For The Love Of Port

I'm posting this here since it is more of a travel note than tasting notes.

My wife and I were in V.n.d.G. on a day when just about all of the port houses were closed. Walked up the hill to Barros--closed (do they even do tastings up at the main facility?). Across to Taylor's--tasting room and restaurant both closed (but not the next day ). So back down to the bottom, and finding Cálem open, we decided to give it a try.

Cálem is big, and definitely touristy. They appear to cater to tour groups (saw a bus there a few days later), and they have a large tasting room to accommodate a lot of people. The next tour wasn't in English, and my wife wasn't in the mood to translate from one of her many languages, so we decided to skip the tour. That turned out to be a great decision. Instead of joining a pack of half drunk people, we were escorted through the facility to the tasting room for our own personal sampling. One tour group was leaving as we sat down, and another would come and go. Meanwhile, Virginia brought us six of their offerings which we took time to enjoy. Oh, and we asked for a little more after that too :)

(Click on pictures for higher resolution versions. These are sized as per a moderator's request in another thread.)









The first two whites, a dry and a semi-dry would definitely make a good apéritif, or perhaps mix well with tonic. They were nice, but not my favorite whites of the trip. And they were not as nice as the Lágrima, which had a very good wood complexity. I liked the Velhotes Ruby Red, but my wife didn't like it as much (and it definitely couldn't compete with the Quinta do Noval a few days later). The Velhotes Tawny had a good complexity and aroma, but didn't make our purchase list. Then the 10 Year Tawny ... mmmmmm. I could just sniff that for hours, but it also begged to be consumed. The knock-your-socks off aroma (my notes, after drinking a bit that day) was followed by a lot of raisin along with some currant and plum flavors.

Our purchase as we left was a 1997 LBV that was on sale for 10€. We took that back to our apartment to sample and decided it was well worth it's price. A few days later we returned to buy another of those along with multiple bottles of the 10 year old tawny.

So I won't win any prizes with my tasting notes. I hope you still enjoyed the pictures.

-Eric

Eric,

I have been to Calem on several occasions, both to show the group what it would be like to walk in without an appointment and another two times with appointments and specific tastings being held. It is a very fine facility, renovated a couple of years ago and lots of money spent to make it very fashionable, including the large cask (Balseiros) that you can actually sit inside of, as it is a miniature movie theater. Cool place but the wines they let the tourists taste are pretty weak.

Thanks for the photos and keeping them to a reasonable size too!

I also was there last month. It's nice to visit it. Prety that they don't let to try the vintages they sell.

They need some profilers to see if people deserves to taste a VP or not (in order to buy it, of course !), because a place like this, crowded, they will need lots of bottles per day...

When I worked in Rozes it was wonderful, because 9 years ago people didn´t payed for the visits/tastings and I was free to give people to taste VP or a 40y Tawny... in that time my brother and I we sold more VP´s in 3 months than Rozes with the annual exportation to Spain.

Most of times people make the visit without the buying thought, but when they realised that are tasting high quality and the person in the other side is a Port lover that takes his time to explain...

If some cellars started to invest in this kind of market...

Because there are some, like Sandeman, Calem, Ferreira and Real Companhia Velha, that have the big groups tag.

I've found if I can talk the talk at a brewery or winery, the liquid starts flowing. But I don't speak Portuguese, yet. And yes, it appears that the big tasting rooms aren't necessarily equipped to handle a dynamic of customers.

My advice to anyone, novice or seasoned Lodgeaholic, is to book ahead of your visit. I am in an extremely privileged position to be able to contact a number of port shippers personally but I started out on my Port "career" less than 10 years ago trawling around the lodges of Gaia on the regular tourist route. I had the great benefit of meeting some producers and shippers on one of Roy's Harvest Tours in 2006 and have never looked back. One contact leads to another and another and another and it is a very friendly and accessible industry to reach out to provided those people you contact know that you are serious and passionate about their products and the general subject of Port.

If you want a special visit to a particular lodge, and you want to taste more than a standard white, ruby and tawny, call ahead and ask for what you want. You may have to pay, you may not, depending on what you ask for. What's to lose?

However, and I have nothing to gain from this, do not underestimate the value in going on one of Roy's tours. Not only are you assured of a fantastic experience, but you will make friends and connections with others here and with people in Oporto, Gaia and the Douro that will far outlast the immediate gratification of the tour.

Derek