Co-related to Fred's post on who is taking up the most space in your cellar, as far as Port goes, if you had a reasonable amount of money to stock up (let's say around $25,000 or the equivalent in your currency) to spend ONLY on Port, which producers would you stock up on? You can include the "why" but I suspect for everyone it would be a similar response: I like <this brand> of Port and would obviously stock up on the one I like the most.
I would have:
Taylor
Fonseca
Noval
Graham's
I would probably also try and stock up on some Niepoorts, but it is hard to make that call, given I have not yet had the opportunity to try ANY of his offerings.
Haaaaaaaa, excellent question.
25.000 would be 17.600 euro
hmmm, i think i would buy a case of 1963 Noval Nacional, if they still exist outthere.
Store it away, lock myself up in the cellar, throw away the key and look at it all day
Would that even buy a case of '63 NN Erik??? Only wine-searcher hit I could come up with, listed it at $3250 and change for one bottle times 12 and you're looking at $39,000.
So aside from that non-existent case of Nacional, what else would you choose?!?
If restricted to only one producer, I would go Grahams, with a focus on 63, 66 (my favorite), 70, 85, 94, and 2000.
With that much money in one bolus of port buying, I would mix it up with some Noval Nacional (63 and 94), some 1937 Colheitas, and some older port (1927/31/34/45/55).
Some to drink now, and some to drink later! I would not restrict myself to a single producer, and would buy some "odd lots" to try as well.
But i would definately buy the older vintages, like 1945 Niepoort, 1970 Fonseca or a really really OLD bottle, like a 1820 Ferreira Garrafeira Port (cost € 1450).
To own a piece of history is also part of the fun for me.
With unlimited money.... I'd just travel the world to find any of those rare 19th century bottles to have a chance to taste them once.
The Ferreira 250th celebration special box with very old bottles. There is still one at the Vintage House.
And of course a couple of cases of all vintages of Nacional, old colheita of Niepoort... and a house on the banks of the Douro ... with a glass to taste this :o
Living the dream and now working for a Port company