For The Love Of Port

Many of the Speyside whiskies had some sort of sherrywood finish. If you want to do the experiment proper, you should try to avoid this, and have a whisky that has been solely on Bourbon cask. Oban 14YO would be a good one, and fits your description. But to have a real good feel of what the whisky d...

Incidentally, when you're in Regua Castas e Pratos had some 1987 Badias LBV last time I was there. That was pretty decent port. I bought quite a few of those @ 5 euro per bottle years ago at the quinta. A great bargain even though they were already moving to tawny back then, which I think was about...

Well, I sure drink a lot less port since I live in a country where it's always hot. I tend to prefer refreshing whites or beer. The fact that it's very difficult to find good port (and wine) doesn't help either.

[quote="Derek T." Many modern quintas are a conglomeration of multiple old properties (Malvedos, Vargellas and Noval being prominent examples) so the grapes considered to be grown on "the quinta" has changed over the years.[/quote] This isn't different than the situation in e.g. ...

I suppose if the producer used their full name, as in Quinta do xxxxxx LBV, then it ought to be a single quinta LBV. However, if they label it without their full name, as in Noval or Crasto LBV, then it might be made with port for outside the quinta. Exactly. Are you sure about this? This is certai...

Great note Ray. I love the wines from Savennieres, just as those from Vouvray and Montlouis. They really need age to show their best, they get that wonderful hay and honey aroma with age, but often they are so good I struggle to give 'em the time they deserve!

I used to go to a lot of trade tastings, and I would always spit. If only because it was important to keep a clear head to be able to assess the wines. Now I only go to casual tastings and they are far and between. Those are purely for enjoyment so no reason to spit.

Al B. wrote:It's 75-80F in my back garden today

That seems lovely and cool from my perspective. Yet another day over 110F today...

Niepoort is the obvious choice, and would also be mine. The variety and quality of their range is simply unsurpassed IMO. But it would be rather boring if everybody says the same, therefore I opt for Casa Ferreirinha. Decent wines at the bottom of the range and incredibly good from Qta. da Leda, Res...

We don't see anything other than sixpacks on the Dutch markets. I don't think the 12 bottle cases are even sold there anymore. 12 bottle cases are still quite widespread on our side of the channel. Especially when ordering new vintages. For Port, but also for example for Bordeaux. I was just happen...

Great post Brian, thanks for taking the time to write it all down. You surely made the best of your visit to the Douro and Porto, well done!

We don't see anything other than sixpacks on the Dutch markets. I don't think the 12 bottle cases are even sold there anymore.

Very nice Moses! How was the 1977? We still have a bottle of that here. Had the 1975 some time ago, that was singing!

We were supposed to meet Mr. Hochar and have a tasting with him when we visited in 2009, but we missed him because we were delayed by more than 3 hours... never trust a Lebanese hotel employee if he claims that he will arrange a rental car for you! We felt terrible about it but Mr. Hochar was very k...

Thanks for the link Roy. Lebanese wines are definitely interesting, and the Bekaa Valley is one of the strangest places I've ever visited.

I don't like them at all. I think the labels of the standard and reserva range look like BOB Supermarket or liquor store labels and the special category labels look like those old cheap port or dao wine labels. With the previous makeover of the LBV and Vintage Port labels I had the idea that RP want...

Rune, the wines labeled under the CARM logo are usually a blend of juice from the different quintas the family owns. Except for the Qta. d. Coa which is bottled as a single quinta. They used to make more single quintas in the past (especially the Qta. d. Urze wines were very good) but not anymore.

Niepoort's website offers technical sheets with all their wines and ports, with is really convenient. You can read there that their 2009 Vintage Port contains 100,2g of sugar per liter.

That's almost every premium wine that has been released! Now, if I were a producer and my premium wine wasn't in that list, I'd be seriously worried....

Passadouro, although it is priced as a Reserve and tastes like one too. (But it doesn't say so on the label, so it is still a valid answer to your question.)