For The Love Of Port

I've never scored a wine, any wine, at 100 points, until now. I've scored 99 several times. I never had a philosophical reason not to score 100, but for me to give 100 a wine needs to cause angels to sing. It never happened until now. The Quinta do Mourao 1880. It was more than angels singing. All my senses were fused into one experience. My mind expanded. It was like being on melange. I was in stunned silence for several minutes. Best thing I've ever tasted.

Wow! I'm stunned in silence just reading this from you, Eric! Thank you for sharing! (Well, at least for sharing your thoughts if not a sip haha)

Now the important follow up question.... where can I get some?!

(Actually, I'm also interested in reading your more detailed tasting notes when you are able to collect your thoughts!)

Nice!

I wish I could have been there!

I remember when you were stunned into silence - and had to sit down - because of the "90" white. This must have been amazing!

Eric is spot on. A mesmerizing wine and I got to witness his reaction. This after MANY old and ancient wines, some over 200 years and more than just alive, incredible. That being said, that 1880 was mind blowing, or mind-expanding!

I have given a handful of 100 point scores, thinking Eric was being stingy in the past with a couple of Madeiras and a few Ports, but I realize people have different paraments, thresholds and walls, when it comes to the 100 point wine rating. I remember my first and it was painful to cross that line from 99, but eventually you realize ... what else could this wine possibly show, give, or elicit that is not worthy of that perfect score. Yeah, I have heard all the reasons for not doing so, including "nothing is perfect." Ok. The beauty is clearly in the eye of the beholder and that's why there is no wrong answer.

On the recent PHT2, I actually got to see Eric cry from tasting a wine, but thought that was at JH Andresen. I could be mistaken as to the venue.

Then again, there were quite a few tears shed over some of the Ports we tried. Lisa cries easier than most, so I am not even talking about her. I love that girl, but she wears her emotions on her sleeve. But to see people on our tours, that I've known for many years, literally welling up with tears for the first time (publicly) over a Port or Madeira ... is always a proud papa moment.

I still vividly remember my first three 100-point ratings. All were related to Port Harvest Tours, though the first one wasn't actually on a Port Harvest Tour.

1906 Brunheda Colheita. Roy shared a glass of this with me after what I believe was the first tour visit to Brunheda. It was very early in my Port experience, so I might not have even been "Mr. Tawny" yet. Maybe Tawny Junior. I remember standing in his basement Port sanctuary and tasting the deepest, darkest, most concentrated Tawny Port that I'd ever seen. It was truly mind-expanding, as prior to that the oldest Port I'd ever had was probably a 1966 Kopke Colheita. I wasn't even regularly scoring Ports back then, but my note can be found in the TNDB. As I recall it concludes "if that's not 100 points, then I don't know what is!"

Numbers 2 and 3 were back-to-back on the 2014 Port Harvest Tour at Quinta do Mourao, the first time we got to try the "60" and "100". We were all sitting outside in the courtyard, backs against a wall to try to stay in the shade as much as possible, and Miguel kept bringing out yet another bottle to open. We'd started with a 10 YO White and 10 YO Tawny with lunch, and there was a 20 YO Tawny on the table. Then, in order, one by one, he brought out the 30 YO Tawny, 40 YO Tawny, and then a bottle with no label but just "50" scrawled in white ink at the bottom of the bottle. We all thought that was the grand finale, except there was more. I was pretty stunned by the 50, but Vic leaned over and whispered "leave room" to me because he'd already tasted the next wine which was the "60". Boy was he right! And those are my famous tasting notes for those two wines: "Vic says leave room" for the 50, and "he was right" for the 60. That's all I could manage to write. And then when we were all done, out came one more bottle, this one with 3 digits scrawled on the bottom... "100". I cried. Lisa cried. I managed a meager TN for it, but in order to write my article for the FTLOP newsletter I had to get Lisa to send me her TN, too! For a few years I had a picture of me from that tasting as my Facebook profile pic.

I have since given several more 100-point scores, but none have been quite as meaningful to me as those first 3. Those first 3 were emotional... the rest have been more intellectual. And IIRC they've all been 100+ years old and have all been on FTLOP Port Harvest Tours.

I did cry at Andresen, but not because of tasting a wine, but because I had found we were to taste the 1970!
The 1880 Mourao didn't bring tears, it was more mind expansive than emotional for me. It was more like witnessing the birth of the universe and then viewing the multiverse in all it's possibilities.
I have a video that Rita took and sent to me. I'll have to bring it up.

Sounds amazing.

I was lucky enough to taste the Mourao 90 yr white, which was amazing in and of itself.

I don't even think I'd be able to appreciate something like the 1880, as I'm still rather new to the world of port.

I remember my first 100 point wine — it was a bottle of Quinta do Noval Nacional 1963, decanted 12 hours before drinking and shared between friends at Quinta do Noval.

It was the first time I’d given a wine 100 points. I’ve never tasted a better Port, and only once or twice as wine on a par.

The last time I tasted a wine which brought a tear to my eye, it was a superb bottle of Nacional 1931. It was the fourth or fifth bottle I’d tasted in my 40 years of Port drinking, and the first one which lived up to the reputation the wine has. It was amazing.