E.]

1966 Colheita – Holy Shit! Smooth, no burn, incredibly complex and interesting. Score --97. I have a? next to this wondering if I could find it in my soul to score this one higher than a 97. The highest score I had ever given.

Kopke has a number of very famous Colheitas. The top 2 on most peoples' lists are the 1937 and the 1952. They are glorious and worthy of all praise that is heaped upon them.

The next 2 are usually the 1957 and the 1966.

Now when you consider that Kopke has the most extensive list of Colheitas of any producer, that means the 1966 is in extraordinary company. It is not merely a great Port, it is borderline legendary! I'm very happy that you got the chance to taste it!

[Andy Velebil]

Sorry for late reply. Yes those 1960’s tawnys are now in a wonderful spot much like their VP counterparts. Buy all you can afford!

[Tym Lewis]

On Saturday June 18th was our paid tour of the Douro valley. Certainly out of our normal price range but our tour guide actually arranged a once in a lifetime tasting. I hope to type in more about this tour at length sometime next week :)

Torvent is a small operation, with two tour guides, one of them being the owner.  The other guide is the one we got, and she moved to Portugal a few decades ago from New Jersey.  She LOVES Portugal, and is so very happy to have moved there. We asked her all of the dumb questions we could think of for someone that knows a region, and came from somewhere close to home.   How are the politics, how do they treat people that immigrated from the USA,  what is the weather like, and so much more.   We also asked her many, many questions about the Douro valley, the Quintas, Porto, how to determine which vintage to buy, aging port processes, how to pronounce different words.... we grilled her for over 10 hours.   It was really fun and interesting, although I think we only got her to laugh a couple of times.  
The Douro valley is so much more than the pictures.  Everywhere we went was incredibly beautiful.

- wine tasting at Quinta da Pacheca (DOC and old Ports)
yumm! I only bought 1 bottle, but I really want more.

Our first stop was Quinta da Pacheca.  And they started with two wines.... at this point I really don't recall them at all.... they were wine.  Then we jumped right to the 30 year tawny. This was totally unfair, and it painted our expectations for the rest of the day.
Tawney 30 yr - balanced, vanilla with caramel finish.  This instantly became my favorite 30 yr tawny.  Two of my companions now consider this to be the best port they have had  (except the one that breaks the rules).   I graded this a 97.
Tawney 40 yr - Aroma, all intense and still balanced! not as smooth as the 30. An amazing drink.  This one is so much more power in the mouth, and a long enjoyable finish.   I graded this a 99.  When we got home I ordered a case of it, and I love it.  if only it fit my price range, so I could buy more when this runs out../ I am savoring the one I opened.   Most of my companions preferred the 30 year tawny.
Vintage 2017 - Very complex, not filtered, pops to the top of the mouth. Should age 40+ years, and it is obviously meant to improve and age.   I graded it a 90.
Vintage 2018 - Right up front, full bodied, great finish... so very good.  I graded this a 97?.    I really enjoyed it, and gave it the same score as the 66 colheita.  looking back on it, how could it be that good?  I wish I had a bottle to try and figure it out.
Quinta da Pacheca had a guide for us to ask questions, and he was extremely well informed.  He was calm and informative, but not as connected to us as others.  The house itself is the one I want to spend more time at.  All of the ports I tried were spectacular... but I didn't actually try any of the ports that are in my normal price ranges, so I am very interested in seeing how they compare to other houses, but I want to t sample before I buy and ship overseas...  We clearly got upgraded service here based on Tourvent.
After the tasting we walked the vineyard for a brief time before heading on.

- wine tasting and lunch at Quinta do Bucheiro (DOC, Ports and three course meal - pre set menu)
This was essentially lunch with a wide variety of wine. I don't actually care for wine. The port was excellent but with the 30 and 40 year at Quinta da Pacheca in our minds it had a tough time competing.

Quinta do Bucheiro.  Not much more to add here.  The port was very nice, but did not compare to the ports from Pacheca. How I could grade this port fairly after the port we had just sampled.    after the meal, had a small pouring of  more port, and actually slowed down, considered how much I enjoyed it. Score 85.  20 yr tawny.  Others in my group really enjoyed the bubbly wine here... which was just wine for my tastes.    The food and the house were both excellent, I can highly recommend eating here.  I believe all of the groups that were here were treated equally.
- Vertical Ports tasting at Quinta do Bomfim (three Tawny's and three vintage Ports)

These are the ports I get at home. It was extremely educational, and a ton of port that we could not finish. Historically I really like these ports, this is a huge producer, and now that I have had more variety I suspect I will be drinking less of these ports in the future.

Quinta do Bomfim -  They poured us 6 ports at the start.  This was great news since everywhere else was so interested in showing us their wine's first.The views here were fantastic, and I wish we had time to explore the grounds a bit more.   Our guide was clearly new, and he rushed through his prepared speeches very quickly.  He was able to answer our questions about the different ports, but with hesitation, and doubt. He was not an expert on the making of these ports.  His description of the different house's flavor profile aims were extremely valuable to me.   Warres = Floral,  Dows = dry,  Cockburn = spicy,  Grahams = sweet. This was a big operation, and we seemed to be handled just like the other visitors.
It looks like I never copied my notes about these tastings into my spreadsheet.   At the time I was stalled with the impression that these are the ports that I can buy at home, and they tasted like ports from home.    The scores for this port tasting suffered greatly by what was before, and what was after. 

Dow 10 yr tawny -  dry and spicy   Score 77
Dow 20 yr tawny -     score 79
Grahms 20 yr -  I know this very well, tasted like less than my previous favorite 30yr tawny, but much better than my 6 grapes reserve which I buy all the time.  Score 83
Warres Quivina simplest Vintage 2005 -  Score 75

Grahams Malveos (?)vintage 2010.  sweet, intense and thick -  score 83
Dow's ____?  2010 -- black pepper.  My favorite choice for a vintage worth aging -- score 80
We left here a bit disappointed, but looking back on it, it was extremely worth the time, to see how my standards compare to other options.
- wine tasting at Casa do Romezal - Gueda Wines (DOC and young small producer Tawny and White Ports)

This is a young winery with a lot of passion, energy and plans. We were able to talk with the wine maker, and he could answer all of the questions about soil and acidy, the skins of the grapes, and more. This visit might not be for everyone, but it is now on my bucket list to come stay here for a couple of days.

This Casa was our favorite.  Luis was a whole different kind of wine maker.  He does everything in the small scale winery.  He could answer any question, and he told us stories about his ancestors from 37 generations ago, as they claimed his land.    He told us personal accounts of him and his father transforming the land into an active winery, that had been inactive since some time in the 1930's.   He was proud of what he has done, and he has something special that he is building and growing.
I could gush in fanboy fashion for a while, instead let me talk about the tasting.  He had a spread of meat and cheeses to enjoy with the pairing.   Very nice to have something to go with the ports.
He showed us 3 wines... sigh.
For port, he had :

red -  This is a tawny with character.  Its flavor profile was distinct.  Notes of Fig, plumes and vanilla.  This is far superior to most tawny's I have tried.  probably better than a fair bit of the 10 year tawnys. 

white -  This port was delicious.  notes of banana and raisin.    For the price point I expect I will buy a lot of it.   I brought one of these home and have paired it with icecream and sorbet.... both were exceptional.   This port benefits from being chilled before serving.

I was not able to score either of those, since I became very distracted with the final tasting.

Torvent arranged with Luis to share something that is not for sale.  Luis found it in a cask on the family lands some years ago, and it was mind numbingly amazing. 
We actually took videos of us tasting this port.   Once in a lifetime.

Thank you Tourvent for arranging it.   
Alright... I am going to post this one now... I feel I could edit some more, but you all get the gist.

TYM :)

[Andy Velebil]

Tym,
Sorry for the delay in replying...but another wonderful write up. I like how you detail your thought process on your visits and what you try. It's interesting to see what people like between a 30 and 40 yr old tawny. It totally comes down to personal preference most of the time as they aren't always so far off in complexity to one another, but stylistically they tend to be quite different.

And they started with two wines.... at this point I really don't recall them at all.... they were wine.

This had me

Please do keep posting about your other visits, this thread has been a most enjoyable read.