Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[Mike Kerr]

I keep skipping by this thread since I've been a member since '05, but it's been a couple of years since I've been "active" in Port, so I suppose I should throw my hat into the mix and reintroduce myself.

I'm in the Northern Virginia/DC Metro area, just outside Virginia Wine Country. Having said that, I'm not huge into wine, but stumbled upon Port when I was looking for a nice long-term gift to get my newborn niece. As it happens I stumbled across FTLOP from another Wine board, and my niece was born in 2003, so I ran out and got a Fonseca 2003 VP.

This got me reading and learning more about Port, so I went out and tried some for myself, and found a local wine shop that did a port tasting night. I quickly found myself a fan of Tawny's, specifically the 20y ones. More specifically Cockburn's. The combination of that night and FTLOP was a perfect storm!

As with some other folks, I have a massive collection to drinking ratio that I need to work on. I threw a Masive Port-tasting Night (MPN) a few years ago after collecting nearly all the LBV's I could find in my area, and attempted to get some friends hooked on it as well. I managed to get one buddy of mine interested, so I've got someone to share Port with on special occasions. Sadly, the few girlfriends I've had over that time never seemed to appreciate it. What's it they say? If they don't like you for who you are, then they aren't meant for you? Maybe the same applies to Port...if they don't like it....

Anyway, my return to FTLOP coincides with me searching for a gift for my nephew who was born in 2007. I'll give my sister credit on this - she's got good Port timing. So, with my return I stumbled into the 2007 Portal deal and am now looking to re-learn what I've let slide over the past couple of years, and begin to conservatively backfill my cellar (such as it is...a measly 22 bottles of VP, 26 bottles of LBV's, and some Tawnies) with some 80's and 90's vintages that I can enjoy over the next ten or fifteen years.

Hopefully with my sister's wedding in the spring I can impress upon her the wonders of Port with a bottle from her birth year.

...Important to impress upon her so that she can understand why it's important for her to start buying me some. There's gotta be some perks to being the oldest...

Mike.

[Michael Hann]

I am Michael Hann. I am new to port and am slowly learning. I had bought a single bottle of 1970 Quinto do Noval vintage port in 1981 and drank it, at last, in late December 2008. This was a very satisfying experience, and I guess I can point to this as what kindled my interest in port. I have begun to buy a few bottles of vintage port -- 14 bottles total of 1997 from Graham, Taylor, Quinto do Vesuvio, Nieport, Smith-Woodhouse -- and hope to continue very modest accumulation over time. I have been trying different reserve rubies like Graham's Six Grapes, Fonseca's Bin 27, and Warre's Warrior. I just tried Taylor's 2003 LBV over the weekend, which seemed noticeably more pleasing than the reserve rubies I've sampled. I have a 1994 unfiltered LBV that seems to be associated with Nieport in some way (the prominent name on the label is not Nieport, but Nieport appears in the fine print elsewhere on the label) and a 1983 Taylor vintage port that I'm going to try later this winter. I appreciate that the 1994 unfiltered LBV is pretty old and may be of dubious quality at this time. I've read Richard Mayson's book "Port and the Duro," though I confess I did not read the last chapters which were directed to Duro wines rather than to Port. I have been reading various posts in the Port forums for several months with interest.

[Andy Velebil]

Mike,
Thanks for the intro, late or not it doesn't matter. We're just glad you're with us here at ...yes your sister does have good timing Both are excellent years for Port and you've got plenty to chose from, thats for sure.

[Andy Velebil]

Michael,
Welcome to FTLOP Thanks for the intro and you've got some nice Ports in your collection. That 2003 Taylors LBV is very good and IMO has been one of their best LBV's in a number of years, so you won't go wrong with that one.

The 1997 "Niepoort" is probably Quinta do Passadouro, as Niepoort bottled it for them and put their name on it also.

I appreciate that the 1994 unfiltered LBV is pretty old and may be of dubious quality at this time.

You didn't mention the producer, but I probably wouldn't worry about that 1994 LBV going bad. I've had many unfiltered LBV's from this period and the top ones are still very youthful. Last night I had a 1999 Warre's unfiltered LBV that was still a baby.

Please ask as many questions as you can. This is a group that loves to share information and our past experiences with Ports. So I hope you have a wonderful time here and make this your "Port home"

[Glenn E.]

Welcome Mike and Michael!

Port and the Douro was the first book I read about Port, too. Great book!

Be careful, though... in a couple of years that "very modest accumulation over time" will fill your study!

[Derek T.]

I had bought a single bottle of 1970 Quinto do Noval vintage port in 1981...I have begun to buy a few bottles of vintage port -- 14 bottles total of 1997 from Graham, Taylor, Quinto do Vesuvio, Nieport, Smith-Woodhouse -- and hope to continue very modest accumulation over time.

Welcome to the top of the slippery slope - we all started out with similar stories here and many of us now count our port collections in cases rather than bottles and spend lots of time telling the Mrs that "those cases that arrived today aren't all mine, some of it belongs to Andy/Alex/Glenn/ANO. Did I tell you what a bargain these were? I saved us a fortune! Would you like some new clothes? Shoes? A holiday?
"

Welcome to the club

[Derek T.]

Note the time stamps on the two preceeding posts - Glenn and I seem to think alike (or suffer from the same disease!)

[Eric Menchen]

Andy covered some of the technical stuff, and Glenn and Derek covered the slippery slope (I'm sliding), so that just leaves me to say:
Hello and welcome to Mike and Michael.

[Glenn E.]

Note the time stamps on the two preceeding posts - Glenn and I seem to think alike (or suffer from the same disease!)

Or as I like to say, great minds run in the same circles.

[Andy Velebil]

Andy covered some of the technical stuff, and Glenn and Derek covered the slippery slope (I'm sliding), so that just leaves me to say:
Hello and welcome to Mike and Michael.

Eric I'm still slidding down that slippery slope as well....Mike and Michael, don't worry it's a really fun slipper slope

[Rune EG]

Hello all enthusiasts of port!
After having been checking the FTLOP pages over the last months, I am now a subscriber.
I am 54 years old, born / raised / living in Drammen, Norway, abt 40 km west of Oslo. Married and three kids. If all going well I will be grand father for the first time in 4 months. Been working in various fields, but always international and often with trading and logistics as the backbone.

My wine interest started actually exactly 30 years ago on one of my first business trips to U.K., when I was offered a glass of port wine at a dinner in the Birmingham, England, area. I immediately knew that this was something for me. Since then I always looked to find bottles of port whenever travelling. Then my real deep interest for port developed abt 20 years ago in the late 80s. I have a port wine collection since 20 years, and I am actually (for free) doing port wine courses for groups of friends, family, etc. Last was on Monday Dec 7th evening for 19 ladies which all belongs to a society where my wife is member.

So, from the port I developed the interest in to red and white wines. I have closely followed the development of especially the Douro red over the last 7-8 years, and still think this is an underrated wine. I am also collecting these wines.

I have had the pleasure to visit Portugal 33 times so far. Each time, with the exception of three visits to Lisbon only, all the visits have included Porto as main area. In my last job I was working within steel trading, and Northern Portugal is the center of the Portuguese mechanical industry. And of course, on each lunch and dinner I had the opportunity to test ports and Douro red and white (not all in each meal !!!).

My last visit was partly private (together with my wife), and took place May 9th-13th 2009. We read Roy's very good report from the hotel at Quinta do Silval and decided to stay there for 4 days. Thanks for the tip. Very nice place, and very nice people. We were the only guests during those 4 days, and were treated like VIPs. I had several interesting conversations with Mr Magalhaes senior. I actually celebrated my birthday 10th May during the visit, and the Magalhaes family (himself, his wife and and daughter) actually did sing the bithday song for me.

During the visit I got more and more interested in Quinta do Silvals own ports (not to be mixed with the Quinta do Noval Silval!)and wanted to buy a bottle of Magalhaes Vintage 2000 (the one that got top score in Decanter a few years ago). But the interest to sell me the bottle seemed rather low from their side. However, when checking out Mr Magahaes gave my the Vintage 2000 as partly a birthday gift and partly thanks for the various conversations. I was really pleased and appreciated their interest.

I look forward to learn more abt the FTLOP-site and the Forum.

Best regards
Rune E. Gustavsen

[Malcolm]

Just joined FTLOP (free member). Originally, I'm from England/Scotland but I've lived in the Ottawa-area of Canada for the past 27 years. I wouldn't really call myself much of a drinker or a lover of wine. However, a few years ago I discovered I really enjoyed the taste of an occassional glass of port. I've really only tried the LBV type of port but I've tried most of the different port producers available locally (Cockburn; Dow; Ferreira; Foneseca; Graham; Kopke; Niepoort; Sandeman; Smith Woodhouse; Taylor Fladgate; Warre). My favourites seem to be (since I keep buying them): Taylor Fladgate's First Estate and LBV, and Graham's Six Grapes. To learn more about Port and wine I bought a few books: Port, Neil Mathieson; Rich, Rare & Red: A Guide to Port, Ben Howkins; A Cook's Encylopedia of Wine, Stuart Walton; and Wine for Dummies, Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan.

[Andy Velebil]

Rune,


Thanks for the fantastic introduction! I am very glad to see you are helping spread the word about Port and I look forward to you sharing your knowledge here at . 33 times to Portugal...that's great and I hope to one day achieve that many visits to "the mother land."

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Rune,

As we've emailed quite a bit, I will keep this short and sweet and let you know that I am glad you took the plunge. I am positive you will fit in here very nicely and there are plenty of others from Norway here, most are subscribers but a couple post on rare occasions too. There was a group of four that joined last year and used to show up every once in awhile. Anyway, I am very pleased you introduced yourself and believe you will be able to share lots and learn plenty from the folks here at !

[Roy Hersh]

Writedoc,

I am sure we'll get to learn your real name very soon as Andy will let you know. You have good taste in Port books and the wine itself. Have you ever found James Suckling's book on Port. It is also a very fine read, even though it is now 2 decades old (jeez, it seems like it came out yesterday!) and provides a great look at the last generation of Port producers and winemakers. Although the terrain and people have changed quite a bit, lots has remained somewhat the same.

I hope you will stick around and continue to share with us and ask questions too!

Best regards,

Roy

[Andy Velebil]

Just joined FTLOP (free member). Originally, I'm from England/Scotland but I've lived in the Ottawa-area of Canada for the past 27 years. I wouldn't really call myself much of a drinker or a lover of wine. However, a few years ago I discovered I really enjoyed the taste of an occassional glass of port. I've really only tried the LBV type of port but I've tried most of the different port producers available locally (Cockburn; Dow; Ferreira; Foneseca; Graham; Kopke; Niepoort; Sandeman; Smith Woodhouse; Taylor Fladgate; Warre). My favourites seem to be (since I keep buying them): Taylor Fladgate's First Estate and LBV, and Graham's Six Grapes. To learn more about Port and wine I bought a few books: Port, Neil Mathieson; Rich, Rare & Red: A Guide to Port, Ben Howkins; A Cook's Encylopedia of Wine, Stuart Walton; and Wine for Dummies, Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan.

I must apologize, I overlooked your reply when I was replying to Rune Welcome to FTLOP! You've got a good list of Ports you've tried, so I think it's safe say you've got a discerning palate. Either way, have no fear as this group will have you drinking all kinds of good Ports in short order.

As for books, I'd also recommend Richard Mason's book about Port. It is considered the bible of Port for many of us.

I've also sent you an email.

[Tom D.]

Time to finally introduce myself to fellow FTLOP’ers…

I came to FTLOP through Roy’s notes on CellarTracker, which I really appreciate for their completeness and sincerity, as well as his frequent multiple reviews of a single Port. I’ve been entering my tasting notes there for several years, now I guess it’s time to start posting my Port notes here, as well. I’ve been learning to appreciate wine since college, when I began to spend considerable time in France, first as a student and then on business. I quickly gravitated to Old World style red wines and started to build a very humble cellar. Now I’m almost 50, and Vintage Ports have been quickly taking over my cellar during the past few years.

As I write this introduction, I’m trying to summarize in my own mind a number of wine-related revelations that struck me in the past year: First, many of the wines I used to buy to lay down are now being released at ridiculous prices, and are often being produced in a New World style that I do not prefer. For example, I can buy a 1994 Quilceda Creek cab for less than the cost of the recent QC releases, and for my palate it is a much better wine, and ready to enjoy in its prime. Also, I’m losing my interest in storing wine for decades, and I have no desire to grow my cellar past the 500 or so bottles it now holds. And my wife and I do not drink wine with every meal, and most of our consumption of good wine occurs at wine dinners with friends, which happen maybe monthly at most. So instead of buying 100 bottles of decent wine each year to lay down, I’m now trying to buy just a small number of really good, older bottles that are ready to drink now, or hold if I choose.

So my Vintage Port buying, while growing increasingly enthusiastic, has shifted away from anything post-1994 (although I made exceptions for the 2000 Niepoort and 2003 Taylor). Instead, I’ve picked up VP’s from the 1980’s, 1970’s, and 1960’s (a really exceptional 1966 Taylor and a remarkable 1977 Gould Campbell were among my WOTY for 2009). As I come across opportunities to buy well-cellared older bottles (within my budget), I look forward to using this group as a resource in my decision-making.

For a university town that fancies itself (and probably is) somewhat hip and cultured, Madison is kind of a wasteland when it comes to really good wine, although we try to always keep at last one loosely organized tasting group alive. So I also look forward to perhaps meeting and sharing bottles with some other FTLOP’ers one day.

So hopefully you’ll see me around here more often. This seems like a nice community, enthusiastic and eager to share. And I like that the Port world seems a bit less crowded…

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Tom,

First and foremost ... to


Your post was great and enthusiastic and appreciated. Nice to have you join us. Two coincidences from last night. A good friend emailed me for my opinion on buying the 2007 Quilceda Creek. I just happened to mention my favorite vintage ... 1994. I am a big fan of the family that makes QC and brought Richard Mayson to visit them back in 2003, as a fun aside and I've opened Ports for the QC owners and their tasting group of winemakers here in WA. That said, I have only EVER bought four bottles of QC, all from the 2002 vintage, my daughter's birth year (mostly poor for Port). Now back to you and Port.

The other coincidence is you mentioning your Port posts on Eric LeVine's CellarTracker. Eric is a good friend and in my tasting group since 2003 about a year or two into his wine hobby and the same year CT was created. That early Eric is so far removed from the wino Eric of today, you'd get a kick out of the difference. Last night with the two FTLOP developers (Stewart and David) in a conference re: 2010 FTLOP planning ... we were talking about how in collaboration with Eric, we are going to be able to migrate TNs from CT to FTLOP into our TNDB for like users. This will save you a lot of time in helping with integrating your notes. We'll also have a MY TNs in our database which will allow you to see all of your own Port TNs with one click ... or that of any user. Of course, this will never compete w/ CellarTracker in any way, just an adjunct for Port lovers to have access in a different format.

Anyway, I know of folks here who lurk and post that are from nearby areas in MN and IL but we've only had a few from WI ever post here. I hope to get to meet you this year as I am sure there will be a great Port tasting at some point in the not too distant future! Thanks for the great post and we look forward to your posts and joining us here for some friendly and lively discussions. It is very different than most of the wine message boards I participate on, and people here go out of their way to welcome and help out the folks who've taken the time to introduce themselves as you have, so thanks!

[Tom D.]

Thanks for the welcome, Roy. I'm sure you'll see me around here more and more!

[Rob Hansult]

Hello Port Lovers!

I'm Rob Hansult. I grow grapes on the North Fork of Long Island. Occasionally these last few years slumming it as a winemaker for some micro-labels yet to be released - no offense meant to any other winemakers on the board. LOL

I've been crazy about fine wine since not long after I turned 18. The first wines to raise my eyebrows in 1974/75 were German Muller Thurgau & Sylvaner from the great '71 vintage. A local Wine Shop had a bunch in a $1.99 sale bin. The first wasn't anything great, but the wines I had been tasting - OK - DRINKING before that were god-awful things like Almaden Mountain Rhine! The eye opening part was - this was the first time I realized wine could actually taste Good! A couple weeks later - the $2.99 bin. Anyway, to make a long story short, a couple months later I was tasting my first Bordeaux - '66 Belgrave & '71 Lagrange - $3.99 @ (!!!). '71 Rieussec - $4.99!!! OMG do I wish I had bought ridiculous amounts! Six months later my first Yquem ('69 - actually a pretty lovely & intense wine - in it's youth, anyway) & Haut Brion ('67 - granted, a weak patch for the Chateau, but I enjoyed it's early Autumnal suavity). You got it - I was Hooked!

I found my way into the local wine industry a few years later and have been fairly steeped in all the fine wine my paltry income allows since.

Needless to say, I still Love German wine. Riesling from the Rheingau, Mosel, Nahe & the Pfalz are a staple. Other favorites are St. Emilion, Sauternes, CDP, Hermitage, Condrieu, the occasional Sherry & Port - obviously, Champagne, Cali Syrah, Tokaji, and for value reds - I have a thing for S. American Malbec.

I'm happy to be here, and I'm sure will be encouraged to drink more Port! Ha Ha Ha Do your worst!
I do Love the full, ripe, concentrated fruit of a young VP. LBV is a special favorite. So many nice, and even near great ones out there in the $20 - $25 range. Now that's something to CHEER about!

I'm also a Belgian Beer & I.P.A. Lover. Sorry 'bout the thread drift. I have a facebook page here >>>
http://www.facebook.com/rob.hansult if anyone wants to discuss beverages other than Port.

I look forward to chatting with all of you about this wonderful blood of the grape!

Rob