For The Love Of Port

Hey Jim,

Have you had a chance to write down / share any of your thoughts from your tasting event? or did I miss them? Hope it was great!

Cheers,
Mark

Jim S. wrote: ↑Fri Mar 13, 2026 8:07 pm Best diffuser ever!

Your house must smell pretty amazing, Jim!! I opened these bottles on March 6th, in preparation for a Verdelho/Sercial tasting I have planned for March 17th. 1895 Araujo de Barros Verdelho 1905 D’Oliveiras Verdelho 1912 D’Oliveiras Verdelho 1954 Justino’s Verdelho 1891 Araujo de Barros Sercial 1905 ...

Maybe has to do with either - better cork quality from domestic availability/trees - high acidity declines the effects or risks of TCA - less physical contact with cork dur to vertical storage ? I also wondered if the vertical storage might be a statistically (very) significant reason why TCA in ma...

Hey Glenn, I'm sorry that you had that let-down experience with your 1875! I don't recall that this was bottled that long ago, but still -- I would recommend waiting several days and re-tasting. It sounds like you opened and then tasted, and served same-day? Naturally, I trust your expertise and you...

1954 VJH Verdelho - decanted 5 days 1964 VJH Boal - decanted 3.5 days I actually don't know when either of these were bottled. (if someone knows and can share, I'd love to learn.) I have quite a few bottles of both and, after several bottles of sneaking a sip every day (or maybe every 12 hours [chee...

Congratulations, Roy! Within this past year, I just opened up my last bottle of 100, during an occassion of a wedding celebration (not my own) of some very special friends in the wine world (Sassicaia) and whose ancestors are deeply related to Portugal. What a wine! (The '60' might still be my favor...

What a great photo! Thank you for sharing!!

Very sorry to hear this! Condolensces go out to the whole family.

@Jim,

Is this one of the H&H Heavenly Quartet bottles? (I suppose we have realized perhaps there are actually more than 4 of these great bottlings (a quintet or sextet?) but colloquially, I think you know what I mean)

Excited for you! Those are all wonderful treats....

Cheers,
Mark

Hello, Al!

Thanks for the reply and the note. I think you are right! I'll have to just plan something, open up the bottles, and let everything else fall into place!

Hope to see you when you are in the LA area.

Best wishes,
Mark

I have very much enjoyed reading everyone's "evolutions of palate" and thought I'd contribute mine, as my journey seems to be somewhat different than others. I started from the White Port side of the spectrum. Technically, my first enjoyable white wine was a Sauternes, though it was -- at ...

Nice showing at the competition, Glenn! 2nd in pork and 5th in brisket is awesome. I enjoy my ceramic smoker, but have not entered the realm of competition. May I ask where you source your brisket? I have found some good value from Costco's prime brisket, but have also splurged for SRF gold. I feel ...

Thanks for communicating with them, Glen. It's too bad, but I appreciate their consideration nonetheless! I'm leaning toward postponing, myself, perhaps if only because I get the idea that dividing 8 - 9 bottles into 8 - 9 parts might work better than 5 bottles into 5 parts. I guess I was thinking a...

Like many of you, I was certainly looking forward to this event, though I also completely understand if we need to reschedule! I suppose I would only request that we try to reschedule in earnest and really try to find a date in the future that people can really look forward to and plan for. After Oc...

Hey Andy!

I think it would be great if you could look into a room at your country club for that weekend! Thank you!!

Cheers,
Mark

That sounds good, Marc J!

Well, perhaps to kick things off, I'm not sure what we may decide for Saturday 's flights.... these are to be a bit more accessible, right? Perhaps with more of a meal / food to go with everything? For Sunday's event, I was thinking perhaps I could bring a 1937 Burmester Colheita? You know, I also h...

Regarding attendance for Oct 28-29... So far those who have expressed interest and participated in this thread (in no particular order): Mark L Glenn E Eric M Mike JW Randy K (Sunday only) Roy H (Sunday only) Andy V Bradley B David S Marc J Lucas S Marc R Eric Ifune cannot attend Oct 28-29. 😞 That l...

Thanks for lighting the fire, Glenn! I would love for this to happen. I have participated in events like this (for madeira) including having traveled from afar to attend one. But I have never organized one. That said, I would be happy to be an apprentice or assistant or helper to someone who has don...

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!