For The Love Of Port

I'd really like to get a bottle or two of the VVV and possibly a 6-pack of the Capela, ... Hi Glenn, I agree. I telephoned as soon as I received the e-mail yesterday to ask for 12 bottles--four three-bottle cases--of VVV, and was told: 3 bottles yes, 6 bottles maybe, 12 bottles no. So I ordered a s...

I've found the PDF I mentioned on Berrys' Web site:

http://www.bbr.com/download/vintage_port_2007.pdf

http://www.bbr.com/fine-wine/port-07-full-vintage-review I'm not sure why there are only five wines on the Web page: there were 14 on the PDF they sent out by e-mail yesterday. Maybe port lovers telephoned them in droves yesterday afternoon and this morning, and the other 9 are all sold! Later, John

Thanks, Andy. I drank two glasses two hours after battling with the inner seal on the bottle and decanting it ... and then a further two glasses 24 hours later. I couldn't notice any significant difference between the two. In between, the wine was kept in the fridge in a spare half-bottle with a Va...

(My first tasting note. Sorry about any infelicities.) The cork was purple in colour, but there was no blue in the colour of the wine. It was a deep red, lightening at the edges. When I swirled the glass, tears formed by differential evaporation slithered down the side of the glass. There was a con...

What about you? Do you stash a few gems away with the dutiful intent of bequeathing them to your heirs? Well, yes we do, though for grandchildren rather than children. When our own children were small, my wife and I were young, in love, and broke. We put aside a couple of bottles of decent claret f...

80% from wine shops: I prefer dealing face-to-face and hate telephones. The vast bulk comes from Berry Bros & Rudd in Basingstoke. When I am in Scotland I like to buy wines from Whigham's of Ayr and whiskies from the Wine Shop in Moffat. 20% from online wine lists ... of two quite different sor...

... the greatest retailer in the world ... Thank you, Roy. When I started buying wine from Berrys', I did not fully appreciate how highly it was regarded. It was just the best wine merchant I could find in Hampshire. It isn't the cheapest, but a combination of excellent service and a wide range of ...

The Autumn 2008 tastings & dinners brochure arrived this morning from Berry Bros. & Rudd. It includes a "tutored tasting" with Paul Symington of all the Quinta do Vesuvio vintages since 1989: http://www.bbr.com/db/product/TAS818/explosive-vesuvio-a-fine-port-tutored-tasting-thurs-...

I was therefore wondering if I could solicit some advice here, and see what 10 and 20 year old tawnies people rate the highest? Hi Jacob, Do you still live in London or within easy reach of it? The reason I ask is that I am a fan of Berrys' "William Pickering" 20-year-old Tawny Port - htt...

Hi Roy, May I bring this topic back from the archives to ask: What would happen if 2008 turned out to be an absolutely glorious wine-making season on the Douro? Would the shippers cancel their unannounced plans to declare a 2007 vintage? Would they declare both vintages? Or are these the circumstan...

The article on "Vine Age" from the third edition of the "Oxford Companion to Wine" (Oxford University Press, 2006) seems to confirm what Eric writes about young and old vines' both giving the lower yield that helps with making great wine. The article was written by Richard Smart...

Hi everyone, I've been a bit out of the swim recently, but I think this topic is new. It seems that Robert Parker has revised his rating for 2003 Taylor upwards from 96/100 to 100/100. (There are more details, for subscribers, at http://www.erobertparker.com/members/gazette/hg438.asp ) It's been ne...

Re: Your personal top 10 Perhaps a slightly different approach: the physicians won’t let me drink much (meanies) so I try to make sure that I drink only good wines … and in particular that I have a case or so of each recent declared vintage in the cellar. So places 2 to 9 of my top ten are the port...

Another vote for 1948. Although in general I have a half-educated preference for Dow and especially for Fonseca over Taylor, I still have distant memories of the way that 1948 Taylor overwhelmed me at a formal dinner in Oxford ... when the wine was less than 30 years old. Later, Dr Owl ------------...

Hi Steve, I’m going to begin by answering a different question from the one you asked. Since you have a car … if you are within reach of Ayr, on the coast to the south-west of Glasgow, a port lover should definitely visit Whigham’s. This shop has a bonded cellar underneath it which was purpose-buil...

When it comes to assessments of the quality of a vintage as a whole, I have found Richard Mayson a reliable guide ... in the sense that I have agreed with his assessments of years I have tasted and so trust his assessments of years I have not. I once compared Richard's star ratings for the years wi...