Weather in the Douro is not just a polite conversational ice-breaker, it is critical and truly fascinating. Cynthia reviews the basics of geography and annual rain patterns, and takes a look at the start of the 2014 viticultural year.
In 19 years of tasting and enjoying wine, Roy came across only three wines that merited 100 point scores. Then one night in 2013 he tasted three! Here's his list of the top 12 Ports tasted in 2013 and a bit of the backstory on one of them.
FTLOP has a new site design and new team members to continue delivering to you the best on-line resource about Port Wine.
A group of close friends decided to enjoy some sensational old Vintage Ports on a special occasion and invited Roy to join them. Extraordinary wines, memories and new friendships.
The Rare Wine Co. and Vinhos Barbeito team up again for another memorable tasting of rare Madeiras, this time in honour of Vinhos Barbeito's former winemaker Dona Manuela Barbeito.
From Newsletter 74, Blog post dated February 28, 2013 Some of the events below would give the answer away, so if you haven’t already guessed then consider these additional clues: Over 200,000 civil rights protesters marched on Washington DC and heard Martin Luther King give his famous “I have a Dream” speech. The Great Train [...]
From Newsletter 76, Blog posted July 18, 2013: Vintage 1978
Meet Carla Tiago, who is the talented winemaker at Quinta S. Luiz, since 2007. This beautiful property is where the Port and Douro wines of Kopke are grown and vinified along with some others in the Sogevinus portfolio.
Roy's account of possibly the finest and oldest lineup of Verdelho ever assembled: eighteen historic bottles spanning vintages from 1890 back to 1748, with his meticulous tasting notes. In addition, Mannie Berk contributed "Reexamining Verdelho" and notes on the provenance of each wine, and Richard Mayson has written about "The Verdelho Grape" and "The Distribution of Madeira's Vineyards Today."
Swedish Port lover Sten-Anders Ivarsson´s article focuses on a comprehensive tasting of thirty Vintage Ports from the unheralded, but very solid year of 1978.
