For The Love Of Port

A number of the guys from The Port Forum in the UK enjoyed a Vesuvio Vertical tasting last week with Johnny Symington as our guest. Thanks to the assistance and generosity of the Symington family, we managed to track down every vintage of Quinta do Vesuvio ever produced plus the Vesuvio Capela 2007 and an early (work in progress) Cask Sample of the 2008. This was a very special event and, we believe, the first time that all of these wines have been tasted together in a single tasting.

I have posted my TN's from the evening here on FTLOP.

Roll on 2009

I am reading through your TNs and thank-you for them. Can you give some idea of ranking, or which were the standouts? I can get an impression from the TNs, but might miss something.

Bastards... Sounds like quite the event. Would like to hear details and highlights. Vesuvio is a good value for all that goes into those footlockers.

This thread got me thinking.....Vesuvio has always been a darn good Port since the Symington's took it over and started with the 1989 vintage. I dare say one of the most consistent houses year in and year out during this time. Sure some vintages are better than others, but I've never been disappointed with any vintage of Vesuvio, even the "lesser" years. I'd gladly drink any vintage offered to me. Can anyone think of another house during this same time that has the same year in and year out consistency?

Andy Velebil wrote:This thread got me thinking.....Vesuvio has always been a darn good Port since the Symington's took it over and started with the 1989 vintage. I dare say one of the most consistent houses year in and year out during this time. Sure some vintages are better than others, but I've never been disappointed with any vintage of Vesuvio, even the "lesser" years. I'd gladly drink any vintage offered to me. Can anyone think of another house during this same time that has the same year in and year out consistency?

Off the top of my head I'd venture to say Taylor. I haven't tasted all of their VPs for that stretch, but I have had the 94 and 97 VPs and the 91, 95, and 01 Vargellas vintages. By most accounts I've heard the 92, 00, 03 and 07 VPs, as well as the 98 and 05 Vargellas are all top notch ports as well. What do you think?

Moses Botbol wrote:Bastards... Sounds like quite the event.

The undisputed star of the show was 1994. This is a fabulous wine that will stand beside the very best of any classic vintage ports produced in the last 20 or 30 years. i would put the Capela in second spot but did note that it seems to have developed somewhat in under one year in bottle and I do not know what that means for its long term future. Next for me was the 2003 - simply delicious and just a fraction ahead of the 2000 in terms of overall quality for my taste. In fifth spot I would put the standard 07 bottling - a delicious and very balanced wine.

But one of the real highlights of the evening was when Johnny pulled out a huge pile of hand-written manuscripts from the time when Antonio Ferreira ruled the roost at Vesuvio. This pile contained detailed weather reports and letters between AF and her various managers instructing them on what to do. Fascinating stuff and a real sense of history. Johnny was a fantastic guest and managed to bring all of the wines into context in terms of the place and the conditions in which they were produced.

A truely memorable tasting.

Moses will be pleased to know that this month we have decided to scale things down a bit so we only have 20 vintages of Graham's Malvedos from 1957 to 2008 (cask sample) with a few classic Graham's vintages thrown in and Paul Symington and Richard Mayson as our guests.

Derek T. wrote: Moses will be pleased to know that this month we have decided to scale things down a bit so we only have 20 vintages of Graham's Malvedos from 1957 to 2008 (cask sample) with a few classic Graham's vintages thrown in and Paul Symington and Richard Mayson as our guests.

OK, just rub it in... Only had 4-5 vintages of Malvedos. None blew me away, but all were "good" at a minimum.

Wow! Fantastic tasting! I have more 1994 Vesuvio in my cellar than any other wine... so it makes be happy to see your note. I've been enjoying the 1998, which is drinking very well right now - young, but impressive.
I wish I had been at your tasting!
-Dave-

David Spriggs wrote:Wow! Fantastic tasting! I have more 1994 Vesuvio oin my cellar than any other wien

I have one 6 pack foot locker of Vesuvio '94, that's it. On a mission now!

David Spriggs wrote:I have more 1994 Vesuvio oin my cellar than any other wien... so it makes be happy to see your note.

For a good while I could make that claim, and then I drank some of it. Given my impression and Derek's note, I suppose I should restock.

Eric Menchen wrote:Given my impression and Derek's note, I suppose I should restock.

Absolutely! You will not regret having too much of this in your cellar. My goal is to have a bottle of this per month for the rest of my life.... which means that I will need to purchase every bottle made in order to achieve that!

David Spriggs wrote:

Eric Menchen wrote:Given my impression and Derek's note, I suppose I should restock.

Absolutely! You will not regret having too much of this in your cellar. My goal is to have a bottle of this per month for the rest of my life.... which means that I will need to purchase every bottle made in order to achieve that!

Dave,

You can buy some from me. I'll sell you the first bottle for $1, the second bottle for $2, the third bottle for $4, the fourth bottle for $8, the fifth bottle for $16 etc.

Minimum purchase of 50 bottles.

I could drink Nacional every month if you said yes!

Alex