For The Love Of Port

I have also heard very good things about 2024. Some even whispering the word "classic" in hushed tones. I think you'll be pretty safe being able to get 2024 Ports, so I'm not sure getting them en primeur is necessary. Roy's news about 2025 is new to me and complicates things a bit. If 2025...

I would say that Pinhão is far enough, mostly because it's really the "center" of the Douro Valley. Pocinho takes you all the way out into the Douro Superior, and unless you've made arrangements to do something while you're out there (such as visit a particular Quinta), there's not much to...

Crusted Port is actually kind of rare. You should be able to find it in Porto and/or Gaia, but you may have to search a bit for it. Alex's recommendation of Garrafeira Nacional as a visit might also be one of your best bets for finding Crusted Port. IIRC Quevedo currently makes a Crusted, so a visit...

Kopke 2003 White. It's not the same vintage but the 2005 is quite a bottle! I bought one and after drinking it I bought 3 more. Plus it was around $20 Can. (around 14 Euros). The 2008 is very good as well. I also had the 2003 two weekends ago and it was really good. Is the $20 Can. for a 750 ml bot...

It's really not that far from the river. It's essentially about as far from Sao Bento as Sao Bento is from the bridge. Sao Bento is due north of the bridge, then the Townhouse is northwest of Sao Bento. It's much closer than Rua Santa Catarina (the walking street), for example. Or it's basically 2 b...

IIRC the bottling year is required on the label. Which, of course, doesn't help if there's no label. Legally, Vintage Port must be bottled between the 18th month and the 30th month after harvest. Which in practical terms means between March and March with years 2 and 3 years after the harvest year....

IIRC the bottling year is required on the label. Which, of course, doesn't help if there's no label. Legally, Vintage Port must be bottled between the 18th month and the 30th month after harvest. Which in practical terms means between March and March with years 2 and 3 years after the harvest year. ...

Mine hasn't changed! From the old thread: I have a 1977 Royal Oporto VP and a 1970 Martinez VP that were purchased at the same time. I don't remember exactly when off the top of my head, but they were among the first bottles of VP that I bought over the internet and the purchase was probably in 2007...

Your group might be interested in a tour of the Ramos Pinto lodge and museum. The museum is housed in their old HQ building (which is right next to their new(er) lodge) and is much larger than the "museums" in places like Sandeman. If you want to tour, either stop by the day before or earl...

I think this is what they all mean: Quinta do Serrado should be obvious - single-quinta wines from Quinta do Serrado. MMV - Ricardo's mother's initials - Maria Manuela Vasconcelos. Used for wines of historical significance that she helped protect. These can come from a variety of sources, including ...

It remains to be seen IF "classic" or "generally declared" years really matter anymore. Can you name the last one? Classic? 2011 for sure, and I think that history will ultimately also look at 2017 as a Classic year as well. Generally declared? I think that's also 2017. There we...

Only a small consolation, as I suspect the biggest problem for the trade is smoke taint.

Thursday: 1985 Vista Alegre Colheita (b. 2024)
Friday: 1952 Dalva Golden White Colheita (b. 2009)
Saturday: 1945 Graham Vintage Port
Sunday: 1937 Kopke Colheita (b. 2019) - sadly, this was corked
Monday: Brunheda 80 Year Old Tawny Port (b. 2018)

It's been quite an extended weekend!

2011 Capela da Quinta do Vesuvio for Port Club last night. It's an interesting super premium Port, in that it doesn't feel like it's meant to be better than the regular Vesuvio, just different. I thought the regular Vesuvio was fruitier and bolder, but that the Capela had better structure. I think ...

2011 Capela da Quinta do Vesuvio for Port Club last night. It's an interesting super premium Port, in that it doesn't feel like it's meant to be better than the regular Vesuvio, just different. I thought the regular Vesuvio was fruitier and bolder, but that the Capela had better structure. I think t...

I'd have already been on the list if I weren't going to be in South Africa at that time.

Is this labeled as a Colheita? Seems like they'd have bottled it as a Frasqueira since it has been in wood long enough. Although if it was bottled in June of 2024, it hasn't (yet) spent the requisite year in bottle before being sold. It was labelled as a colheita, not as frasqueira. I agree that it...

Hmm... hard to say, really. I've never really drunk that much LBV. That said, I guess I'd have to say "less". There was a period starting maybe 10 years ago when I tried to explore LBV a little more than I had been, so that increased my consumption. I ended up buying some really good ones ...

For Port Club this month, I opened:

S. Leonardo Very Old White (bottled 2019, aka their 50 Year Old White)
S. Leonardo 50 Year Old Tawny Port (bottled 2022)

Both were pretty spectacular.

There were multiple bottlings of the original Carnation bottle. Those were interspersed with non-Carnation bottlings of the same 1974 Colheita. Now that they have the new Carnation paper label, they've stopped selling the non-Carnation bottlings but still bottle and use them for tastings. (We had a ...