For The Love Of Port

• NV Graham Porto 30 Year Old Tawny Port - Portugal, Douro, Porto (9/26/2015)
  Bottled 2015. Amber-orange in color. Very clear from center to the meniscus. Nuts and orange peel on the nose. Full bodied with bright acidity. Toffee notes with orange, citrus and roasted nuts. Long finish. 2015 FTLOP Harvest Tour - Graham's Lodge Visit. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Nice to see that you rated the 30 year old over the 40 year old, i had the same thoughts last summer after tasting them.

Stewart T. wrote:

• NV Graham Porto 30 Year Old Tawny Port - Portugal, Douro, Porto (9/26/2015)
  Bottled 2015. Amber-orange in color. Very clear from center to the meniscus. Nuts and orange peel on the nose. Full bodied with bright acidity. Toffee notes with orange, citrus and roasted nuts. Long finish. 2015 FTLOP Harvest Tour - Graham's Lodge Visit. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Jasper A. wrote:Nice to see that you rated the 30 year old over the 40 year old, i had the same thoughts last summer after tasting them.

Some producers make a 30 and a 40 and make them "to standard" just to have them. I count Graham (and really most of the big names) among those producers. They're just filling a market niche so that they can say they have a full lineup. Generally speaking they're still very high quality products, there's just not a lot of distinction between them. Sometimes the 30 shows better, sometimes the 40 shows better.

Other producers - typically smaller operations - make a 30 that's really more like 35-38 and a 40 that's really 50, 60, or more. Those places are using the "30" to anchor their lineup, and the "40" to show off. These are the 40s that you want.

Glenn E. wrote:Some producers make a 30 and a 40 and make them "to standard" just to have them. I count Graham (and really most of the big names) among those producers. They're just filling a market niche so that they can say they have a full lineup. Generally speaking they're still very high quality products, there's just not a lot of distinction between them. Sometimes the 30 shows better, sometimes the 40 shows better.

Other producers - typically smaller operations - make a 30 that's really more like 35-38 and a 40 that's really 50, 60, or more. Those places are using the "30" to anchor their lineup, and the "40" to show off. These are the 40s that you want.

A pretty good general summation of my thoughts. The standard disclaimer applies LOL.

Glenn E. wrote:

Jasper A. wrote:Nice to see that you rated the 30 year old over the 40 year old, i had the same thoughts last summer after tasting them.

Some producers make a 30 and a 40 and make them "to standard" just to have them. I count Graham (and really most of the big names) among those producers. They're just filling a market niche so that they can say they have a full lineup. Generally speaking they're still very high quality products, there's just not a lot of distinction between them. Sometimes the 30 shows better, sometimes the 40 shows better.

Other producers - typically smaller operations - make a 30 that's really more like 35-38 and a 40 that's really 50, 60, or more. Those places are using the "30" to anchor their lineup, and the "40" to show off. These are the 40s that you want.

I agree completely. There was for me however quite a difference in the 30 and 40 year old. The 30 was lively and fresh, to 40 was just a bit "flat" still realy nice but less interesting.

Glenn E. wrote:Other producers - typically smaller operations - make a 30 that's really more like 35-38 and a 40 that's really 50, 60, or more. Those places are using the "30" to anchor their lineup, and the "40" to show off. These are the 40s that you want.

Please elaborate with some producers of this latter category Glenn.

Thomas V wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:Other producers - typically smaller operations - make a 30 that's really more like 35-38 and a 40 that's really 50, 60, or more. Those places are using the "30" to anchor their lineup, and the "40" to show off. These are the 40s that you want.

Please elaborate with some producers of this latter category Glenn.

Romaneira, Brunheda, Vista Alegre, and S. Leonardo all come to mind immediately. Romaneira is owned by Quinta do Noval, but appears to still operate separately. The first two are at least 60 years old (or so we've been told), while the latter two taste much older than 40 even though I don't personally have enough information to say that they are. (At least one component of the S. Leonardo is considerably older than 40, but it may average out younger than that one component.)

The trick with smaller producers is finding them.

Jasper A. wrote:
I agree completely. There was for me however quite a difference in the 30 and 40 year old. The 30 was lively and fresh, to 40 was just a bit "flat" still realy nice but less interesting.

I think you hit the nail on the head with regard to some 40 year olds. Due to their older overall age, they sometimes don't have the freshness that the 30's do so they sometimes lack that "pop" factor and come off exactly as you describe.

Glenn E. wrote: Romaneira, Brunheda, Vista Alegre, and S. Leonardo all come to mind immediately.

The trick with smaller producers is finding them.

Lucky me I actually found 2 Danish vendor that has the S. Leonard in both the 10, 20, 30 and 40 old versions. Another that has the Vistra Alegre 30YO and the Romaneira 10YO.

I think I will pick up the Leonardo 30YO which is roughly 100 USD. Does that sound about right?

Thomas V wrote:

Glenn E. wrote: Romaneira, Brunheda, Vista Alegre, and S. Leonardo all come to mind immediately.

The trick with smaller producers is finding them.

Lucky me I actually found 2 Danish vendor that has the S. Leonard in both the 10, 20, 30 and 40 old versions. Another that has the Vistra Alegre 30YO and the Romaneira 10YO.

I think I will pick up the Leonardo 30YO which is roughly 100 USD. Does that sound about right?

Hi Thomas, Maybe you're going to say "mind your own business", but maybe my suggestion is useful: Winehouse of Portugal (http://www.winehouseportugal.com) sells the Leonardo 30YO for €65.00. Even if you consider the costs of shipment to your country it will save you a lot of money if you plan to buy several bottles!

Thomas V wrote:I think I will pick up the Leonardo 30YO which is roughly 100 USD. Does that sound about right?

It's hard for those of us in the US to tell for sure, because EU prices are generally very different (and not always better!) than our prices over here.

As sort of a generic rule, $100 for a 30-yr old seems a bit high to me. And that coming from someone in Washington, which has some of the highest taxes in the US on alcohol. I can usually find 30-yr olds in the $70-$80 range... $90 at the most. I've purchase the Sandeman 30-yr old from my local grocery store, which isn't known for having good prices, for $90 a couple of times.

That said, S. Leonardo only now has an importer in the US, so we don't actually know what a "normal" price will be for it in our market. The shipment that contains the FTLOP Buyer's Op orders is only now arriving, so I don't expect to see S. Leonardo on store shelves until probably early next year. The S. Leonardo 30-yr old is possibly the best 30-yr old available, though, so it's probably worth a slight premium.

Which is a very long way of saying... sure, $100 for one bottle from a local store is probably fine. I wouldn't buy a lot of bottles at that price, but a single bottle now and then is fine.

Glenn E. wrote:Romaneira is owned by Quinta do Noval, but appears to still operate separately.

Just to clarify, Noval doesn't own Romaneira. In 2012, all of the outstanding shares of Romaneira were purchased by a Brazilian businessman, André Esteves, who is now the owner "in partnership with Christian Seely, who remains managing director of the company."

Stewart T. wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:Romaneira is owned by Quinta do Noval, but appears to still operate separately.

Just to clarify, Noval doesn't own Romaneira. In 2012, all of the outstanding shares of Romaneira were purchased by a Brazilian businessman, André Esteves, who is now the owner "in partnership with Christian Seely, who remains managing director of the company."

Aha! Thanks for the clarification.