For The Love Of Port

For the 14th time in history, please add your favorite Port consumed this year. If you have an even better bottle during the Christmas and New Years holidays, please do come back and let us know. In the past, some of you have chosen to list your top 10, others break down by categories of their fave Ports ... it is all good.

San Leonardo 90 year old White.

Eric Ifune wrote:San Leonardo 90 year old White.

Haha... I figured that would be your answer.

Mine is from the same visit... the new blend 100 year old Tawny.

Niepoort VV (original bottling). An easy 100
Points.


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1948 Fonseca was near perfection.

1966 Noval Nacional also defied time like the '48 Fonseca.

Not counting cask samples ...

My contenders are the San Leonardo 90yo white and 60yo red. (sadly I have not had the 100yo)

If forced to choose - the 60yo.

According to my notes, my highest score went to 1941 Kopke Colheita Port, which I gave 96+ points. On the vintage side, a 1955 Niepoort scored 95+ points. I wonder what I might find before the end of the month ...

Best nonwhite wood aged would be the Roncao Muito Velho from 1885.
Best aged VP 1970 Grahams.
Best young VP 2016 Grahams Stone Terraces.

I'll have to check my notebook to be sure, especially with regard to best aged ruby Port, but my list is eerily similar to Eric Ifune's. It's almost as if we went on the same Port Harvest Tour together!

Tawny: S. Leonardo 100 Year Old Tawny Port (new blend)
- I like the new blend better than the old blend, but still gave them both 100 points while we were at Quinta do Mourao. I wasn't quite as impressed by the DR (Roncao) 1885, though if we make TWAIOA and Colheita separate categories then the 1885 would be the best Colheitas that I tasted in 2018 at 99 points.

White: S. Leonardo 90 Year Old White Port
- White Ports normally seem to stop improving for me at around 50-60 years old, but this was pretty special and I gave it 99 points.

young VP: 2016 Graham's The Stone Terraces
- at 99 points, the highest I've ever rated a VP regardless of age. The regular 2016 Graham is crazy good, too, but the Stone Terraces just blew it away. I went even crazier buying the 2016 than I did the 2011, but this time I bought it all in England so there should still be some left in the US for the rest of you.

aged VP: 1952 J.H. Andresen, private cellar
- tasted in the Andresen lodge and at 98 points was, by a fairly wide margin, the best aged VP I had in 2018. 2nd place was 3 points behind and was a 4-way tie between a '55 Graham, a '60 Graham, an '85 Graham, and a '94 Vesuvio. (There may be a pattern to this...)

(edited to reflect scores and notes from my TNs)

Tawny:
A tie between a Sandeman 40 and the San Leonardo 40. Both utterly marvelous.

Vintage Port:
1985 Grahams. Meets the hype.

LBV:
2003 Warres. Still a fruit bomb; nicely complex. Punches well above its weight.

My Port consumption was way down this year; not by design just lack of opportunity.

RED: 1994 Quinta do Vesuvio
WHITE: S. Leonardo 60 Year Old White Tawny

Still haven't tried any 2016s yet...

What Port Harvest Tour?

Best Tawny: DR 100 Anos straight from cask

Best VP: Fonseca 1970

Best White: DR 50 Anos

Best Port experience: Visiting Quinta do Vesuvio

Vintage ports:
1934 Ferreira and 1970 Taylor's

Tawny / Colheita:
Mourao 60 yrs (once again), Bulas 40 yrs and 1948 Niepoort Garrafeira

By the look of VP answers the 1970 seems to be in tip top shape at the moment.

Graham's, Taylor's and Fonseca....

Thomas V wrote:By the look of VP answers the 1970 seems to be in tip top shape at the moment.

Graham's, Taylor's and Fonseca....

1970 is probably the best quality / price ratio for mature vintage port at the moment. It's not cheap but it's very, very good and it is cheaper than '66, '63, '55... and arguably nicer than 1977 or 1985...

Al B. wrote:

Thomas V wrote:By the look of VP answers the 1970 seems to be in tip top shape at the moment.

Graham's, Taylor's and Fonseca....

1970 is probably the best quality / price ratio for mature vintage port at the moment. It's not cheap but it's very, very good and it is cheaper than '66, '63, '55... and arguably nicer than 1977 or 1985...

For sure it's better than '77 or '85 and consistently better across all producers where '77 & '85 had some duds even for well respected brands.

One could argue that 1970 is the greatest vintage ever excluding modern ones like '94 or '11...

I have not drunk a lot of Port this year.
But one to remember was the Taylor Fladgate Vergellas 2015.

Moses Botbol wrote:

Al B. wrote:

Thomas V wrote:By the look of VP answers the 1970 seems to be in tip top shape at the moment.

Graham's, Taylor's and Fonseca....

1970 is probably the best quality / price ratio for mature vintage port at the moment. It's not cheap but it's very, very good and it is cheaper than '66, '63, '55... and arguably nicer than 1977 or 1985...

For sure it's better than '77 or '85 and consistently better across all producers where '77 & '85 had some duds even for well respected brands.

One could argue that 1970 is the greatest vintage ever excluding modern ones like '94 or '11...

I don't have all that much experience with older classics like 1948, 1945, 1927, and 1912, but at least in my experience I would have to agree with you. 1970 is easily the best vintage of mature Vintage Port in my experience. I'll also leave 1994 and 2011 (and now possibly 2016) out of the discussion for now as none of them are mature enough yet to know how great they're truly going to be. 1994 is looking awfully good, though.

Hands down it was a 1994 Fonseca VP.