For The Love Of Port

some random ambitions for this man's cellar: acquire cases of some of my favorite recent conquests--1996 pichon lalande, 1996 lynch bages, 1985 heitz marthas vineyard, 2003 sea smoke pinot noir, acquire more 1970 taylors, fonseca, grahams and finally get an entire case of 91 croft more mags acquire ...

1) about 200 bottles of vp, about 25 tawnys,


2)started 10 years ago, but REALLY began to amass some quantities about 7 years ago


3)gain


4)1977, 1985, 1983, 1994


5)taylor, warres, fonseca, gould campbell in that order


6)certain retailers, on line merchants, auction

i have bought a few bottles over the years from them with no issues whatsoevever. i do think however, you'll get a hassle from your customs folks if you buy from the us.

dave

i still think this is not in the league of niepoort's 10 year tawny, imho, niepoort is still the king of 10 years.

yeesh, i was afraid of that. anyone have any thoughts on a good colheita? he's not a madeira fan.

would the sandeman or the malvedos have more life left in it?

hey guys my brother in law is coming up on his 50th birthday and i'm trying to figure out if there is decent 57 port to give him. i've seen referances to 3, including a sandeman and a graham malvedos, along with a tasting note from roy on a colheita, none of which got anything resembling a decent ra...

bob, best of luck in your new locale of kc. i would get to know one of your larger wine retailers out there, through multiple visits in person, and let them know of your jones for the juice. that way they will be on the lookout for certain ports, aware of any offerings and deals, and make getting yo...

tom,
how did you arrive at 15% and 35%? do you use some formula or is it a "feel" thing?

dave

i've had pretty good luck with both 1983 and 1985. i voted for 85, but it was close. as far as the 85 graham, i too agree it was the port of the decade. however, the 83 cockburns was every bit as delicious, unctious, and wonderful, but i've already had 3 corked bottles of it and i dread opening the ...

1) vintage port is a special occasion/entertaining drink at our house, we love to share them with our friends. usually i plan a week ahead when entertaining, a couple months ahead for christmas and thanksgiving.(the good news is, we entertain all the time, and virtually anything can be declared a sp...

wow, this is getting fun. roy, why not run a poll here at ftlop? since most of us have probably not tried too many pre-1950 ports, myself included, lets do a poll and get everyone's ranking of producers from 1963--present. port, like all wines, is akin to admiring art. one man's trash is another's t...

ahh, the best laid plans..... due to a harsh business week of late nights, i came home friday night with the intention of decanting the magnum of 83, but instead fell asleep before i had the chance to do so. i awoke saturday morning, and decanted it at 8:30 am. not much of a nose, but a bit of bottl...

and all this started with a few glasses of port a month ago! your experience with sandeman does give me reason to pause a bit. i'm on this site to learn and absorb as much as i can about about port. i make 99% of my current purchases based on my own experiences, and the opinions of you and the cast ...

great stuff here roy. the only problem i'm having is trying to find your tasting notes on the vesuvio vertical. its one of my favorite houses, and i can't seem to find your tns in the newsletter.

dave

i've tried the 1966, and the 1963 vintages within the last couple years, and the 77 most recently. the 77 had the most fruit, but i thought was still past it's prime. the 60 and especially the 66 were paled out. very little fruit left, had turned brickish in color, and had more of a woody, dry, alco...

wow, this one kind of flew off the tracks. i was not suggesting a tier system in portugal, but we all put things in boxes in our minds to make it easier to process, especially when you've hit your 50s like i have. i was simply trying to get a fix from the 'collective port wisdom" crew on how ce...

tom--as much as i tend to agree in principle with you, the top dogs already have their airs and graces and nothing we say or do will change that, it's 200+ years ingrained in their culture. roy--i know you are a fan of niepoort. but have they made the truly great ports that have stood the test of ti...

a few friends and i were sitting around the other night enjoying a bottle of 77 gould campbell, which was lovely, and a 70 noval, which blew us away, and we were discussing the french system of classification of bordeaux growths. how there are 5 tiers of growths, only 5 first growths etc. even how d...

i would vote for portugal as one of my seven wonders. beautiful country, wonderful people, and the most noble wine on the planet. its why we're all here on this site!

it is a great site commander, and even improving monthly. there are now up to 10 new threads in a given day, most with good topical content, and this is about the friendliest bunch of experts/knuckleheads i've ever run across.
bravo!!