For The Love Of Port

Blanchard's (on Brighton Ave. in Allston) carries quite a few mid-line ports, and for whetever reason they tend to have quite good prices on Martinez VP.

Here's an interesting note - since the topic of serial numbers on bottles and the corresponding significance of these numbers has come up in a number of threads I've done a bit a research to find out EXACTLY what was the significance of these numbers. I started a dialogue with the President of the I...

Derek,
Thanks for the tasting notes! I recently purchased some Graham's '91 and I found it interesting that the "peak" was around 15 hours. I'll be sure to give this particular wine plenty of decanter time!

Marc

I can't say that I really have a "go to" port, but Taylor's '77 is an old standby of mine. Warre's 20 year old is a VERY tasty tawny that ranks right up there with Ramos-Pinto & Burmester. In terms of LBV, I'm partial to Churchill.

Currently I'm picking up 1995, 1996 as well as '80s, '83s & '85s for current drinking. If a see an interesting '66, '63 or '55 I'll pick it up and squirrel it away in my cellar. As far as the '70s are concerned some I believe that some are fully mature and ready to drink (such as Warre's '77), b...

Alex, Alright I've done a through examination of the bottle and I really can't see anything that might distinguish it as being a Nacional. The wax capsule is slightly chipped on top so I can't tell if there was a distinctive mark that might identify it. The bottle is very dark and even with a strong...

Alex,

I'm not sure, but this evening I'll check it out and let you know what I find.

Marc

Alex, I have a bottle on Noval Nacional 1960 and as I believe all 1960 Nacional were bottled in VNG. I don't believe that the serial number can be used to determine the contents of the bottle. The IVDP might have listing of serial numbers & what they correspond to, but I'd doubt it. As far as th...

I'd vote for either a 20 or 30 y.o. tawny. If I'm ordering a port after a meal in a nice restaurant I would probably not order a 10 y.o. or LBV(great for everyday drinking, but not exactly special) nor a 40 y.o. (too expensive - $80.00/glass in local restaurants, plus I'm certain that these bottles ...

Fred,

It is a bottle of Vintage. I've looked & looked but I haven't been able to find any notes on this wine.

Marc

Mayson's Port and the Douro & Spence's The Port Companion are both "must reads" for any port aficionado. One additional book that has not been mentioned yet is Howkin's Rich, Rare & Red: A Guide to Port. Although not quite as current as Port and the Douro or The Port Companion it d...

I have a bottle of Mackenzie '63 that I'm planning on opening in the near future and I was wondering if anyone had any tasting notes for this particular wine. From what I can tell, Mackenzie ceased operations sometime in the 60's - does anyone know what became of this port house?

Marc

Great Idea! I'll pick up a bottle of 10 y.o. Ramos Pinto this weekend.

Ricardo, Athough not classic wines, both the Dow's '77 as well as the Graham's '77 are well made, powerful ports. You might want to consider buying a bottle of each and holding a small port tasting. These two shippers styles are on opposite ends of the spectrum so it might make for an interesting ev...

Derek, Thanks for the post! I as well have some NN in my cellar I was think of opening one in the near future and I believe that your experiences indicate that allocating proper decanting time is essential. Hummm...4 hours seems long for a 45+ year old wine, but I'll be sure to give it a taste every...