For The Love Of Port

A bit behind, a trip across the pond and to the motherland. From my cellar (among many others)…

1900 Royal Oporto Colheita
1977 Warres VP
1970 Sandeman VP
1940 Sandeman VP

1992 Churchill Agua Alta Vintage Port - Rather shocked by how primary the color is at 33 years old, if you saw this you'd swear it was a Ruby Reserve. Churchill is not a brand I seek out, but this one is an awesome exception. Boysenberry, a hint of chocolate and that Churchill ending spice. Opened for a cocktail party - received well by those who tried it. I have a little left for tonight. If you own these, seems like an ideal time to open. So far 92 Points.

1990 Barão de Vilar Colheita (bottled 2021) and a Quinta da Pacheca 20 Year Old Tawny. Both are for a block party later this afternoon.

2015 Crasto LBV. Still way primary.

My 1992 Churchill def fell apart a bit on Day 2. Enjoyable but not nearly as good. There was no day 3 or 4

A few people came over so I decanted a 1994 Croft (low end of OK--not great---think in needs another decade). One guest brought a 2016 Taylor Fladgate LBV (filtered)--quite lovely for what it is. Easy with no decanting to just pop, pour & enjoy.

2016 Quevedo LBV. Really top notch LBV, very impressed. Not too sweet either. Day 5 is just as great as the pop and pour.

Was on a cruise and took a 1987 Kopke Colheita and a 40 Yr Tawny by Andresen. Both were very good but I had a slight preference for the 40 yr old.

2002 Smith Woodhouse LBV. I always taste a sample upon decanting and out of the bottle, this is a very, very nice LBV. I'll see how it's held up later tonight.

Moses Botbol wrote: ↑Tue Oct 21, 2025 5:20 am 2016 Quevedo LBV. Really top notch LBV, very impressed. Not too sweet either. Day 5 is just as great as the pop and pour.

Quevedo do tend to be on the drier side, it's a deliberate stylistic choice.


I've just opened a bottle of Morgan Brothers 1963. Rather lovely, but fully mature.

Moses Botbol wrote: ↑Tue Oct 21, 2025 5:20 am 2016 Quevedo LBV. Really top notch LBV, very impressed. Not too sweet either. Day 5 is just as great as the pop and pour.

Moses,

Did you find that locally or was that from the buying Op here a few years ago? If it's local, what's the name of the shop?

Enologo 10 year old Tawny. Much better than I remember and obviously Bulased.

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 1:06 pm

Moses Botbol wrote: ↑Tue Oct 21, 2025 5:20 am 2016 Quevedo LBV. Really top notch LBV, very impressed. Not too sweet either. Day 5 is just as great as the pop and pour.

Moses,

Did you find that locally or was that from the buying Op here a few years ago? If it's local, what's the name of the shop?

I bought them an online store that showed up as selling Quevedo years ago. Try looking on wine-searcher or the like. I wish there was local distribution of Quevedo in MA. Even Portugalia doesn't carry their products.

Enologo 40 year old Tawny
Intense sugars and nutty flavors. Some might use the word cloying, but I'm really enjoying it.

My order of Quevedo arrived so opened a 2019 LBV. Young still but so full of fruit and tannins. Really nice LBV.

Enologio 30 year old white.

As part of my just arrived Quevedo order. A 10 yr tawny that is quite yummy.

I originally opened a 1985 Niepoort VP, but of course it was a TCA riddled mess. I won 4 cheaply at auction and now I know why, lol. This is the second bottle of four that I have opened from the lot. The first bottle wasn't great, but compared to this one, it was exquisite. The capsule was full of mold on the inside and the Port smelled a little funky when I decanted it, but it seemed like it would be okay when I tasted a sample. 7 hours later it was hot and full of TCA. It's too bad because I was getting some nice berry flavors on the sample taste, but they were gone by the time I had an actual glass.

My backup was a 2004 Kopke Colheita. It was bottled in 2014, so only 10 years in cask. It's nice, but not spectacular.

Mike J. W. wrote:I originally opened a 1985 Niepoort VP, but of course it was a TCA riddled mess. I won 4 cheaply at auction and now I know why, lol. This is the second bottle of four that I have opened from the lot. The first bottle wasn't great, but compared to this one, it was exquisite. The capsule was full of mold on the inside and the Port smelled a little funky when I decanted it, but it seemed like it would be okay when I tasted a sample. 7 hours later it was hot and full of TCA. It's too bad because I was getting some nice berry flavors on the sample taste, but they were gone by the time I had an actual glass.

My backup was a 2004 Kopke Colheita. It was bottled in 2014, so only 10 years in cask. It's nice, but not spectacular.

That’s a big bummer.

1999 Niepoort LBV that was very good but opened at least 10 yrs too early. I’ll wait on my other bottles.

2001 Quinta do Vesuvio VP that was much better on day 2. Sadly there was only a glass left by day 2. Lesson learned…give this one a long decant right now.