Is now the time to end the notion of "generally declared” Vintage Ports? For the past couple of centuries, it has been common practice for the Port trade to declare Vintage Port three times per decade based on the quality and quantity of excellent grapes harvested in a given year. There have been very few [...]
After five years of concentrating on one Madeira grape at a time: Terrantez, Verdelho, Bual, Malvasia and Sercial respectively, it was time for a change of pace. To put it in perspective, all of the nearly 100 bottles we’ve tasted under the same roof in NYC; have combined for a staggering total of circa 17,000 [...]
The title of this text is a bold statement, I am aware of that. And, as all bold statements, it will surely raise some eyebrows. Yet, I stand proudly by it. In my view, Barbeito is currently the best Madeira wine producer, and the reason behind the hype around this producer is almost entirely [...]
By Rune Gustavsen When my wife Emmy and I participated in the 2016 FTLOP Port Harvest Tour 2, we visited Quevedo. After having tasted many different Port wines, we all received a surprise during dinner at Quevedo’s quinta near São João da Pesqueira. Oscar Quevedo presented a new bottling of red wine: 2014 Quevedo Grande [...]
FTLOP is proud to introduce you to Ana Almeida. Here is Ana’s story: 1. Please share some information about your life and how you wound up working in the Port and Douro wine trade and at what age? I grew up in the smallest AOC in Portugal, Carcavelos, in Lisbon’s suburbs where fortified wine [...]
A quick aside, Colheita Madeira unlike Colheita Port (the latter of which requires 7 years in wood) but with Madeira, Colheita rules have required a minimum of six years in neutral cask, since the category was created in the early-mid-1990s. In the new regulations passed in 2015, that was changed to where Colheita Madeira now [...]
There is an old Portuguese saying that goes: “Para lá do Marão, mandam os que lá estão”, which can be translated into something like “Beyond the Marão, it is those who live there that are in charge”. This saying reflects a hard truth about the Trás-os-Montes region. Situated beyond the Marão and Alvão mountains, and [...]
Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle WA, Oct 25, 2016 Article by Glenn Elliott © December 2016 The Association of Port Wine Companies - AEVP - is a private non-profit organization that was established in January, 1975, with headquarters in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. Its main purpose is to represent and protect the interests of its [...]
The late ripening Sercial grape is unquestionably the driest (up to 1.5% RS) and often the most crisp style of Madeira, with lemon, grapefruit and nutty nuances along with mineral characteristics. Madeira’s Sercial grape is noted for its rarity, as well as its fresh, razor-sharp -- some would say, “searing” – acidity, hints of VA and delicate mouthfeel as [...]
Roy’s Note: We are grateful to be able to include the written work of Fernando Correia who joined our staff a year ago and has done a marvelous job in providing compelling content for our blog. In the middle of August, Fernando’s wife Sandra gave birth to their first child, a son, Eduardo and we [...]
