For The Love Of Port

Yes, I received a call on Sunday letting me know of this big news. All 53 hectares, and all. But while it was not official until last night, when the final pieces of the negotiations were signed off on. There is a Frenchman who is the consulting oenologist for Portal, provides insight for Paulo Cout...

I was with Cristiano van Zeller last week and he told me that he had talked Jose and Iolanda into allowing him to bottle a limited edition lote of the 1896s and the 1863 as well. I had no idea he had been directly involved in that project. I assume it was before the Taylor bottling in 2014, that Ale...

A duff bottle, no. But I can remember a 15-20 minute struggle with a 1966 Fonseca VP. Screw driver didn't work, so I carefully tried to cut through the rubber with an exacto-blade and was happy I left with both hands and fingers attached!

20 Year Old Tawny Van Zeller's & Co.
10-20-30-40-50 both White Ports and Tawny by ENOLOGO, a joint venture between Denmark's Torben Mandrup and Joana Duarte, former winemaker for Bulas.

I have come up with a few bottles recently, while buying a BUNCH of cases of older table wines from various regions here in PT. As for Ports, I grabbed a few 2015 Graham's Crusted Port, plus the Graham's 2011 Single Harvest Tawny. I also unearthed on bottle of 1963 Sandeman and look forward to findi...

I will let you Siri or Google your way to the actual story, as I want to avoid commenting on a story this is still in the midst of breaking, but the "Governor" of Madeira, that Portuguese call the "President" of Madeira, has been arrested today. Also the President of the Municipa...

I used to love the DR 40 Tawny too. In fact, I will miss it. Niepoort was another company that until recently, only had 10, 20, and 30 year Old Tawny Ports. But times are changing and companies are evolving to take part in the growth cycle of the Special Category Ports, in Europe, No. America and fr...

That Warre's is wonderful, try one early on and leave the other four to try once a decade from there on. :) Ignore this advice completely, if you are 50 or above. :) But to better appreciate these 2020 VP's, take a few days tasting one while it is young and you will love to gauge its evolution in th...

Adrian Bridge, CEO of Fladgate Partnership, has been steadfast in his commitment to expand beyond the traditional confines of port wine. After having been steadfast in his commitment to "NEVER" produce Douro or any table wines, written in countless dozens of articles and interviews spanni...

The past 2 years I've squirreled away half a dozen more magnums of Madeira. Talk about a party in a bottle. They are a LOT of fun! A group of peeps came to Madeira during a private tour to Madeira, in celebration of the host's 60th birthday this past October. I held onto all bottles we did not finis...

Sorry that this either didn't show well, had TCA, no note was written ... or someone knocked over you glass or dropped the bottle.

Damn, I was looking forward to hear about this one. Bummer!

Lindsey wrote: (A.) I personally think Roy and Mannie have some responsibility for this with the many big dinners and tastings that were organized. Eric I. wrote: (B.) I definitely blame Roy and Mannie! 8--) No one was really drinking old Madeira prior to these tastings getting publicized. I remembe...

I will do my best to find out the importer(s) on the E. coast and let you know!

Alex B. wrote: Glenn - Richard tasted the 2011 in 2023 when it had had the benefit of 10 years of bottle age. He rated it a perfect wine. What’s your view? Do you agree? I second Glenn's opinion on the 2011 GST. It is in a different league from all the others when doing them side-by-side. Glenn know...

Moses, Can you tell me from back labels on your bottle, who the importer was, and I can ask Jorge the head of RP, to see if that importer is still actively involved in bringing in their Ports anymore? He is the cousin of Ana Rosas that did a GREAT job in Port Personalities; In Focus ... in last mont...

Random musings. Yes, the White 2008 Port by DR. They are not selling it anymore. I had a TN on the 2010 in the newsletter in November. But friends told me that the 2008 was considerably better. Now I will be able to judge for myself. When you saw me mention a bottle of DR that was dropped from the o...

The recent buying op that was offered at the end of 2023, to ALL FTLOP'ers, set an all time record for volume of bottles sold and the highest total sales of all 23 previous buying ops. I am sure part of this was because DR was in the spotlight, but outside of buying winery direct, the prices and FRE...

Well that’s a bummer. Wonder why they didn’t?

A simple link to the help desk, would have been great.

Hi Andreas, I can't tell you why this happened, but I am sorry it did. I am not the guy able to fix this for you, tech-challenged unfortunately. But we have a good tech team, and I am sure they can get this working for you. Here is where you can detail what's going on: https://www.fortheloveofport.c...