For The Love Of Port

http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Featu ... 33,00.html

And Suckling says he's going to be tasting in Porto this week, so be on the lookout if you're on the Fortification Tour.

A good article and it will be interesting to compare scores when they start being released.

TN's with preliminary scores released last night on Decanter site. To summarize briefly:

97-100 Fladgate's Vinhas Velhas (200 cases production)
96-99 Graham
95-98 Warre
94-97 Dow, Taylor, Quinta do Noval
93-96 Neipoort, Sandeman, Vale Meao, others
92-95 Fonseca, others
89-92 Croft, Offley, La Rosa, Portal, many others

Refering to the top three he said:
'These were the Ports that showed the best grip, the highest density and quality of ripe tannins, and opulent, sweet fruit.' - JS

One man's opinion, surely, but interesting to read what he says about the wines from a stylisitic standpoint.

Smitty,

Thanks for the update...first I need you to update your username as we are a real names forum.

Having tasted a number of these 2007's now, many over several days, I can say some of his scores are a bit high IMO. A couple are also on the low side. To name just one, the Croft is far better than that IMO.

It appears from his article that he only tasted each of these one time and did not evaluate them over 2 or 3 days. That clearly shows in some of his notes, the Croft being one of them.

Andy,

I know that James also tasted components of certain final blends to learn how they were made up, as I will be doing the same next week. I agree that the scores seem too high from my snapshots too. But like him, you and me ... none of us have spent 2-3 days with these Ports so how can you say he is wrong? I do agree these need more contemplation.

OTOH, he also spent a good amount of time at the Factory House tasting through many 2007s and has a very solid background in doing this for many years. I would not yet counter his scores until you actually can spend significant time with the young ones yourself. Why were they in Decanter and not WS, is my bigger question? Richard Mayson usually does the Decanter Port vintage analyses.

Remember that cask sample scores are very subjective and that goes for everybody who will rate them, from JS to Jay Miller, Jancis, Mayson, and Hersh, etc.

But like him, you and me ... none of us have spent 2-3 days with these Ports so how can you say he is wrong? I do agree these need more contemplation

.
actually I have just spent 3 days in a row evaluating all the Fladgate VP's, Noval, and Romeniera Cask Samples
Which is why I can speak from experience about the Croft's big improvement over the course of 3 days.

Also why I can understand some of his tasting notes and scores. They highlight the pit falls for any reviewer doing snap shot tastings of young VP's, me included.

Question that is slightly off topic. I saw that Suckling rated Taylor Fladgate's Vinha Velhas the highest in his tastings. I was always under the impression that in declared years, SQVP's were not released. But obviously they were this year. Is this typical?

I haven't tasted any barrel tasting, but if his scores hold, would this be the greatest year ever?

1997 and 2000, and now 2007, are the only years Taylor's Vargellas Vinha Velha (VVV as it's commonly refered to) was declared along side the regular Taylor's VP in a "declared year". Of course they've only made it in 1995, 1997, 2000, and 2004 so I'd say they have a history of doing it in the major declared years. Which makes sense as those are the really top notch years to begin with.

And really VVV isn't so much a SQVP. As we've discussed here before, like Noval's Nacional, VVV is really a Single Vineyard Designated VP since these bottles have grapes that ONLY come from one small section from within their respective Quinta's. That is one reason why there is so little produced and why the cost is so high.

Robert O. wrote:
I haven't tasted any barrel tasting, but if his scores hold, would this be the greatest year ever?

Way to early to tell and I wouldn't state that for at least another 20-30 years when we really see what they do. You never know, they could end up like the 1960 or 63 vintages or be great like the 1970 and 77 vintages.

Thanks, Andy. I guess I am wondering if any vintage has had ratings like this say 30 years out. I understand that these ratings may not hold, but if they did...

Seems Neal Martin has also released his tasting notes on the 2007 cask samples. Some interesting comparisions to Sucklings notes and scores...

MOD NOTE: I've merged the "Suckling rates 07 VPs" thread and the "WineSpectator reports on 2007" thread, as Suckling is part of WS and they are about the same things.