For The Love Of Port

I was talking to Andy during the recent holiday season and said, "I know that at this time, everybody who is active on FTLOP is drinking Port, yet we see so few TNs show up on the PORT TASTING NOTE area of the Forum." He agreed and was surprised too, but said that most people are busy with familiy and friends, etc.

Well, I would love to see this area really flourish during 2009 and am asking for your suggestions. Please keep them in this thread. Like PORTraits, I am putting more attention to this specific part of the Forum. It seems like it has been forever that I've been promising to get a searchable database built for the TN Forum. Trust me, if I had ANY inkling on how to accomplish this by myself, I'd do the work. However, as a "content guy" and by no means computer savvy, I am clueless. But sooner rather than later, Stewart and/or David will get this built. It has been and remains important to me.

So, although I'd love to be able to do some sort of contest, I can't afford another FREE trip this year, in this economy ... so that probably won't happen. Besides, I don't want to see a bunch of notes during a contest and then a total fall off thereafter. So, there has to be a better way to motivate 'ers to invest the 5 minutes it takes to post their TNs. I'd also love to see the TNs translate into corresponding bottle shots entered into PORTraits to expand that database too.

Ideas, suggestions, poems, dreams or schemes for accomplishing this?

Hi Roy, for the record I was not drinking any port over the holiday season, thanks to giving my best friends a well deserved introduction to the world of madeira.

I might suggest having a literary competition to build up the TN base, with a decent bottle of port being offered to the most worthy submission. The 83 Cockburn's VP would probably not be appropriate though.

Ray

Roy,

to me, and sorry to say, the TN section is a bit of a mess. When i click it and i see 8-10 new TN's posted i dont even bother to look at them right away. I think there should be more structure in it. As i speak only for myself, im not really interested in reading LBV or a 10, 20 or 30 years old. I rarely drink those at the moment.

My idea is make a TN section by producer, by Vintage, by Quinta. All in alhabetical order. Also, members can add a unknown producer and quinta. And ofcourse the opportunity to add pics to it. Or link to the PORTtraits database. When you rollover the text of a bottle a pic pops up. This is easily doable with javascript.
I like the Cellar Tracker idea, the cellar is alphabetically organized there and in 1 glimpse i can click what i want to read.

just my

Erik

Thanks, please keep 'em coming. I'll respond either privately or after we receive more posts here. I certainly don't want to stifle the flow of ideas.

We could use a couple of things to make the TN db more useful:

The ability to sort alphabetically, by vintage, by TN date, by author, or by whatever other criteria someone might want to use.
The ability to easily link pictures from PORTraits so that we don't have to upload the pictures twice.

But perhaps most importantly, we could really use a "Beginner's Guide to Writing a TN." Writing a TN is a daunting task, especially the first time, and for beginners the lack of guidance might be enough for them to not bother. I know such guides exist as books, but a sticky at the top of the page offering some examples of colors, aromas, and flavors to consider as well as some (very brief) background on why such descriptions are appropriate for the various types of Port would be really helpful.

I still struggle to write TNs because Port is such a rich and diverse wine. I have to mentally run through a checklist at each stage of the TN to avoid missing something important, because I often cannot smell or taste even very common notes unless I think about them first.

I am finding the easiest way to write a TN is just to be absolutely true to my personal impressions of the wine in question and not to try to emulate another writer's syntax. When two guys tell me on the same day that the smell of madeira made them feel aroused, I had no choice but to write accordingly albeit with considerable tact. Even if there is a lack of perceived technical appropriateness or convention, the originality of the presentation I think makes up for it.

I think people want to get an idea how the wine makes them feel as well.

Ray

I echo Glenn's point of view .
I , and probably other Port lovers dont taste enough of the nectar to put into words what we taste and how it compares to Port "x".
I'm fully aware that it takes time to refine our ability describe what we taste .
I couldn't throw a sinker when I was 12 , but after hours of practise and a couple of years of growth , I started to throw the pitch with more confidence .

Hmm... I am inspired. I'm going to start a thread in the Port Basics section called "The Beginner's Guide to Writing a TN" where we can all contribute to just such a guide. Once we have polished it up, we can either add it to the TN section as a sticky or have Roy add it to the existing sticky in that section.

I am one of those guilty that does not write enough. Not only for the forum but for me and the collective wisdom on Port and Douro wine. Definitively in 2009 I should take more time to write about it!

Ray Barnes wrote:I think people want to get an idea how the wine makes them feel as well.

Like Ray, I do like to hear other people opinions about the Ports. If I only wanted the aspects of the trying, I would see them in the web of the warehouse. In what I am more interested, is in opinions of the others. If you follow the FLOP writers, you can get an idea of their taste. To see if it seams to yours and then, follow this writers TN to cath some Ports you don't know and you may like them.
I also would like many more tasting notes. A way to classify them, that it simplifies the search, is a good idea.

Fred,

With as much Port and Douro wine as you drink ... and with your knowledge and experience ... that would be most appreciated.

I am enjoying reading the many great suggestions!!!

A better search capability would definitely make this section more useful. I saw an '83 Taylor on eBay and wanted to look for a TN for that. I eventually found the correct thread, but the current search gave a lot of false hits. I tried the google trick of putting "1983 Taylor" in quotes to only match where the words appear together, but that didn't help.

As for me, I'm close to writing a note, but my lack of experience and knowledge has held me back. I'm hoping to change that by attending the gala gathering this month. You might see a note or two from me before then.

-Eric

Eric,

I promise that if you will remind me early in (or before) the Friday night tasting, that I will give a quick lesson in tasting note writing.

Eric Menchen wrote:
As for me, I'm close to writing a note, but my lack of experience and knowledge has held me back. I'm hoping to change that by attending the gala gathering this month. You might see a note or two from me before then.

-Eric

Eric,
I am quite confident that by the end of the gala you will be writing some very good TN's. There are many people there that will gladly help you in learning.

I hope that our ten minute discussion on "how to prepare a tasting note" at the very beginning of the weekend has helped some gain the confidence to now write their notes here. I have a feeling, that tasting 90+ wines over three days doesn't hurt in gaining the experience, especially when we discussed ever one of the fortified wines.

Funny thing, I could swear we just had about 50-something bottles of Ports with 19 other participants last weekend.

Hint, hint! :wall:

Roy Hersh wrote:Funny thing, I could swear we just had about 50-something bottles of Ports with 19 other participants last weekend.

Hint, hint! :wall:

For The Love Of Port !!
They can't all be visiting prcelain gods at the same time :devil:

Luc Gauthier wrote:

Roy Hersh wrote:Funny thing, I could swear we just had about 50-something bottles of Ports with 19 other participants last weekend.

Hint, hint! :wall:

For The Love Of Port !!
They can't all be visiting prcelain gods at the same time :devil:

Nope, but they're all recovering after seeing first hand how us 'rs do it right.

Spoken like a true knight of the VP table