Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[Andy Velebil]

Andy makes good suggestions, although I like the Offley 10 year old Tawny, for me there are a LOT better one's out there. I think he'd agree.

Yes, there are. I was working off of the available list from his link. Wasn't many options for 10 year tawny's on it

[Michael T]

I just recently discovered "port" and FTLOP. Like most I started with wine, my favorite is Pinot Noir, and began trying other things. When I discovered port I was hooked. Still an amateur for sure. So far I have tried Graham's Six Grapes Reserve, Taylor Fladgate Fine Tawny and Hardys Whiskers Blake Tawny Port. I have to say of those three the Grahams wins hands down.

I am glad to be here and hope to learn more about port. I will be posting a question in the general forum so please answer if you can help me out.

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Michael,

Well it appears you have a pretty fine palate, picking the same "best of" from the 3 you've tried that I would. Glad to have you here. Have we met at a tasting down there? I am heading back to the ATL area in mid-March for a Bordeaux event, but may get involved in providing a seminar as well.

Anyway, to and I am sure that you will have quite a few responses to your questions here!


Best regards,

Roy

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Michael,

to the Forum, great to have you with us. And I see you're already getting some good advice for Ports to try. I really do love this group we have , the nicest wine chat forum you'll ever belong to

[Michael T]

Thanks for the welcome. Roy I am sure we have never met but would like to at some point. I am going to join as a subscriber with the hopes of getting some opportunities to purchase a few ports along the way. I already see finding the ports that were recommended and then getting them delivered to me at a reasonable cost is going to be my biggest challenge.

[Robbie D]

Hello All! Sorry, have posted a couple times (and PM'd Roy already!) but never officially introduced m'self.
Robbie, I currently live in Bermuda but planning a relocation to the U.S.
Would classify myself as a "Constant Consumer" ... hard to keep a bottle out of my path without a taste!! My all-time favorites are Fonsecas - have a few left ... including Guimaraens, LBV's and Rubys. My day to day drop in Bin 27.
Have a bit of an adventurous streak, so have tried all manner of unknowns/little-knowns. Case in Point: had a 2008 Bogle Vineyards Petite Sirah Port last week; great value & a nice pop in the evening.

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Robbie,
many thanks for the introduction, and again to the forum. Fonseca has some really nice Ports, as you already know so you sure did pick a winner to drink a lot of! Hopefully when you move to the States you'll be near some of us, or other Port lovers, so you partake in even more Port drinking.

[John F. Newman]

John from Jersey (New Jersey, that is).

I'm a casual drinker looking to educate myself in the wide world of port and madeira. I have an appreciation, but it's an occasional bottle or glass after a meal.

The forum is chock full of info, and good links as well. (I spent many hours going over the novice questions of others to bring myself up to speed.)

... looking forward to the learning process, which no doubt will involve a "couple more" bottles.

[Roy Hersh]

Robbie,

Good to see you drop in and don't be a stranger! Please let us all know where you land (in USA). I am sure we'll find a good reason to open a bottle with you, maybe 2 or 3.

[Roy Hersh]

John,

Did you know you are in the midst of many of the USA's finest importers of Port and Douro wines?

You like both Port and Madeira ... that is great! I hope someday you'll join us on a Fortification Tour to explore both.

Glad you've been enjoying your time well spent on the Forum and learning to find your way around here. Also check out the video library on the homepage. There are some cool things in the archives there.

Look forward to share some Port and I hope you get to meet some of the other folks here from NJ and NY (I am originally from the latter). John M. will likely be a great person to meet as I know he puts on some nice Port tastings in NJ and there are quite a few here from NYC too.

Take good care and !

Roy

[John F. Newman]

John,

Did you know you are in the midst of many of the USA's finest importers of Port and Douro wines?

You like both Port and Madeira ... that is great! I hope someday you'll join us on a Fortification Tour to explore both.

Glad you've been enjoying your time well spent on the Forum and learning to find your way around here. Also check out the video library on the homepage. There are some cool things in the archives there.

Look forward to share some Port and I hope you get to meet some of the other folks here from NJ and NY (I am originally from the latter). John M. will likely be a great person to meet as I know he puts on some nice Port tastings in NJ and there are quite a few here from NYC too.

Take good care and !

Roy

Thanks Roy. I've done some exploring on the home page as well (I am going to have to make a few readings of what I found in order for it to sink in better), and have been in contact with John M. elsewhere (but we haven't formally met). I have been to some of the stores in north Jersey, as my wife grew up in the Ironbound (Newark) and I am originally from that part of NJ. However, now that I've made a commitment to knowledge ( ), I am going to be looking at things from a different perspective, and hopefully armed a little bit wiser when I go to make some purchases. (It's a tough job, but I am up to the task, mentally although not always financially.)

I am trying to get to Oporto late summer, but that depends on a few other factors - I may just be in Lisbon and the south of PT as I'd be joining the Missus and kiddies during last week of their visit with family in the Algarve.

Cheers.

[Andy Velebil]

Hi John,

to the Forum!!! Look forward to your participation and please feel free to ask any question no matter how simple you may think it is. We're all here to learn and sip our favorite beverage too

[Mark Clancy]

This is a little bit of a "long time listener, first time caller" deal. I joined the forum in 2007 and never made a post until today. Frankly I have no idea why, but due to the magic of in flight WiFi had some time to do so. I have been enjoying port for many years, but only started collecting it more recently. In the "before" days I say I would buy and then drink 10/20 yr tawnys, but never put port away in the cellar. Not sure which VP I had or even when that converted me, but decided in the last few years to make an effort to hunt down some more for cellaring. I have about 24 bottles of port in the cellar between 1945 and 2007, but have ~600 bottles of other wines.

I live in Tampa FL now, but spend a lot of time in NYC/DC.

-Mark

[Roy Hersh]

Mark,

Glad you have finally come out of the Port shadows to join us years later. Nice to have another Floridian amongst us. We have others, mostly Madeira guys, though some do like Port too.

The places you mentioned, have great retails shops, so happy hunting. Coincidentally, I have lived in FL/DC/NY amongst several other places, but all have their share of v. serious wine lovers. I have a feeling your ratio of Port to non-fortified wine may take a turn in the other direction a bit, if you remain connected here. So be careful. As we say here at , "It is a slippery slope." Most of the long time participants would swear to that!

Look forward to drink some fine wine/Port together at some point in 2013-2014.

Welcome aboard.

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Mark,

and congrats on your first post after being a member for so long

[Phyllis D]

Mark,

... So be careful. As we say here at , "It is a slippery slope." Most of the long time participants would swear to that!

Mark

Roy's comment is even true for us yearlings.

[Stefano Marello]

Dear all,

After a (very) short presence at FTLOP a few years ago, I'm pleased to say I'm back. I hope to contribute whenever possible to discussions. Having spent 12 years at The Fladgate Partnership, I joined Sogevinus Fine Wines at the end of last year to take on the UK, Italy and Ireland markets, as well as closely follow together with Sandra Marques the USA and Canada markets. Feel free to call on me whenever necessary. I am very happy to put my knowledge (small as it may be) at the service of FTLOP.

Cheers!

[Andy Velebil]

Dear all,

After a (very) short presence at FTLOP a few years ago, I'm pleased to say I'm back. I hope to contribute whenever possible to discussions. Having spent 12 years at The Fladgate Partnership, I joined Sogevinus Fine Wines at the end of last year to take on the UK, Italy and Ireland markets, as well as closely follow together with Sandra Marques the USA and Canada markets. Feel free to call on me whenever necessary. I am very happy to put my knowledge (small as it may be) at the service of FTLOP.

Cheers!

Stefano,

Welcome back! And congratulations on your new position at Sogevinus.

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Steve,

BACK! We will look forward to your pearls of Port wisdom whenever possible.

Roy

[Michelle L]

Hi! I'm really new to port. My husband and I transited through Oporto airport on the way back from our honeymoon last November, and a friendly Sandeman rep at the dutyfree store convinced us that a few bottles of port would be a good way to get rid of our leftover Euros. It's a habit that's growing on us quite dangerously, though, and I've already found FTLOP a useful resource in navigating our way through our initial purchases, so thought I'd join the community to continue learning more!

So far ruby reserve ports have been the sweet spot in terms of price/value for everyday drinkability - tried Noval Black and didn't really love it, but thanks to the Ruby Reserve Taste-off notes, have tried the Taylor First Estate and enjoyed that a lot. Sandeman Founder's Reserve and Graham's Six Grapes are next on the list, and I'm confident we'll settle on one of those as our "always have a bottle around for kicking back after work" ports.
My husband wanted to try a tawny, so we tried a Sandeman 20-yr (one of Roy's recommendations in the 20-yr genre), and decided we preferred even the more affordable rubies to the good tawnies. I gather that is not too uncommon. :)

We're beginning to get curious about good vintage port, though, and have started poking around to see what's in stores. So far the "nicest" we've had has been a 1997 Sandeman Vau Vintage from the airport, although we also picked up a 2000 Graham's that we were advised not to open for, um, years. The high price and spotty availability on many VPs has been a deterrent thus far to our acquisition quest (any tips on good sources to buy from would be appreciated!), but we stopped into Park Avenue Wines the other day and noticed both a '83 Taylor and '85 Fonseca available for purchase for $98. After consulting the staff, their guidance was that the '83 vintage was "one of the great vintages" and therefore a better bet... but now that I do my research here, I'm seeing that there's far more love on here for the '85 Fonseca in comparison... so maybe they'll let me exchange it? Or if not, maybe we'll just have to get them both and taste them side by side someday? :)

Just got a tipoff tonight that there's a bottle of '83 Graham at my local wine store for ~$80, so we're probably going to pick that up as well. Oh dear, this is going to turn into an expensive habit... but I suspect I'm preaching to the choir on that, right? :)

Thanks for letting me ramble, looking forward to learning more, and if you have any tips about what to acquire next / where to look for it, I'm ALL ears!