For The Love Of Port

Thanks for that Gary! Sadly we don't have the tawny available so I can't do a comparison either. But we do have their 2005 VP - I wonder if, as a change from these wood aged Ports, I should open that next. I guess it should be ok with a long decant?

Quinta do Portal Colheita 2000 - bottled 2010; 20% abv; 120 g/l sugar; c.30€ in the Finnish monopoly The more I drink port, the more I gravitate towards these oxidative styles. In fact - and here I must don a tin helmet - I haven't opened a VP in about a year! But tawnies and colheitas have a refre...

Alas, the only tonic water we have available is Schweppes which is really rather too sweet. But I'm still in the mood for a portonic. So does anyone have experiences with Taylor's Dry Chip and a sweeter style of tonic water? What proportion of each tends to work?

1982 Dow Porto Colheita Single Harvest Tawny 20% abv, 110 g/l sugar. Mahogany colour. It smells of figs, some aged oxidative character, but still with lots of fruit, quite a bit of alcohol showing. The palate is very sweet, bracing because of quite high alcohol. It's pleasant but doesn't really see...

I was invited to a tasting of vintage Madeiras tonight. I love harsh acidity and VA and all things "off" so I was excited. And this was, indeed, perhaps the most satisfying tasting I have ever attended! All were decated 24h before tasting. d'Oliveiras Sercial 1971 Lovely, complex rancio an...

Lastly we tried their LBV 2004 which was a perfectly decent drop: very primary fruit after these more aged examples, but there were nice tannins and enough acidity to counter the blueberry sweetness. A perfectly decent LBV. But of course it will suffer in the company of such legends.

Then we compared two 1995 Quinta de Vargellas the first glass the normal and the second the Vinha Velha . The first was lovely, but in a style that brought to my mind Fonseca more than Taylor: blue flowers and great sweetness on the nose. The palate was less sweet and concentrated than what the nose...

The Vintage Port 1983 was a lighter style. The nose was quite simply sweet and sugary in a rather nondescript way. The palate was on the lighter side and perfectly balanced for a lighter port. Without the magisterial 1963 and 1977 in the same flight, I think this would have been a very good Port ind...

The Vintage Port 1977 was back on form. I have not been a fan of the '77s usually - my sample of such a small size as to make this meaningless has been of the formula: too sweet + too thin to counter the sweetness + too obviously alcoholic. Since everyone else has praised the Ports of this vintage, ...

The Vintage Port 1970 was a relative disappointment - though still a good wine. But after such an outstanding wine as the '63 what could not be a relative disappointment? It was darker in fruit tones than the '63 with a strong liquorice aroma. It was more monolithic and less lively than the older wi...

This was outstanding. Light colour, but otherwise still youthful. Fresh red fruit, lingonberry and some cedar aromas would indicate an aged Port yet it was still so rich and sweet that it seems youthful. The finish lasts forever. Lovely balance. I would still prefer even more aged aromas; but even n...

Chip Dry White NV (on 17.10.2011, this was the most recent release) which was a little grapey and nutty aromatically; rich and rather too alcoholic and not really dry IMO but off-dry. But it was intriguing enough aromatically that I can imagine enjoying a very chilled glass or two even though it is...

Quinta do Crasto Douro "Crasto" 2009 12,21€; 14,5% abv; Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca. Purple. Very primary, smells like very ripe and sweet strawberry or raspberry, floral. Full body, dark, sweet and ripe fruit, no oak, pleasant tannins though a bit soft al...

Churhill's Estates Reserva 2008 - Touriga Nacional (40 %), Touriga Franca (30 %), Tinta Roriz (30 %); 14% abv; 19,49€ This was a fairly interesting recent arrival. The color is, of course, very dark and youthful. The aromas are open and very pleasurable: ripe but crunchy dark fruit, and (something ...

It's been a long time since I last drank Port - largely because our government monopoly hasn't had any new arrivals within my budget. But now there are a few, so this winter will be a break from a long Port hiatus! :D First up was a half bottle of Kopke's 20yo Tawny ( - 20% abv; 18,98€ / 0,375; 110 ...

Miguel Champalimaud is always controversial and his wines have been around for quite awhile, with mixed success. They are not often seen here in the USA. IIRC you have hinted several times about their controversiality, but I don't remember seeing any reasons for why they are considered so. Would yo...

Otto thanks for the note on this. It seems older Douro wine TN's, and by that I mean from the late 1990's back, are rather hard to come across. I'd guess there is none of this left in the market place to buy :( Was there much of a scene with dry wines made before the '90s in Douro? I thought other ...

Quinta do Côtto Douro Grande Escolha 1995 - Douro, 30€ 12,5% abv; Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz & Sousão. Quite a lovely wine. It has a leathery aged elegance with cigar box and earth aromas; but it also has a sweet, red berry presence which coupled with a still good structure would suggest tha...

Boas Quintas Dão Quinta de Giesta 2008 - Dão; 12,76€; 12,5% abv; Tinta Roriz 45%, Touriga Nacional 32%, Jaen 23%; no oak aging; label Youthful, deep red, no purplosity. A rather lovely scent: berries, dark fruit, floral, sweet but savory. Gutsy, pleasantly high in palate-cleansing tannins, but not ...

Hi Moses, no, this was a still white. I think the late harvest and sparklers that one sometimes sees from Bucelas are recent innovations (anyone know for sure?). Certainly the historically famous Bucelas was a still white.