For The Love Of Port

OK Dan, Roy has brought this upon you so here goes: Without breaching commercial confidentiality, can you please describe the relationship and interactions between Symington Family Estates and Cockburn? Who owns what following the coming together? (quintas, new wines, old stocks, brands etc.) Who m...

When we were at Quinta do Bomfim this October, we saw that all of the wines appeared to be made by autovinification. I was shocked by that. My understanding was that autovinification was an inferior method for making Vintage Port... but obviously I've had to rethink that. So my question...What is t...

Quarles Harris: seen and tasted only rarely by me. Is QH a brand to be a purpose to otherwise idle grapes, or does it have stylistic consistency? If the latter, please say more? Quarles Harris is one of the oldest Port Houses, being established in 1680 and over three centuries has built an outstand...

Hi Dan, tanks for taking the time to answer and elaborate on the Capela Port. Unfortunately, we'll not see it in Quebec, neither the top wine of Vesuvio [help.gif] I'd like to read your opinion on the Port market. Will it grow, diminish in quantity but quality will rise? How important do you think ...

Dan, It is ok to pretend you've never seen Derek's post. You must be joking, I love these questions. I will answer them all, including the question about Quarles Harris, but to be honest, I just don't have the steam to do it tonight. Blame it on a rainy weekend with two little ones bouncing off the...

Forgetting about Shippers or "brands" for the moment ... what category of Port do you enjoy drinking the most? At home what do you and Mrs. Carbon drink most often in terms of Port -- but also non-Portuguese wine? For dinner tonight Shannon made a pasta dish with eggplant and mozzarella c...

Welcome Dan, My general question probably needs a book to answer: ‘With the replanting of vineyards to fewer varieties, combined with various sales/transfers of ‘core vineyards’; have there been some ‘changes’ in house styles of the major houses?’ To make this more specific, obviously Vesuvio has c...

Smith Woodhouse is one that typically flies under the radar, yet is a house that I've often enjoyed for some stunning Ports. However, there is not a lot of information about it on the web site (hint, hint :mrgreen: ). Other than Madalena, which is only about 6-7 hectares IIRC, are there any other S...

The Symington's are also involved in Madeira. Can you inform us as to their exact involvement? Are there any new, upcoming, Madeira things to expect in the near future (a new older release, younger Colheita, etc)? Hi Andy. That is correct, the Symingtons partnered with the Blandy family in 1989. Th...

Do the Symingtons have plans to expand beyond Douro and Madeira for Portuguese wine? Have the Symingtons ever produced a Kosher wine or port? No plans to expand beyond the Douro that I have heard. I don’t want to speak for them, but as you know the Symingtons are unique in that, in addition to the ...

About the casks, I read that the best oak casks, are the one´s that are smoked for 3 years and in each year they lose 1 to 2 cm thickness and the oak that they use come from trees with a century, the price of each one, around 750/800 US dollars... Hi Gonçalo. I completely missed your question! And ...

a. How many total grape types are approved for Port production overall? b. Do you know the breakdown of that total into White grapes vs. Red grapes approved for Port? c. Is the number the exact same for Douro wine production? Total grape varieties approved for Port is 89. Same for table wines. Appr...

What are your favorite pre and post war Grahams? Will Grahams ever release a dry wine? Is Grahams Crusted imported to USA? I found that the Grahams website really nailed the descriptions of the vintages back to 1950. Are you by any chance referring to the Gulf War? If so I had the pleasure of tasti...

Hi All. Today I went to the Factory House for lunch. There was a tasting of Vintage Ports from the 80's, including the '80, '83, and '85's from Graham, Dow, Warre, Martinez, Churchill, Croft, Taylor, and Fonseca. A great lineup. I thought the '85s were a step up on the '83's and got surprised by a M...

Are there any plans on making a high end white wine for generally release? Hi Andy. Every year the family makes a White Altano Reserva, but it is not commercially available and there are no plans to make it so. The Douro is more suited to red grapes and as such the quality of white grapes cannot be...

Dan, Without giving away any trade secrets, are there any NEW projects that you are able to tell us about with either Port or Douro wine (or both)? Hi Roy. First, thanks again for inviting me to do this. I am having a great time. There are so many new wines in the pipeline right now my head swims s...

Now if you could just figure out a way to make a dozen or so clones of Dominic so that you could do more tastings... :wink: So its working! You actually think there is only one Dominic. Thank you for your input, all very thought provoking. The challenge is to re-create the Otima affect, but not cop...

What do you think of their presentation? Is there anything you suggest that may help them gain visibility/popular interest on the shelf? Thanks I would love to see the Symington's sponsor a sports team, perhaps a UCI cycling team to give awareness to your brands. The audience is within your target ...

I have tried Otima 10, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I keep looking for Otima 20, but the Ann Arbor, MI area isn't exactly a hotbed of Port consumption like the Seattle area. Nimrod sold for $30-32 in most places around here. The only ports that seem similar are now in the $40+ range....

Why aren't Smith Woodhouse Colheitas pushed more in the market place? It's such a fabulous wine but rare as hen's teeth to find on the shelf. Hello Moses. Go Red Sox. I have seen your posts on the Smith Woodhouse Colheitas and Smith wines in general – good to know there are strong supporters out th...