Fun Port Quiz for the Opinionated

[Lucas S]

Came up with some fun, yet practical questions about value/off-beat Ports not talked about much.

Feel free to answer any/all, in accordance with your experience.


A) What are three excellent, presumably young, Colheitas under $50?

B) What are your favorite three White Ports under $50? Alternatively, if that's too few pickings, top 1-3 QPR Whites.

C) What are your favorite 1-3 LBVs from the 1990s?

D) Favorite 1-3 LBVs from the 2000s?

E) Favorite 1-3 LBVs from the 2010s?

G) What is your go-to reserve ruby Port?

H) What is a pre-1959 Vintage Port which you think is underrated? And therefore, could be relatively affordable at auction?

I) What are three excellent VPs from the largely undeclared years that were 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, and 1999?

J) Which bottle(s) of Port would you give to a friend entirely new to Port and why?

[Phil W]

Odd. The forum is allowing me to post this test reply, yet not my actual reply which is being rejected with "A potentially unsafe operation has been detected in your request to this site" by Wordfence, see site admin.

[Mike J. W.]

Came up with some fun, yet practical questions about value/off-beat Ports not talked about much.

Feel free to answer any/all, in accordance with your experience.


A) What are three excellent, presumably young, Colheitas under $50? I don't think I've had any Colheitas that are "young", but 3 Colheitas that I think are very good and in the $50 to $65 range are: 1992 Pocas (bottled 2017), 1990 Barao de Vilar (bottled 2021) and 1985 Barros (bottled 2015). All are very good Colheitas and relatively unheralded. Honorable mention goes to the 1997 Pocas (bottled 2018). It's not as complex as the '92 Pocas, but it's still good

B) What are your favorite three White Ports under $50? Alternatively, if that's too few pickings, top 1-3 QPR Whites. I really like the Barao de Vilar 10 y.o. white. It comes in 500 ml. bottles and can be had for around $17. It's one of the best QPR's out there in my opinion. They're getting a little harder to find, but they're out there. The 10 y.o. Quinta do Mourao S. Leonardo is also very good. The Quinta do Portal 10 y.o. is solid.

C) What are your favorite 1-3 LBVs from the 1990s? Hands down, the 1995 Andresen. It was excellent. The 1992 Andresen is good as are the '92 and '94 Dow. I believe a pre-2000 LBV tasting is in the offing, so that list might change somewhat, but the '95 Andresen will definitely remain on the list.

D) Favorite 1-3 LBVs from the 2000s? 2000 Broadbent which I've had a few times now. The 2003 Warre is good as well.

E) Favorite 1-3 LBVs from the 2010s? The 2011 Quinta do Crasto and the 2015 Graham's are both very good but need more time.


G) What is your go-to reserve ruby Port? I don't really have much experience in this area.

H) What is a pre-1959 Vintage Port which you think is underrated? And therefore, could be relatively affordable at auction? I don't have any experience tasting any pre-1959 Vintage Ports yet. I have a handful of bottles from the 40's and 50's, but I'm waiting for special occasions to try them. Relatively affordable is a bit of a misnomer in this category as you're lucky if you can pay $250 for a pre-1959 Vintage Port.

I) What are three excellent VPs from the largely undeclared years that were 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, and 1999? I can't say I've had any excellent Ports from those years, but I have had a few very good ones. 1995 Ferreira, 1995 Quinta do Crasto and 1996 Kopke Quinta Sao Luiz come to mind. I believe there was only one VP that declared in 1993 and it wasn't supposed to be that good. It was Quinta das Liceiras and it's a bit of a unicorn

J) Which bottle(s) of Port would you give to a friend entirely new to Port and why? I'd probably start them out with an inexpensive VP or LBV to get their feet wet. The 2011 Quinta do Crasto LBV would be a good choice. The '94 Quinta do Crasto, and the '94 or '95 Ferreira would be solid choices for VP.

[Lucas S]

This is Phil's response let's see if this posts.

Interesting questions; my take on some of them:

A) What are three excellent, presumably young, Colheitas under $50?
At that price point I think 20/30yr tawnies are generally better quality than the colheitas; for the colheita to be sufficient quality I would want to spend more, unless I cheat and choose half bottles :)

B) What are your favorite three White Ports under $50? Alternatively, if that's too few pickings, top 1-3 QPR Whites.
Similarly to the tawny vs colheita, imo at this price point the best whites are 20yr rather than colheita, including Lamelas, Kopke and San Leonardo.

(C-G skipped)

H) What is a pre-1959 Vintage Port which you think is underrated? And therefore, could be relatively affordable at auction?
Martinez 1955 and Croft 1955 both typically auction for less than their peers, while being excellent wines from an excellent vintage.
Martinez 1958 is for me the best of that vintage and tends to be reasonably priced, though not seen often.

I) What are three excellent VPs from the largely undeclared years that were 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, and 1999?
Vesuvio 1990/1995/1996
Fonseca Guimaraens 1995/1996
Graham Malvedos 1990

J) Which bottle(s) of Port would you give to a friend entirely new to Port and why?
I've done several tastings for friends new to port, and they seem about 60/40 on whether they prefer Tawny or Ruby style.
As a straight gift therefore, I'd probably go for a bottle of each; what I pick would depend on any occasion etc.
I would likely try and buy something they could easily obtain again for themselves if they wanted, so perhaps:
Ruby: Warre 2003 lbv (unfiltered) or Fonseca Guimaraens 1998
Tawny: Graham 20year tawny

Cool answers so far. I picked up two of the '95 Vesuvio, I wonder how ready they are, relative to the 94s.

I will say that when we did a Malvedos vertical, the centenary '90 Malvedos showed itself to be a controversial Port. I didn't dislike it as much as the others, but it has perhaps a niche appeal.

Two recommendations for the 2003 Warre LBV is high praise.

The 2000 Broadbent LBV is an interesting choice Mike, I will keep an eye out for it. Glad to see you like the '95 Crasto.

[Glenn E.]

A) What are three excellent, presumably young, Colheitas under $50?

B) What are your favorite three White Ports under $50? Alternatively, if that's too few pickings, top 1-3 QPR Whites.

C) What are your favorite 1-3 LBVs from the 1990s?

D) Favorite 1-3 LBVs from the 2000s?

E) Favorite 1-3 LBVs from the 2010s?

G) What is your go-to reserve ruby Port?

H) What is a pre-1959 Vintage Port which you think is underrated? And therefore, could be relatively affordable at auction?

I) What are three excellent VPs from the largely undeclared years that were 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, and 1999?

J) Which bottle(s) of Port would you give to a friend entirely new to Port and why?

A fun topic, thanks Lucas!

A) I'm not a big fan of young Colheitas, unless we're talking White Colheitas (see next question). For me, tawnies need to be 20-30 years old before they really start to get good. 20 Year Old Tawnies used to be in that $45 to $55 range, but it seems like the prices have risen in the last few years so they're no longer in your target price range. If it's still in the range, the Ramos Pinto 20 Year Old Tawny (RP20) is very good.

B) I really love the 2008 DR White Colheita, though I'm led to believe that they're out of that and now selling the 2010. Both are around 16 EUR for 500 ml. The 2003 Kopke White Colheita is also excellent. I like 10 and 20 Year Old White Ports across the board, but in particular the ones from Andresen, DR, Quinta das Lamelas, Quinta do Mourao, and Quinta de Prelada.

C) 1995 and 1999 Smith Woodhouse LBVs were both fantastic, but probably hard to find at this point. 1994 Quinta do Noval is also excellent. The 1994 Pocas was my highest-rated LBV for quite a while... it might still be, for all I know. I don't really track my LBV scores all that closely.

D) Hmm... the only ones that I really have much experience with are the 2003 Noval and 2003 Quevedo on the unfiltered/traditional side, and the 2003 Taylor Fladgate on the filtered side. Despite being filtered, the Taylor aged very nicely. I only have 1 left, and it will get opened alongside bottles of the Noval and Quevedo that I've owned since release as an aging test.

E) 2011 Quinta do Crasto and 2015 Graham both immediately come to mind as stand-outs. In blind tastings, the 2011 Crasto has fooled people into thinking it was a VP! The 2015 Graham is just juicy and delicious.

F) there is no F.

G) I don't really drink Ruby Reserve anymore, but back when we did the Ruby Reserve Taste-Off the surprise consensus winner around the world was Taylor's First Estate. It won (or tied for the win) in every tasting where it was served.

H) 1955 Adams and 1955 Mackenzie. Both are fantastic and almost unheard of. They're not necessarily the best Ports from 1955, but they're in the running and rate well above what you'd expect based on their names.

I) Good luck with 1993 - AFAIK there is only 1 VP from that year, Quinta das Liceiras. I believe that 1993 was the worst year on record for VP. It's certainly the worst year in the last 100. That said... 1995 Quinta do Vesuvio is outstanding. Vesuvio's 1996 and 1998 are also good, but not up to the level of the 1995 to me. 1999 Quinta do Roriz was my "reference" Port for many years - I had tasted it blind many times and always managed to score it the same, so I would use it to reset my scoring every couple of years just in case my scores were creeping up unintentionally.

J) Depends entirely on the friend and my objective. I have "introduced" many people to Port by serving them a 30 or 40 Year Old S. Leonardo, but those can be hard to find in the US. So a more normal "introductory" Port would be a nice 20 Year Old, or if a Ruby is preferred then a recently released LBV. If the friend likes wine, then I would start with something on the drier end of the Port spectrum like the Quinta do Noval Single Vineyard LBV. But I have also successfully introduced people to Port with a young White Port - the previously mentioned 2008 DR White Colheita is an excellent example.

[Glenn E.]

Cool answers so far. I picked up two of the '95 Vesuvio, I wonder how ready they are, relative to the 94s.

The 1995 is much more "ready" than the 1994, but that's not to say that it is maturing early or anything. It's just that the 1994 is a beast.

I'd say that the 1995 will probably peak some time in the next 10-15 years, but its curve is flattening out already. No rush to drink them yet, but they're certainly ready to drink.

[Eric Ifune]

H. 1945 Croft. Not cheap but Taylors gets all the noise for this vintage.

[Lucas S]

Cool answers so far. I picked up two of the '95 Vesuvio, I wonder how ready they are, relative to the 94s.

The 1995 is much more "ready" than the 1994, but that's not to say that it is maturing early or anything. It's just that the 1994 is a beast.

I'd say that the 1995 will probably peak some time in the next 10-15 years, but its curve is flattening out already. No rush to drink them yet, but they're certainly ready to drink.

Awesome, thank you Glenn. I'll keep an out for the 99 Roriz and those aged whites for sure.

It's weird how old LBVs don't seem to show up at auction much. I would think that because they were produced in greater volumes, we would see more of them but they seem almost rarer than the VPs.

[John M.]

Fun topic:

A. 2002 Kopke White
B. See A. above. See Mike W above. I love Portal 10, can get for $20 or a little less and a marvelous easy after dinner Port, esp in warmer weather.
C. 94 Warres; 95 Smith Woodhouse, 97 Sandeman
D. 00 Warres, 03 Warres, 04 Crasto (maybe the 08)
E.All 2011: Fonseca, Crasto, Sandeman
F. ?
G. Taylor, Fonseca Bin 27
H. <pass>
I. 95 Ferreira, Graham M. and Smith W Madelena; 96 Vesuvio; 98 Vesuvio & Dows Senhora; 99 nothing worth mentioning so far
J. 20 year tawny or a proper LBV is the beginning sweet spot.

[Glenn E.]

It's weird how old LBVs don't seem to show up at auction much. I would think that because they were produced in greater volumes, we would see more of them but they seem almost rarer than the VPs.

I suspect that's because LBVs are generally considered "ready to drink" when they're produced. Obviously Unfiltered/Traditional LBVs will age, some for many years, but the idea behind the category is that they're VP-like but ready to drink sooner. So... they tend to get consumed rather than aged in people's cellars.