For The Love Of Port

Forgive me father for I have sinned, it has been at least 3 weeks since I've had any Port.

I have had 85+ Madeiras in that stretch of time and a few other Portuguese dessert wines, (lots of Setubal Moscatel/Roxo and Vinho Generoso/Licoroso bottlings and Carcavelos too) but not a single Port. That will be solved later in the week when arriving in Porto.

Alex, the 2000 Niepoort is one of my very top if not favorite VP of the vintage. Under-rated by many. I only thought Fonseca reached that same level, prior to release. Taylor was close but lagged behind both of those. The Niepoort is a head turner and I hope people have some in their cellars to drink later in life.

The aforementioned 2003 Portal is a beauty and I agree with Claus that in Denmark, the bottles brought to the table did not do this excellent VP any justice. I've had it at the winery not long ago and it was still a ham fisted teenager filled with promise, but not a sipper as of yet.

Not me, but I partook in drinking it and was very grateful to the person who brought it. 1963 Sandeman VP, recorked 2007.

Had a 2005 Dow LBV. I use to buy case after case of this wine until I was sick of it many years ago. Finally consolidated all of my wine into one cellar and this was in one of the last remaining cases. More impressive now than I remember and I loved it back then. Very Dow tasting. Chocolate notes up front and drier finish. Utterly smooth and in balance. Terrific stuff. Glad it was able to age!

Moses Botbol wrote:Had a 2005 Dow LBV. I use to buy case after case of this wine until I was sick of it many years ago. Finally consolidated all of my wine into one cellar and this was in one of the last remaining cases. More impressive now than I remember and I loved it back then. Very Dow tasting. Chocolate notes up front and drier finish. Utterly smooth and in balance. Terrific stuff. Glad it was able to age!

Wow! Great story!

David Spriggs wrote:

Moses Botbol wrote:Had a 2005 Dow LBV. I use to buy case after case of this wine until I was sick of it many years ago. Finally consolidated all of my wine into one cellar and this was in one of the last remaining cases. More impressive now than I remember and I loved it back then. Very Dow tasting. Chocolate notes up front and drier finish. Utterly smooth and in balance. Terrific stuff. Glad it was able to age!

Wow! Great story!

They use to practically give this wine away at Costco hence buying it the case after case. I think it was around $9 a bottle at the time.

1975 Cockburn VP is in the decanter for later this evening.

Last week in summerhouse

2011 Quinta do Portal VP, initially a bit weak but turned it around somewhat after a few hours. Suspect it is in a dreamstate.
10 anos Andresen Branco, one of my favourite younger white ports. Sticky and lush
10 anos Blackett Tawny, probably the best 10 year old tawny on the market. Would rival quite a few 20 year old ports. (Rumor has it they add a bit of white port in the mix)

Stumbled on a case of mixed LBV's that figured I should start drinking... 1999 Ferreira LBV. I didn't see any recent tasting notes in the FTLOP database. The port is still going strong! Incredibly smooth & plush. Heat died off on day 2. Super dark in the glass with nice balance. Luckily I have 6-7 of them, so not in such a rush on the rest of them.

Has everyone drank theirs or are they holding on to them? The last review was 11 years ago!

My last bottle of VP. Nothing spectacular, a Borges 2004. When my son last visited I decided to transfer my VPs to the section of the cellar for him and his two children. He did the choosing but insisted I kept one bottle. We have now drunk it.

As we have aged (now 75 and 70 respectively) my wife and I find we do not get the same pleasure from VPs as we did in the past. Discussng it, we both felt that around the age of 30 was when we would choose VP over LBV - once a month in those days was all we could afford. Later when we could afford VPs more regularly we drank more and of course on arrival here 16 years ago began to stock some in our very large cellar.

We now drink only the occasional LBV, otherwise Ruby every night with cheese and biscuits as part of dinner and are still averaging four bottles a week so have not given up on Port. Our favourites at present are Barros, Calem's Velhotes, Dow and Ferreira but they do vary in quality from time to time.

1994 Sandeman Vintage. Cork totally crumbled and first sips were tasting like it was baked a little... Day 2 the port is rich and sublime. Smooth, high quality spirit and none of the baked flavors I first tasted. Well done Sandeman!

Moses Botbol wrote:Day 2 the port is rich and sublime... and none of the baked flavors I first tasted.

Waiting was definitely smart!

1986 Quinta do Noval Colheita, bottled in 2006.

Some recent encounters:

Sandeman '66 - glorious

Gonzalez Byass '70 - an exceptional offering from an also-ran brand

A '94 horizontal - deeply unimpressive, but I am reminded that a lot of critics and producers lost faith in the '77 vintage when it was this age.

Malvedos '95 - my first encounter with a '95 for 12 years, since when I imposed a minimum drinking age of 24 years on VP. Splendid nose, dark, tannic, but somehow thin - a comment I also made twelve years ago. Better than most of the 94's sampled recently though..

Tom Archer wrote:A '94 horizontal - deeply unimpressive, but I am reminded that a lot of critics and producers lost faith in the '77 vintage when it was this age.

Very interesting. I was toying with hosting a '94 horizontal this year.

Eric Menchen wrote:

Tom Archer wrote:A '94 horizontal - deeply unimpressive, but I am reminded that a lot of critics and producers lost faith in the '77 vintage when it was this age.

Very interesting. I was toying with hosting a '94 horizontal this year.

We should do one!

David Spriggs wrote:

Eric Menchen wrote:

Tom Archer wrote:A '94 horizontal - deeply unimpressive, but I am reminded that a lot of critics and producers lost faith in the '77 vintage when it was this age.

Very interesting. I was toying with hosting a '94 horizontal this year.

We should do one!

Still too young. I think Tom's deeply unimpressive experience is because they're still in a funk, or possibly in a second funk of some sort. The ones I've had recently have felt off, not bad or uninspired, so I remain optimistic about the long-term potential of the 1994 vintage. Wait until 2024 and see how they're doing then... I suspect they'll just be "opening up" and starting to show their potential.

because they're still in a funk, or possibly in a second funk of some sort

They were mostly light, with an alarmingly clear meniscus for that age. Only the Vesuvio had any real beef. Churchill and Noval both exhibited the muddy palate that I've never noted on any wine prior to 1991, but have now clocked on Noval (91 - really badly, 94 & 97) Churchill (94) Cockburn (91 & 94) Dow (91) & Warre (91)

I have no idea what is causing this - but it's a real spoiler that we need to understand better. Not every bottle is afflicted, although I've yet to come across a Noval '91 that was free of it..

Tom Archer wrote:Some recent encounters:

Sandeman '66 - glorious

Gonzalez Byass '70 - an exceptional offering from an also-ran brand

'70 GB is a powerful rich port. I like it a lot. Well, '66 Sandeman is quite nice too.

David Spriggs wrote:

Moses Botbol wrote:Day 2 the port is rich and sublime... and none of the baked flavors I first tasted.

Waiting was definitely smart!

Day 3 even better. I plan to finish off the bottle tonight and I am very pleased with this vintage. Well done for Sandeman.