For The Love Of Port

1. Churchill

2. Ramos-Pinto

3. Warre

O.K. - I'm going out on a limb here and this reflects my own personal preference, but if there is a U.K. bottled port & a Oporto bottled port side by side (assuming there are in the same condition) I'll generally go for the Oporto bottled port. From my experience there is much more bottle variat...

Although if you want to give the colheita a little air time to open it up you might want to consider decanting it for a few hours prior to drinking it.

Marc

Typically old colheitas do not need decanting. Although some sediment may form it really isn't even close to the amounts found in a VP.

Marc

I cellar VP's, some colheitas, a few traditional LBVs and a handful of tawnys with an indication of age (the tawnys are generally cellared for less than a year).

It seems to me that SQVPs are a nice complement to full-blown declarations. Even though there was some apprehension early on (mid-80's) concerning the saturation of the market by SQVP in addition to the 3-4 full declarations per decade, those fears seem to be unfounded. This system appears to be wor...

I'd say that a 10y.o. or 20y.o. tawny would do the trick. Personally, I'd pair a VP with a strong cheese (or on its own) but it seems that the sweetness of a creme brulee is a nice complement to a tawny.

Marc

Jay, sounds interesting....I'll PM you.

I agree with Eric, if there are a number of bottles in my cellar of a particular wine (or if its readily available) then I don't mind popping a cork or two. If I'm down to my last bottle of a great wine then I typically wait until a special occasion to open it. IMHO, wine is made for drinking, altho...

First of all I say YES ! Nacionals are in class by themselves are are worth the extra expense. With that said, I'd recommend that someone new to port might want to work up to the Nacionals. There are tons of fine vintage ports from various decades that will offer mouth-filling enjoyment. After sampl...

Pull the '85 Taylor out of storage and save the Grahams for another day. The '85 Taylor is ready and I doubt that any futher bottle aging will improve it any, in fact it may fade a bit more. The Grahams is a nice bottle of VP that will hold for quite a few more years.

Marc

Last night's tasting was WELL worth the price of admission! Colheita's from the '90's, '80's, '70's, '60's, 50's & 30's provided an interesting snapshot of some great (and some not so great) wines. There were also plenty of dry wines to compare and evaluate as well......

1. Mountaineering - I love climbing mountains all over the world. During most of the year I climb in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, but I'm also working on the Seven Summits. So far I've knocked Mt. Elbrus & Kilimanjaro off the list. Aconcagua is next.... 2. Skiing - I love to ski. I've been ...

Architect. I have my own firm so I do have flexibility as to the projects that I undertake. On the flip side, as the principal I do put in some long hours in order to get everything accomplished.

This weekend I'll probably open up bottle of Quinta do Passadouro '98. I have quite a few of these in the cellar and I'd like to check on its development (for whatever reason this particular bottling contains an amazing amount of sediment....more than three typical bottles of VP combined).

I'd say that a couple of hours of decant time should be fine. Typically I'd give a '63 a little more air time than that but I suspect that the Calem is probably fairly fragile by this point and may not be able to stand up to much more time in the decanter.

Marc

I'd have to say Niepoort 1970. I have a bottle in my cellar and I'm REALLY looking forward to opening it one of these days.

Andy,

Thanks for posting this event! I'm thinking that this should be quite a fun/entertaing evening. I'm sure I'll see you there!

Marc

Completely your choice. But have you considered just listening to others who taste it too young, and feeding off their thoughts. Then deciding to wait until they hit their proper drinking window, and buying stuff that's in that window already? Just a thought. Alan, You probably have a point. In 6-7...

I'm thinking that I'll start to open my 2000's in another 6-7 years. They won't be entirely ready yet, but I should be able to get an idea of where they are going.

Marc