Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[guile]

Greetings all,

My name is Steven Lautman. I am visiting this website by way of my friend, Alex Rodriguez, whom some of you know quite well. My wife and I are avid wine drinkers, preferring the taste of Bordeaux and powerful California cabs. I also like to venture off into CdP and Shiraz wines when available. I'm quite interested in port but know little about it. My tasting experience is limited to some recent vintage ports and one Quinta do Noval '68 Colheita. I'd love to learn more about the nuances of port and what makes this wine so special.

I live in Los Angeles and would be interested in local offlines. :hello:

Thanks for reading.

-Steve

[Andy Velebil]

Steve,

Great to have you join us. Alex and I share bottles quite often. Look forward to hearing from you here on Its quite the relaxed place and a great group of Port and Madeira lovers. I've sent you an email regarding offlines, etc. Thanks again for joining us and please feel free to ask any question you may have, post tasting notes, etc.

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Steve,

Any friend of Alex's is a friend of ours! Welcome to and please feel free to jump in early and often. We are pleased to have those who are rank beginners, intermediates or long time fans of Port here, as long as they are willing to share their questions and impressions, or even if they prefer to just read. You can find a FAQ area on the homepage as well as a few other really fun things to check out there.

Here on the Forum, please feel free to ask any question that comes to mind. The best places to do so are on the Port Basics and Port Forum areas of this site. I am sure you will quickly see how willing to help out and respond the people are here. I've only met Alex once, this past winter and enjoyed drinking Ports with he and Mrs. R. With Andy not far away from you, you are in very good hands as he is the So. CA Port offline maestro!

I hope you will visit often and enjoy your time spent on our website. Check out the many free articles and other Port related "stuff" in the archives on the homepage. There are also many copies of the old newsletters that you can read to learn and enjoy while sipping some Port when you have some free time.

Welcome aboard!

Roy

[Peter Wood]

My name is Peter Wood and I'm a returnee to For the love of port, having been preoccupied with writing for my wine blog called The Tasting Note.

My wine passion lies firmly with Bordeaux and Port, and don't get to drink either enough! I love Grahams and Taylors, and have quite an obsession with Niepoort despite always finding it quite spirity. I've been fortunate to try many ports over the years, my favourite being '55 Grahams, and 1970 being universally brilliant with every port I've tried (except one!).

What I'd like to do is try and get a group of Scottish port nuts to meet up once every couple of months somewhere in Scotland and try a selection of wines. If anyone is interested, or knows of such a group that already exists and that I could visit, can you contact me at [email protected]

Thanks

[Derek T.]

What I'd like to do is try and get a group of Scottish port nuts to meet up once every couple of months somewhere in Scotland and try a selection of wines. If anyone is interested, or knows of such a group that already exists and that I could visit, can you contact me at [email protected]

Scottish port nutters? Where would we find one of those? Oh, yes, that would be me

My problem with your wish is that I live with the English but I do travel home regularly and I'm sure it would be possible to meet up and share a glass or two of port sometime.

PM or email me to let me know where you are.

Derek

[Andy Velebil]

Scottish port nutters? Where would we find one of those? Oh, yes, that would be me

My problem with your wish is that I live with the English but I do travel home regularly and I'm sure it would be possible to meet up and share a glass or two of port sometime.
Derek

Yeah right...only a glass or two

Peter,
Its great to have you back with us. Derek is a great guy and a total port fanatic. I should know, I've spend more than a few days and nights sharing some bottles with him. Heck, he even convinced me to go to Scotland with him in October....I think he wants to feed me to Nessy

[Rui F.]

Hello everyone!
My second post is to present my self to forum.
My name is Rui Figueiredo i`m a portuguese living in Lisbon but born and raised in Vila Nova de Gaia.
I simply love Wine and all the atmosphere around the world of wine. Winneries, grape varieties, landscapes, producers...

I know that here i will learn a lot about wine.
Thank you
Rui Figueiredo

[Eric Ifune]

Rucu,
Welcome! I'm sure you'll pick up a lot here, not just about Port but also Madeira and Portuguese table wine. Many of the board members also travel to Portugal as well.
Eric

[Andy Velebil]

Rui,

Again welcome to Its great to have you posting with us. I am excited to be heading back to Portugal for the harvest at the end of September with Roy and the other trip participants. I've not been to Lisbon yet, but one day I will make it out of the Douro alive and head down to Lisbon

[Luc Gauthier]

Salut et bienvenue !!
Ask any question and get a pertinant answer . . .

[Roy Hersh]

Bom dia Rui,

Thank you for coming here to FTLOP as we can never have enough people from Portugal join us. This is a friendly place with people of all levels of expertise and enthusiasm. We are pleased to share information including great places and specific wines/Ports to buy.

I am getting ready for my 10th trip to Portugal this fall and can't wait to get back to your country, which I love like it is my own ... not just the wine, but the people too!

Please stop by as often as you'd like and we'll be happy to share comments to your posts!

Best regards,

Roy

[Rui F.]

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

[Roy Hersh]

Rui,

Would you say that in general, you prefer Vintage Port or Colheita/Tawny style better?

[Rui F.]

In general i would say i prefer Vintage Port style. But that`s a question with no easy answer. I love both styles.
In fact i drink more tawny style ports thant VP.
I`ve had beautiful experiences with both styles but if i had to choose one of them it would be a Vintage Port.

[Andy Velebil]

David,

Welcome to it is a pleasure to have you join us. Glad to have an Aussie join our ranks and don't worry if you get a little good natured ribbing about the Aussies use of the word "port" This group will have you drinking lots of Port and Portuguese dry wines in no time flat. May I ask how easy it is to find Port in your area? I look forward to hearing more from you in the future. Again, great to have you join us

[Peter G.]

Hello to all,

My history of port drinking dates back to the early eighties. At that time, I decided to stock up on enough vintage ports to be able to drink one to three bottles every year on special occasions for the rest of my life. Therefore, I have a supply of vintage ports from 1977 through 1985.
Having a desire to drink port more often, I started reading this forum looking for cheaper, everyday ports and for information on optimal times to drink the ports I already have. I've gotten lots of information. The thread on ruby reserve ports has lured me out of lurking only, so I'm posting here just to say hello first.

Peter

[Derek T.]

Hi Peter,

Welcome to

I don't want to worry you but when I met this lot on the web a few years ago I was drinking one to three bottles of vintage port per year also. I now seem to drink (or at least taste) about 52 times that amount :help:

Welcome to the slippery slope

Have fun here and remember to look out for opportunities to meet up with others here to share some port.

Regards
Derek

[Andy Velebil]

I don't want to worry you but when I met this lot on the web a few years ago I was drinking one to three bottles of vintage port per year also. I now seem to drink (or at least taste) about 52 times that amount :help:

Same here..and now look at me

Welcome Peter, its great to have you join us here at A great group, as I'm sure you've figured out by now. Thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself and again welcome aboard.

andy

[Eric Menchen]

Hello from Colorado!

This is my first post, and while I'll probably lurk a bit as I just discovered this forum today, hopefully not my last.

I'm a software developer to pay the bills, a beer brewer to stay sane, and now someone with a much greater appreciation of port. I've enjoyed a port now and then for the last twenty years, but just returned from a week in Porto. My wife and I went to celebrate our 11th anniversary, watch the Red Bull Air Races, and sample ports. We enjoyed all of those, and brought back as much port as we could sanely pack (more than the exempt amount, but I was ready to pay duties as necessary). I found FTLOP today as I was searching for more sources of port. I still haven't found someone selling Quinto do Javali in the US that will ship to me, but if there is a source, this seems like the place to find it.

What do I like? I can't really say I have a strong preference at this time for a particular style. I'm still exploring. Most of the rubies were too hot for me, but I really liked Noval's. Cálem's 10 year tawny knocked my socks off. I loved the raisins and currants, if memory serves. They also had a 1997 LBV that seemed like a good deal to uneducated us (€10 for a 750). Cruz didn't impress, but I didn't try anything high end from them. A friend that is a sommelier was surprised that we didn't like anything at Kopke. We probably missed something, but we didn't start at the bottom there. Taylor Fladgate certainly had some good stuff, and we tried plenty at the restaurant. We brought home their Chip Dry White, and just shared it with friends this past weekend. I guess I lean to the sweeter whites, but that was a good dry one. We also bought one of their 2001 LBVs and gave it to some other very good friends. Barros and Sandeman were closed when we tried to stop by. But all was not certainly lost. We made at least three visits to Vinologia where we tasted all sorts of good stuff. I think it helped there that my wife speaks French (along with Spanish, Dutch, and English).

Upon returning home I've been searching to see what I could find to supplement our collection. I just purchased a few 1997 VPs online, and I think I'm going to place an order from another source for some more basic supplies. After that, I'll probably let things settle, and try to learn more before shelling out bigger bucks.

-Eric

[Andy Velebil]

Eric,

First welcome to , I am very glad you found us. This is a really great group of Port/Madeira/and Douro dry wine drinkers. Feel free to ask any question no matter how trivial you may think it is. We are all here to learn together and share that knowledge.

Second, I am glad you had a great time in Porto. Many of us here are heading to Porto and the Douro this weekend for the start of a week of great tastings and dinning. We affectionately call it the "Mother land" Quinta do Javali I've not seen for sale here in the states so I can't help you out there. But glad you found Quinta do Noval. Although they had a slight down period from the early 70's thru the early 90's, they have bounced back in grand style. Their lower end stuff is quite good and offers a great value. Check out their LBV's, Tawny's, and Colheitas. I had to laugh when you said you didn't like Cruz. Not many people here do and sadly they don't have the best reputation for making top notch Ports. I must ask what Kopke's you had that you didn't like. They make some really killer Colheita's and tawny's. But their vintage Ports are generally decent, but not outstanding. The Taylors Chip Dry goes great when mixed 50/50 with tonic water and fresh mint leaves are added. A very refreshing drink on a warm day, or one where a cool refreshing drink is needed. The 1997's offer some really great values, especially when compared to prices of the 1994's. I will make a general comment that many of the 1997's are still closed up or just coming out of it. So if you open them now they may not show the best. Probably best to leave them in the cellar for at least a few more years. Of course that is a VERY general comment and varies by producer.

I guess I've rambled on enough....can you say I've finally gotten most of my chores done this week Again, welcome and am looking forward to hearing more from you in the future.