For The Love Of Port

I realize the year is only 11/12 of the way over and many great bottles are opened in December, but I am sure you can come up with at least a couple for your 2010 list!

Here's one that I just posted the TN on

1- 2004 Quinta do Crasto Vinha da Ponte
2- 2003 Quinta do Crasto Vinha Maria Teresa
3-

I figure I'll do a countdown (in no particular order), baring someone breaking into my house to try and read all my chicken scratch tasting note books, figuring out which ones I liked best, then posting them before me. Which if the case, I'll set out a few bottle of Port to drink while said person attempts to do so, as they'll surely need them.

In no order:

2000 Portal - Grand Reserve
2007 Alves de Sousa – Abandando
1994 Quinta Do Crasto - Reserva Vinho Tinto

That is not so easy, as there are many......
But looking through my notes and trying to remember what has happened, I came up with the following three:
- 1990 Niepoort Robustos
- 2007 Quinta do Crasto Maria Teresa
- 1999 Niepoort Batuta
1994 Quinta do Crasto Reserva was very close to be on the list and so did 2006 Pintas Character

1985 Lello Garrafeira
1986 Ferreirinha Reserva Especial
1994 Duas Quintas Reserva

Andy Velebil wrote:
2- 2003 Quinta do Crasto Vinha Maria Teresa

I am very happy to read that. I just bought a bottle of this to bring back with me to Oman. I didn't particularly like the fact that it was a 2003, but there was no other vintage available, except for a 2000 Ponte, that I thought was too expensive. And I really felt like trying one of these again, since it has been a long time... Looks like I'm in for a treat!

As for my top 3... I didn't drink that many Douro wines this year, unfortunately, but there were a couple of really nice ones:

- Batuta 2000 (still a monster)
- Poeira 2003 (a glass full of grace, still with much upside)
- Quinta do Javali Reserva 2003 (I used to import this, so I'm partial, but I loved how this evolved over the years, lovely, lovely wine).

Something better may still come in the remaining weeks of 2010, there is a Ferreirinha Reserva Especial 1997 waiting to be opened...

That 1997 is really great Ronnie. I was thinking of opening a 1994 of the Ferreirinha this weekend, but have one 1989 left and that might just be reaching the outer limits, so one of them will have to be executed.

That's good to hear Roy!

I'll look forward to your note on the 1997 as that will certainly be ready for consumption and during the holidays will be a perfect time. Have you found others who enjoy Port there in Oman, Ronnie?

There's a small group of Brits who like their port, but given that it's nearly impossible to find anything decent here, we have to be very careful in consuming the few precious bottles we have. Christmas certainly is a good occasion. I'm thinking either Graham's 1983 or Niepoort 1983 will do nicely.

Ronald Wortel wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote:
2- 2003 Quinta do Crasto Vinha Maria Teresa

I am very happy to read that. I just bought a bottle of this to bring back with me to Oman. I didn't particularly like the fact that it was a 2003, but there was no other vintage available, except for a 2000 Ponte, that I thought was too expensive. And I really felt like trying one of these again, since it has been a long time... Looks like I'm in for a treat!

Ronald,
I was served this blind (well, really double blind but being at the Quinta I had to make one assumption, ), after I finished jotting my note was when this bottle was revealed and I was shocked! Especially at how different it was from the Ponte, which showed far more effects from the hot vintage. When you open you're bottle, give it a good long decant and then slowly sip it to see it continuing to evolve in the glass.

I have to believe with all the people reading this part of the Forum, there are a few more opinions out there. Don't be afraid ... there are no wrong answers and as Andy says, "We don't bite." So please feel free to add your Douro wine of the year ... or three.

All tasted at the quintas during the Harvest Tour

2000 Portal Grand Reserve
2007 Alves de Sousa Abandando
2008 Vallado Sousao

I've out of country for almost the entire year and have to say that I've only had one Douro wine, something I had lying on top of my barely accessible cellar (boxes piled high and no room to maneuver).

1991 Mateus Signature, Douro DOC, Vinhos Sogrape, 12%

This was an inexpensive wine I picked up many years ago. There were not many Portuguese wines on the Edmonton market back then so it had to make do as one of the few Portuguese wines in my collection. I knew very little about the wine but did know that 1991 was a good vintage in the Douro, that the wine was made from Touriga National and Tinta Roriz, and that the word “Signature” and the sketch portrait of Fernando Van de Zeller, founder of Sogrape, on the front label suggested that this might well be a pretty good wine.

I didn’t know how long to cellar this wine but mostly it got lost in the shuffle not having a specific wine occasion identity nor a food match that came to mind. As other wines were picked from the cellar this bottle became a bit of a forgotten child.

A few nights ago I decided to open this bottle in company with people who wouldn’t mind my opening an old, inexpensive wine with little if no pedigree. It turned out to be surprisingly good and a beautiful drop for fans of very mature old world wines.

It effused an exotic display of perfumed leather and spice, and plenty of woodsy notes. The wine was fully mature but by no means at the end of it’s life. It was light to medium-bodied and mirrored the nose, a touch of ripe, tomato-skin fruit followed by lots of sweet old wood. A fine old wine, graceful and long.

I took a bit of the wine to a local shop the next day and offered it to a few industry people conducting a tasting and despite it being a day old and being a bit faded, it was still admired by those who liked old wines. One person said “I’m going to keep this glass in front of me and smell it all night”.

Those willing to experiment with cellaring modest wine can try what I think is Vinhos Sogrape’s modern day equivalent, Sogrape Reserva. It’s also a Douro wine and the last one I tasted, the 2002, was very good. A few have gone into the cellar.

Cheers...............Mahmoud

PS: That was my oldest Douro wine but not my oldest Portuguese wine

Edit- I forgot, I tried a bottle of '08 Crasto that was on sale but found it a bit sweet, not enough structure, nor depth, and decided not to waste my money.

Mahmoud Ali wrote: 1991 Mateus Signature, Douro DOC, Vinhos Sogrape, 12%

.

Believe it or not this was a very inexpensive basic Douro wine and wasn't meant to age this long. I've had many bottles of the 1992 vintage of this in the past couple years and I was shocked at how well such a basic wine has held up 18 years later.

Andy Velebil wrote:

Mahmoud Ali wrote: 1991 Mateus Signature, Douro DOC, Vinhos Sogrape, 12%

.

Believe it or not this was a very inexpensive basic Douro wine and wasn't meant to age this long. I've had many bottles of the 1992 vintage of this in the past couple years and I was shocked at how well such a basic wine has held up 18 years later.

Andy, now that I've had the '91 I'm not surprised that the '92 help up so well. After all, 1992 was a good year in the Douro as attested to by the declarations of Taylor and Fonseca. What intrigues me is that you've had "many bottles of the 1992 vintage in the past couple of years". How did you come to taste so many, and who cellared them? You clearly have very knowledgeable friends. Either that or they are very prone to experimenting.

Are these Mateus in the round bottles? Mateus and Lancers were the first two name brand Portuguese wines I can remember as a kid.

No, we're talking about a regular bordeaux bottle. I've tried to attach a photograph. Hope it works.

Mahmoud Ali wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote:

Mahmoud Ali wrote: 1991 Mateus Signature, Douro DOC, Vinhos Sogrape, 12%

.

Believe it or not this was a very inexpensive basic Douro wine and wasn't meant to age this long. I've had many bottles of the 1992 vintage of this in the past couple years and I was shocked at how well such a basic wine has held up 18 years later.

Andy, now that I've had the '91 I'm not surprised that the '92 help up so well. After all, 1992 was a good year in the Douro as attested to by the declarations of Taylor and Fonseca. What intrigues me is that you've had "many bottles of the 1992 vintage in the past couple of years". How did you come to taste so many, and who cellared them? You clearly have very knowledgeable friends. Either that or they are very prone to experimenting.

I bought 9 or 10 bottles at auction 2 or 3 years ago for $5/bottle. I don't know what cellar they came from but they were perfectly stored as the fills were still mid neck and the corks were in almost new shape. My bottles look the same as yours in the photo. I still have one bottle left.

Andy, a small follow-up to the '91 and '92 Mateus Signature.

A friend of mine just had a baby boy. When I asked how they came to choose the baby's first name, my friend's partner said that she had seen the name on a bottle of wine I had served a month or so earlier and had liked it.

The baby's name: Mateus Alexander.

Mature Douro wines, not just a fine beverage but inspirational as well.

Cheers......................Mahmoud.