For The Love Of Port

1977 Cálem VP – this looks old: pale tawny. Not a very expressive nose, light dried fruit aromas and caramel. Light bodied, sweet, with fig and rasin flavours. Long finish, unfortunately sharpish sweet, almost burning. Should have been drunk at least 5 years earlier. This tasting note is one of sev...

Bottled 2003. Modern style – 13 Euros. According to the IVDP this is a B-label of Porto Cruz. Ronnie added this a ringer. The youngest looking Port of the 4. Nice fruity nose, not too powerful, and a bit warm. Medium bodied, rather fresh. Not very much fruit here, but tasty for sure. Some grip. Medi...

Bottled 1999 - traditional style – 17 Euros. Oh dear, something is SERIOUSLY wrong here. Brown. Very offensive nose, alcohol, putty and VA. So hot it numbs the tongue. Some chocolate and raisin flavours. The one good aspect of this Port is the finish: it’s short. I hope this was an off-bottle, as I ...

Bottled 2001 – modern style – gift. Rather “old” in appearance. Cloudy. Not a nice nose: alcoholic, glue, bubblegum fruit. Glycerol-like in thickness, but watery in flavours. A bit bitter, and again quite hot. Boring, short finish. 73 This tasting note is one of several related tasting notes. Click ...

Bottled 2000 – traditional style - 15 Euros. The “regular” LBV of Rozés is filtered, but this is a reserve, unfiltered bottling. The regular version was very impressive, almost as good as the Burmester ’95 VP, so I was quite interested to find out how this one would show. Not decanted, but we should...

Colour remarkably similar to the Graham’s. An slightly alcoholic nose (again!), with sweets and something like a hospital waiting room-smell. Odd, but not altogether unpleasant. Medium bodied and very sweet, not much fruit but loads of liquorice. A tad hot. Very sweet finish. 79 points. This tasting...

Very dark, with a thin mature edge. Nice warm nose, with red cherries, sweet and fresh. A bit thin bodied, but with decent cherry and berry flavours. Medium sweet, nice and smooth. The finish is just a bit hot and has some bitterness to it. I thought this to be the Dow; the characteristic Graham’s s...

Nice colour, if a bit light. Showing its age. Alcohol dominates the nose, along with dusty and chemical aromas. Medium bodied, quite sweet, with strawberries dominating the palate. A medium long finish, sticky that fades to show some raisins. Not good, but not really bad either: 77 points. This tast...

An epic Port…is the worst possible way. Yes, this wine has the honour of receiving the lowest rating I’ve ever given to a wine. The nose alone was enough to induce mild headaches (and I AM being serious here), and might even have induced minor brain damage, as we actually tasted it as well. Glycerol...

Unclear, like muddy water. Dark in colour, with an orange rim. Heavy alcoholic nose, with bubblegum and rotting fruit aromas. Medium bodied, with watery, diluted flavours with a chemical sweetness. Aggressively hot, carried over to the long, sticky and bitter finish. Blegh! 72 points. This tasting n...

(16 Euros at the quinta) Good colour. Rather weak nose. Reasonable body, with some red berry and a nice balance. Quite smooth. Short, hot finish. Average at best.

This tasting note is one of several related tasting notes. Click [here] to see the original note in context.

(14 Euros) Light red, broad pink rim fading to colourless. Light nose, with some artificial strawberry aromas. Medium bodied, very sweet and hot. The medium finish burns. Yuck.

This tasting note is one of several related tasting notes. Click [here] to see the original note in context.

(14 Euros) Ruby red, thin mature rim. Plums and some smoke on the nose. Light bodied, some berries and a bit metallic. Very hollow midpalate. Short finish, a bit hot and bitter. Boring!

This tasting note is one of several related tasting notes. Click [here] to see the original note in context.

(12 Euros, 77 WS) Colour is off, way too light (more like a 10YOT). This Port smelled of pulpy apple juice . Very thick, glycerol-like body with a dusty taste. Horribly acidic finish. To give this wine 75 points is way too flattering for this vomit-inducing excuse of a Port. This tasting note is one...

(9 Euros, WS 79) Tellingly, this WS 79 pointer was the best of the bunch (I use the word “best” in a very loose way). Rather dark colour, with a mature edge. Reasonable nose with some dried fruit. Medium bodied, a bit creamy and a touch of liquorice. Decent finish with some grip. Quite drinkable Thi...

(WS88, 15 Euros, bottled 2001) A dark port, with dark cherry and alcohol on the nose. A solid body with jammy blackberry flavours, and a metallic touch to it. Big but smooth tannins, this one pack a punch. We all like the warm, smooth finish. Very close to our favourite of the evening, and good valu...

(15 Euros, bottled 2001) Quite dark. A bit alcoholic, but fresh as well. Sweet, with red berries, some pepper and a refreshing acidity. Medium finish, fresh, but with a bitter touch to it. We weren’t sure whether we liked that, but a nice glass of port. Better then we had expected: Delaforce . This ...

(Bought at the quinta for 9 Euros, bottled 2000) Bright and clear ruby red. Not a very powerful nose. Bright blueberry flavour on a medium body, slightly bitter. Very smooth medium finish. Not a bad wine, just not very exciting. Delaforce? No, this was the Quinta de Baldias . Slightly disappointing,...

(9 Euros, bottled 2000) Ruby red, with a brown touch. Smelly. Very sweet and artificial. Some raisiny fruit. Finish as very bad, the consensus was that this tasted like vomit. We all identified this as the Real Vinicola . Avoid like SARS. This tasting note is one of several related tasting notes. Cl...

(WS88, 16 Euros, bottled 1997) Dark red, with a purple edge. Quite alcoholic, with sweet cherry aromas. A hint of earth. Big bodied, this shows cherries and dark plums on the palate, with some spices. Lots of tannins. A bit closed. Long, warm finish. We thought this to be the Burmester , and we were...