For The Love Of Port

For drinking for pleasure, at this stage in time and disregarding future potential, which would you prefer?

Is the Vesuvio approachable on a long decant, or will the Pombal hit the spot better at this moment in time? To be served with beef of some sort, mid port-tasting.

There's a reason why it should be one of these two, much though i'd like to get something with a couple of extra years' bottle age like a Crasto Ponte 04 or Maria Teresa 03 out...!

Tough call as I like both very much, own lots of both, and both drink well right now, albeit the Vesuvio with a longer decant.

I would recommend the Pombal for general drinking and if being opened for non-wine drinkers. If your sharing it with other wine geeks, or for a special occasion, I'd recommend the Vessuvio.

That said, seeing that it's for drinking mid-Port tasting, presumably at dinner, I'd recommend the Vesuvio. It's bigger bodied and will stand up better flavor/structure wise after a round of Port drinking. Whereas the Pombal may come off a little thin feeling in the mouth. Either way you won't go wrong and both would are FAR better than the dinner clarets at a recent large Port tasting.

My suggestion would be the Pombal do Vesuvio for your dinner. It has plenty of guts to stand up at this point as it is young, has boisterous fruit and although it is not as big or powerful as the Vesuvio itself, at this young stage ... I don't see that mattering in a dinner scenario. If only the best will do, than feel free to break out the Vesuvio. I'd rather leave them in the cellar to age several more years though and drink them when somewhat ready. Kind of like opening a Dow or Noval 2007 Vintage Port right now, one can envision the future, but unless you have a bunch, why pop one now?!?!