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Is there any writing Port buying guide book?

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 6:37 pm
by Carlos Rodriguez
I only know the ' Guia de vinhos generosos 2004'. Somebody knows if it does exist any other? :?
With 'buying guide' I wanted to meant, a book with a large relation of Ports described, pointed, and with a reference price.

Re: Is there any writing Port buying guide book?

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:05 pm
by Andy Velebil
The only problem with something like that is it is out of date before it even hits the book stands. Prices change so much in a short time, it wouldn't be practical.

As for the TN's, they to can go out of date too. The best example of this is Suckling's book. While a great read, it is now woofully out of date with its tasting notes and other factual information about the houses. The only good thing is that it's now a great historical fact checker about who owned what and who was doing what at the time it was written.

I'm a bit biased here :mrgreen: , but just subscribe to :ftlop: and you've got access to all of Roy's TN's. Not to mention this forum and all the current TN's that all of us have added. To me that is far more relevent than any old book that has been in print for many years.

Re: Is there any writing Port buying guide book?

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 1:53 am
by Roy Hersh
I agree with what Andy said and would like to elaborate too. Given the vast differences in which Port wines are imported into the various countries of the world, nobody has access to them all. So whereas it my be easy to find a producer like Niepoort in The Netherlands, it might be next to impossible to find Souza. This makes it very tough on a writer and like Andy said, the TNs in any book, lose their importance very quickly.

Sadly, the shelves in wine shops around the world, use scores that Suckling wrote about 20+ years ago and obviously those Vintage Ports have evolved since then. It is a disservice to those VPs to have such old TNs attached to the shelf talkers. :evil: