For The Love Of Port

Roy I’m interested in your choice of Quinta do Crasto as one of your three favourite LBVs. Never having had this before, I bought a bottle of the 2001 (bottled 2007) the other day. With only a little decanting time, I found it to be quite light-bodied tho’ rich in colour. A very pronounced figgy tas...

Two traditional English recipes that use port are Jugged Hare and Cumberland Sauce. Cumberland Sauce is normally served cold with cold meat such as gammon or game. I remember, not that many years ago, my father in law opening a bottle of Taylor's '35 just for the Cumberland Sauce; fortunately there ...

While I would generally agree with you on this one, a few evenings ago I decided at the last minute to have some port. I chose a weepy bottle, decanted and strained it , and served it immediately. By a long way it was the best Warre's '77 I had had for some while - richer and more intense. I am yet ...

Thanks everybody - I shall certainly start on the Taylor's '85 first.
Any suggestions from those who have had this recently as to decanting time?

I'm nearing the end of my '77s and am wondering which of these two to take out of professional storage. I have neither the space nor more importantly the right conditions to take both out and keep the less ready one for any length of time. I've had several Graham's '83 in the past and know that it i...

I understand that the Queen is considered extremely knowledgable on wine and does get personally involved in decisions on food and wine at state functions. The serving of Nacional '31 would not constitute good taste in my opinion, whereas Taylor '77 is by any standard a good wine (in Roy's top twelv...

I assume that you mere mortals have enough of these wines to serve two hundred guests. Clearly you have bigger pockets than the Queen or I do.

I'm delighted to see that the Queen showed impeccable taste in the choice of port for last night's banquet for King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The following is an extract from yesterday's Times : Tonight's state banquet will begin with fillets of sole with salmon mousse and butter sauce, followed by ...

I see that Adnams of Southwold is offering Quinta do Vesuvio 2005 at £145 ex duty VAT & shipping per 6 bottle case

A clever question - reminds me of the printed advice at the top of an exam paper - READ THE QUESTION Undoubtedly the vintage port I have enjoyed the most has been the Dow '63 ( perhaps because I paid £3 per bottle for it). But would I want to drink only that for the rest of my life? Not sure. I thin...

I'm not sure that the pronunciation of Cockburn should rhyme with go burn as that would put the accent on the second syllable when it should be on the first syllable. I can't work out how to do accents but the pronunciation is more like : co-b'n

Port represents 13% of my cellar by quantity and approx. 20% by value. The rest of my cellar is :
Bordeaux 26%
Red Burgundy 28%
Rhone 16%
Cognac 7%
Italian 9%

1983 vs 1985 - a very relevant question for me. I need (wish) to take a case out of storage and am undecided between Grahams 1983 and Taylors 1985. Any suggestions?

An alternative to removing the label of a special bottle is to have the bottle flattened with label intact - see http://www.flatbottles.com
I don't know what it costs but the result looks great. At my daughter's wedding we had Pol Roger and she has a 'flat' bottle hanging on the wall.

I have used an Ah-So for many years with considerable success. I prefer the alternative name of wiggle 'n twist as that better describes how to use it. I recently bought another one which does not work as well. The critical factor appears to be the length difference of the two prongs - if one is too...

Most interested in your comments on Taylor 1985, of which I am lucky enough to have a case. Any thoughts as to when I should start it?
Thanks

Andy has hit the nail on the head. Port is perhaps unique in that the same grapes can now be more profitably used, at the lower end at least, for making table wine rather than fortified wine (presumably this does not apply in Cognac, Armagnac or Madeira) This has to be a worry as, if the lower end o...

There is an interesting article in Decanter Magazine on LBV : see
http://www.decanter.com/news/112423.html

John I'm sure you are right that this would have been London bottled. However the question still remains whether it was bottled in 1898 'on spec' or whether some years later. If it was some years later it must either have been a rebottling of normal size bottles or from cask, in which latter case wo...

Mention of things that happened in the year 1896 jogged my memory of a letter my uncle wrote to me a couple of years ago, not long before he died. He wrote : ' I remember the day after war was declared (September 4 1939). My father, my brother ( my father ) and I were down at the Hall and Papa went ...