For The Love Of Port

1994 Niepoort Colheita My note on this one was a bit skimpy, but I remember that I enjoyed it very much. Good balance of fruit with just a touch of tannin. I also noted pleasing hints of vanilla and pine resin on the nose. 95 pts. This tasting note is one of several related tasting notes. Click [her...

Robertson's Rebello Valente 1983 (November 2007) From a half-bottle. The tan color of a 20 year old tawny, lots of VA on the nose: 'nail polish remover'. Musty. On the palate watery, then syrupy, with caramel and butterscotch notes. A bit raisiny, also. After 4 hours in the decanter it began to inte...

I've had the Ferreira 77 twice and on both times I enjoyed it very much. We had it over Thanksgiving. Here are my notes: Very light pink color, (color of Japanese maple leaves in the fall - we compared it!) nose very clean, light and fragrant with notes of cherry, vanilla, jasmine tea and a hint of ...

This weekend I'm finishing up a bottle of Calem Quinta da Foz 1996, which turned out to be much much better than I expected. Lots of intense fruit, but really raw and tannic. I will probably pick up a few more bottles to age as the price was right. I also have a bottle of Quinta das Heredias 10 year...

I thought I'd add my Two other good LBV's to look for are Churchill's and Quinta do Castelinho. The Castelinho is another one that might be a bit hard to find, but it's good to keep an eye out for. Oh, and Ferreira. Can't remember if anyone mentioned Ferreira.

Thanks, guys. I like the fact that LBV's are inexpensive enough that you don't have to really think about grabbing a few when you hit the wine shop. My collection of VP's is probably small by FTLOP standards (about 80 bottles) but most of them are from 1992 and 1994 and I want to keep my hands off t...

I'm not sure if this topic has been discussed elsewhere, but I was wondering what people considered the optimum age for drinking unfiltered LBV's. I've started stocking up on the premise that they are inexpensive and somewhat ageworthy. Mostly I end up drinking them when they are around 6-8 years ol...

After some deliberation, I would have to say Niepoort 1994. I have only one measly half-bottle that I don't want to open yet. I've tried very few Niepoort VP's because I just haven't seen a lot of them for sale in my area. From what I have tried, I've found Niepoort to be quite drinkable rather youn...

Nicholas, The only other possibility I can think of is Royal Oporto 1973 Colheita. I know I've seen it listed somewhere on the internet but I have not tasted or purchased any of it, but I will probably try to at some point. I've had very little experience with Royal Oporto but I have tried two of th...

Eric, As the importer is practically a neighbor of yours, you should be seeing a good amount of Andresen in your marketplace. See if you can land a bottle of the very very good 1985 VP. I have been getting to Newark now and again, where I discovered the Ironbound district. My favorite shop there is...

I think I might be able to make it. That sounds like a real blast!

Frederick: Thanks for the clarification. It pleases me to know that it really was 100% 1973. Andy: You were the one who spotted the demijohns marked 1973 in the Niepoort cellars. We were both eyeing those. School is going well, but right now I'm doing an unpaid internship, which means I'm broke, whi...

Hello Everyone, First off, I'd like to apologize for disappearing from this forum for so long. I'm going back to school and have been quite busy lately. So now I'm trying to catch up a bit, and I have a few TN's I want to post. Casa de Santa Eufemia Special Reserve White Port I had this one on my bi...

I was thinking of bringing my bottle of Cockburn 1983 to Thanksgiving this year, but from what I've been hearing I'm a little worried about it. I think I may opt for a Ferreira 1977 instead, or at least have the 77 ready as a back-up.

My very first port was Taylor's Chip Dry when I was in college, which I had at a restaurant. I didn't know anything about wine except that I had an alcoholic uncle who would drink jugs of 'white port' and I figured this was something like that. I liked it so much that I went out to the local liquor ...

I'll second the Messias 1985. I should have been a little suspicious when they were selling it for $9 a bottle! If you count LBV's, I've had some dreadful Calem LBV's. I also had an abominable Fonseca Guimarasens, I can't remember the vintage. I had it when I was just starting out with port and even...

Haven't tried the 1991, but I have tried the 1992 colheita, and it struck me as a very 'correct' tawny, very well-made but somehow not very distinctive. I don't know how else to describe it. I enjoyed it and the price was reasonable, though.

I voted for 1991, because I'm defining 'under-appreciated' as 'a great wine that is often ignored'. I think the 1992's definitely had a good deal of popularity and publicity, and the 1995's are readily available and relatively inexpensive these days, so I wouldn't call either of them under-appreciat...

I've had the most experience with the 1985 vintage, and so far I haven't really encountered a bad bottle. My top 85's are Dow, Cockburn and Taylor.

I did buy two bottles of the Moreira and have tried one. This is definitely a weird one. I drank it over the course of two weeks, and I'd have to agree that it seemed to taste a bit better after it had been open for an extended period of time. It was a bit cloudy, and in my notes I wrote things like...