Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[Andy Velebil]

Sometimes the labeling for the Guimaraens isn't exactly so clear. IMO, it's the one thing that Fonseca needs to change so they are a bit more easily distinguishable. Very easy to confuse the two sometimes.

[Glenn E.]

I'm sure the year was 1964, so you must be right about the Fonseca Guimaraens VP 1964. I didn't have the chance to look so much at the bottle, so i probably missed the "Guimaraens" text which is little.

I have a 1964 Fonseca Guimaraens at home and it would be easy to miss the "Guimaraens" and think it was a 1964 Fonseca.

They seem to be quite rare - you are lucky to have been able to try it!

[Celia C]

Hello there...

Roy suggested I introduce myself here. I'm based in Sydney Australia with my husband Pete and our two adult sons. I write a mostly food-based blog called Fig Jam and Lime Cordial which pretty much documents our lives. Vintage port gets the very occasional mention there. :)

Roy and I go back a looong way - back to when he was OportoRAH and I was the Pinot Loving Chickie Babe (PLCB) on Robin Garr's fabulous WLDG. I suspect that was back in the late 90s, but it could have been the early 2000s. We were so much younger then, without hideous school fees to pay, so I listened carefully to Roy's advice and started stashing old VPs in my cellar. Indeed, almost all my ports have been bought with Roy's guidance (with the exception of the 83 Taylor's and I've regretted that since) and I go under the house occasionally and stroke my old bottles (there's only a couple of each) of 77 Taylors, 70 Grahams and 70 Fonseca with great affection. Our oldest son is now 22 and adores an old VP, so I've recently laid down some 2011 Taylors and Cockburn for him.

Sydney is a tricky place to buy vintage porto - I think we're about as far from Portugal as you can get and still be on the same planet. Lately Dan Murphys - a local liquor store chain - has started stocking some decent offerings (I suspect they have a buyer who's a fan) and I've recently picked up some Cockburn and Fonseca VP, and a few bottles of Cockburn Quinta Dos Canais from them. Apparently the 2009 Quinta Dos Canais was mostly shipped to Australia - directly to Dan Murphys, I suspect. Vintage Cellars stocks Taylors ports on occasion. Otherwise the lovely Bert at Winestar also has a good selection on offer. And last year I picked up a case of 2001 Quinta de Vargellas at Costco for an obscenely cheap price ($39.99/bottle)!

Lately I'm exploring other port options and have recently tried both the Taylor's and Graham's LBVs. I absolutely adored the Graham's 2008 LBV - I have a great love for the sweetness of Graham's ports and the 1970 Graham's is possibly my favourite VP ever. I found the Taylor's a bit overwhelming - perhaps a bit too woody. After some quite painful hangover experiences of my youth, I can no longer drink tawny port and am quite sensitive to woodiness in other ports. After Roy's most recent blogpost, I've ordered a bottle of the Cockburn Special Reserve to try as well.

Apart from the port drinking, we also grow almost all our own veg, have five backyard chickens for eggs, and almost never travel anywhere. I bake sourdough bread and have done for the past 8 years - we haven't bought a loaf in that time except when on holidays. I also make chocolate - the perfect accompaniment to a good glass of port!

I'm a bit rubbish at tasting notes, so I might not be posting many, but I look forward to reading yours.

Cheers, Celia

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Celia,
Welcome to the Forum and thanks for the introduction! Don't worry about if you write good notes or not, even just a brief note helps us all out. So feel free to type away as you enjoy our favorite beverage. We do have at least one person from your part of the world, so between you I'm sure you can help point each other to good deals when they pop up. As from what I understand Port can be quite expensive down under.

Again

[Glenn E.]

Hi Celia, welcome to FTLOP!

I have a great love for the sweetness of Graham's ports and the 1970 Graham's is possibly my favourite VP ever.

I am also a big fan of Graham's Ports. I recently got to try the 1970 for the first time and it was really amazing. If you get the opportunity, try the 1985 - it is also a superb example of the Graham's style and usually isn't too difficult to find.

Also, like Andy said, don't be afraid to post tasting notes. We all have to start somewhere! Plus over time you will find that having those first notes is very useful for your own reasons, so even if all you record is "I really liked this Port" then you'll at least have a record of having tried it.

Cheers, and again welcome to FTLOP!

[Celia C]

Thank you both for the warm welcome! Glenn, I've not seen the 85 Grahams around, but I'll look out for it. I recently picked up a few bottles of the 77!

[Roy Hersh]

Hey there Celia. Believe it or not, I was host of that worldwide "live wine chat" room from 1997-2002. Robin actually published many of my articles before there was an idea of FTLOP. I still hope someday we get to drink some fine old Vintage Ports together and have our families meet!

Welcome aboard. I hope you will enjoy it here and I hope you get to meet Paul Fountain also from Oz who is an active member here and has come on a couple of our tours to Portugal.

Regards to you and Pete!

Roy

[Celia C]

Oh yes, I remember that now, Roy! We probably spent years chatting twice a week - which explains why there's so much port in my cellar, and a few bottles of Ridge Geyserville that you sent me on a quest for in 2000 ..

[Rui bras]

Hello
My name is Rui Brás and i am from portugal. I lived is Silves a small town in the south region of Algarve.
My passion is of course Port Wine :) and i am new in world of port
My favorite port house at the moment is Noval.
"Ne oublie" was the oldested port that i ever taste, before it was lunch to the market
Best port ever had? 1994 Fonseca was great, 1977 Dow's also, Noval Nacional 1994 and 2011 were super. Its very hard i thing to have Favourite port.

I hope i can learn more whit all in here.
All the best

[Glenn E.]

Welcome, Rui!



I am jealous that you have had the opportunity to taste Ne Oublie! I would love to be able to try it, but it is too expensive for me to buy a bottle.

[Rui bras]

Welcome, Rui!



I am jealous that you have had the opportunity to taste Ne Oublie! I would love to be able to try it, but it is too expensive for me to buy a bottle.

My tasting it was on january these year.
IVDP have made a realeased of some unlabbel bottles of these wine, and me and more 4 friend have buying a bottle very by a very cheap "price".

[Andy Velebil]

Rui,
to the Forum and thanks for the introduction!

May I ask what got you into Port?

[Glenn E.]

Welcome, Rui!



I am jealous that you have had the opportunity to taste Ne Oublie! I would love to be able to try it, but it is too expensive for me to buy a bottle.

My tasting it was on january these year.
IVDP have made a realeased of some unlabbel bottles of these wine, and me and more 4 friend have buying a bottle very by a very cheap "price".

I want to be one of your friends!

That's an excellent purchase. Well done!

[Rui bras]

Rui,
to the Forum and thanks for the introduction!

May I ask what got you into Port?

Its was a passion passed by a very good friend of my family.
I am 34 years old, and i have start to enjoy a lot is pleasure on the Port Wines.
He is 65 years old, and he had a very good cellar of ports and moscatel on his house. Since two years ago i go more and more to his cellar, and we talk a lot of ports, and taste a lot also
I have Now more time to enjoy wine and search also for "what types of wines" i like.
For now what i what i to build a nice cellar, not whit amount of wines, but quality and iconic wines, and TASTE amount of wine i can on showrooms, companys advertise, etc...
I am looking for my El-Dourado, hehehe.
And you Andy?

[Rui bras]

Welcome, Rui!



I am jealous that you have had the opportunity to taste Ne Oublie! I would love to be able to try it, but it is too expensive for me to buy a bottle.

My tasting it was on january these year.
IVDP have made a realeased of some unlabbel bottles of these wine, and me and more 4 friend have buying a bottle very by a very cheap "price".

I want to be one of your friends!

That's an excellent purchase. Well done!

It was but just for the pleasure of having a so old wine. To be honest i have taste better, but that is me talking because i prefer bottle-age, not cask!

[Roy Hersh]

Rui,

Thank you for joining us and the nice introduction!

Welcome to our Forum and I hope you will learn a lot about all types of Port wine, alongside the rest of us.

[Rui bras]

Rui,

Thank you for joining us and the nice introduction!

Welcome to our Forum and I hope you will learn a lot about all types of Port wine, alongside the rest of us.

Hello Mr Roy
Its a pleasure of making part of these great family!
I hope one day to meet you, because one thing i have allready see, you are a "GURU" on Ports, hehehe
All the best
Rui Brás

[Filipe PSilva]

Hello everyone,

my name is Filipe, I'm from Porto. I registered some days ago and already posted a question aboit the blends. Question kindly answered by some of you.

I'm a guide at the Graham's Lodge for a year and a half, so my question was to have some insight from someone outside of work.

Needless to say that theese days at the lodge have been very exciting. The Dow's and the Chryseia results in WS were amazing news for us, and with the Vale Meão, amazing for the Douro, Porto and all the people envolved.

Just to finish my introduction, I had the oportunity to taste the Graham's Ne Oublie some weeks ago, as part of the presentation of the wine by Dominic Symington to us the guides. Probably the most fantastic wine moment of my life.

[Andy Velebil]

Filipe,
and thanks for the introduction. Have you meet any of us 'ers recently at the Lodge?

[Filipe PSilva]

Filipe,
and thanks for the introduction. Have you meet any of us 'ers recently at the Lodge?

Hi again,

This year when you guys visited I was not working that day. Last year, I remember Roy visiting with a group, but I was just starting, so I just heard about the visit of the FTLOP group. I remember my colleagues saying: "for those guys, we open all the doors they want here at the lodge!"...