For The Love Of Port

Geez...I thought I was done with my Nacional purchases for the year. Time to crack open the piggy bank...

Was thinking about my wine buying lately, or I should say lack of buying. As my storage space was quickly running out of room I made the decision earlier this year to cut back and enter more of a "death-row-daily-drinker drink down" mode to make room in the cellar. I'll admit I'm a wine/P...

Currently I'm drinking far more wood-aged ports than VP. With the onset of summer, a nice cool tawny is just the ticket. I've also been doing quite a bit of climbing lately in preparation for some big walls this summer and as a result I haven't had the time needed to prep & properly enjoy a nice...

1980 Dow
1983 Ramos-Pinto
1985 Fonseca
1985 Graham
1987 Taylor Vargellas
1994 Quinta do Noval Nacional
1994 Taylor
1994 Fonseca
1997 Quinta do Noval Nacional
2000 Taylor Vinha Velha
2011 Quinta do Noval Nacional
2011 Taylor Vinha Velha

I'd say that as a vintage, 1970 is clearly superior to 1985. There were some standout wines produced in 1985, but generally speaking those were the exceptions. Taken as a whole, 1970 is a much more impressive vintage - its not even close.

I typically enjoy the following flavors: floral notes, raspberries, blueberries, ripe plums and nutty undertones. I'm not a big fan of licorice, vanilla or (god forbid) coconut notes in my Port.

After looking back at some of my tasting notes, I'd say that the top five colheitas I've tried would include:

1863 Nicolau de Almeida
1885 A.J.S. DaSilva
1900 Niepoort
1920 Burmester
1937 Burmester

I've recently opened a bottle of '94 Cockburn and I found it to be rather closed. It wasn't nearly as expressive as earlier bottles I've had. I'm thinking that I may revisit it in another 5 years or so to check on its development.

My guess would be similar to Glenn's, but with the Baxio Corgo & Cima Corgo percentages flip-flopped:

Baxio Corgo 50%
Cima Corgo 30%
Douro Superior 20%

1961 Warre LBV

David Spriggs wrote:Yeah.... some of us need to live vicariously!

+1

1987 Quinta do Noval VP

Al B. wrote:A bottle of Taylor 1966 as my contribution to an eighteen bottle 1966 horizontal. Sadly, it was one of the poorest bottles of T66 that I have drunk. Never mind, it happens.

When decanting, where there any signs that this bottle might have been compromised?

This weekend I'm planning on opening a 1920 Croft for my mother-in-laws birthday. You must really like your mother-in-law, haha. I'll either be going with a '70 Dow or '85 Fonseca. YTD Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Lol...she's turning 94, so I figured that was reason enough to open something s...

This weekend I'm planning on opening a 1920 Croft for my mother-in-laws birthday.

1978 Ferreira VP

Why are you waiting??? Pull the trigger...

Glenn E. wrote:Nice! And at 1/4 the price of a NN31 I'd say they're pretty reasonable, too.

I too would have expected the minimum bid to be quite a bit higher. Over the course of the auction I'd expect that it will be bid up quite significantly from its relatively low starting price.

When I need a burger fix, I head over to Plan Check in West Los Angeles. The Counter is also okay, but it does have a bit of a "chain" vibe.

1966 Niepoort Colheita
1966 Burmester Colheita