For The Love Of Port

Eric Menchen wrote: ↑Fri Dec 19, 2025 10:31 am

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Sat Dec 13, 2025 12:23 pm For a wine-focused Christmas party tonight, a magnum of 1977 Smith Woodhouse VP.

I would love to get your take on this. That wine has long been a favorite of mine, and I was thinking of opening a magnum of it soon for a celebration.

I thought it was superb. Very smooth and well-integrated, but still powerful with fruits showing both late-stage primary and early-stage secondary flavors. Basically, treading that fine line of "fully mature" but maybe not yet completely at peak. Maybe not quite on the same level as the usual magnum of 1977 Gould Campbell that I've been bringing to these parties, but it was very close. Call it 94 points vs an expected 95 for the GC77.

I wouldn't argue with someone who scored it anywhere from 92 to 95. 91 would feel harsh to me (92 still feels low), and 96 would feel rather generous.

I have 2 more magnums that I plan to scatter throughout the 7 remaining magnums of GC77 over the years. Then, eventually, I'll move on to the few magnums that I have from the 1980s.

Last night I opened a bottle of Dow 1963 (Oporto bottled) which was in great shape.

A couple of nights before that I opened a 50cl Quevedo Tawny Special Reserve Victoria Edition. I’d never seen it before so wanted to try it. It’s not as good as Dow 1963!

DR 40 Year Old Tawny Port (bottled 2021)

Opened for Port Club. This was one of the bottles I purchased after DR announced that they were no longer going to make a 40. I said I'd take everything they had left, which turned out to be 18 bottles.

I opened another one from this purchase recently and was ... concerned. It was fine, but it wasn't as glorious as it should have been. I scored that one 92, and these should normally be 95-96 for me. So I was worried that their remaining stock (which they recalled from Porto to ship to me) had been somehow damaged.

Luckily, that one seems to have just been an off bottle. This one was worth 96 points!

1985 Crasto for Christmas Eve

Very good. It has life left too.

1968 Andresen Colheita (bottled 2018). Concentrated and savory. Very nice.

After waffling back and forth the past week about what to open on Christmas Eve, as 4 members of my gal's family were not able to attend, I changed from a 1955 Kopke Colheita (750 ml) to a 500 ml bottle of Menin Tawny Port which was "slurpy" good, and 3 of us loved on it. I gave the rest to Elizabeth's daughter to take to share with her father, as I know he loves a good Port. That 40 Tawny is really in excellent form. Now I just have to figure out the right time to open the 1955 Kopke which I always drool over and it is not one that I get to drink like I do the 1957 or even the 1952 which occasionally get opened. For some reason, the 1955 is seen far less often.

I opened a Quinta da Romaneira 40 y.o. Tawny (bottled 2022) for a belated Christmas Dinner with all of my kids home.

The "remastered" version of Romaneira 40 is still very nice, albeit not in the same out of this world realm the original used to be. Enjoy it Mike!

Friday night, a 50 year old Quinta do Noval Tawny was just outstanding. I have now had it on a handful of occasions during the past 2 years and it is as good as any 50 Tawny I've had. I am sure there are still some I've never had, but that list is growing shorter. It is easy to love on these 50s, I have yet to have one that was not at least very good. Most are thrilling. The 50 Whites are typically incredible and in a bunch of cases, even better (at least for my liking) than the equivalent producer's 50T.

Roy Hersh wrote: ↑Sat Dec 27, 2025 9:23 am The "remastered" version of Romaneira 40 is still very nice, albeit not in the same out of this world realm the original used to be. Enjoy it Mike!

It is very good, Roy, especially after a day of air.

I saw you wrote about the Quinta do Noval 50 year old Tawny. What is the best 50 year old Tawny that you've tasted?

I'd have to go through my ratings to see, but off the top of my head, three that come to mind are the Noval, Taylor's, and DR for sure. I have had all three on many occasions and they stand out in the crowd.

Ferreira Duque de Braganca 20 y.o. Tawny bottled 2008. It's a little cloudy, but otherwise it's fine. It tastes great and the balance between the sweetness and the zippy acidity is perfect. It's a delicious 20 y.o. Tawny.

Taylor Fladgate 40 Year Old, bottled in 2006.

Visiting some friends and they had this bottle. Popped and poured after an awesome dinner. The first sips were all about walnuts and a touch of all-spice. An hour later, a little walnut remained but vanilla and a thin butterscotch came forward. Lovely complexity - nice solid 93-94 Points.

I have a dinner with high school friends on Thursday, so opening a Taylor Fladgate vintage from our graduation year, 1985. I’ve opened three of these in the past spread out over about 20 years, and they seem to cycle between being lovely and being ‘meh’. Hoping it’ll be lovely on Thursday. 1985 was a very strange vintage year, just sayin’.

Andrew Kirschner wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 1:32 pm I have a dinner with high school friends on Thursday, so opening a Taylor Fladgate vintage from our graduation year, 1985. I’ve opened three of these in the past spread out over about 20 years, and they seem to cycle between being lovely and being ‘meh’. Hoping it’ll be lovely on Thursday. 1985 was a very strange vintage year, just sayin’.

The 1980s were a down decade for the brands of The Fladgate Partnership, with the notable exceptions of the 1985 Fonseca and the 1987 Taylor Vargellas. At least for bottles here in the US.

Interestingly, bottles of 1985 Taylor in the UK seem to have been notably nicer than ours. (But bottles of 1985 Fonseca are not as nice. It's very strange.)

I normally rate 1985 Taylor 91 or 92 points. It's good, but it's not great. And given the name Taylor, one expects greatness so I often find it disappointing.

I hope your bottle on Thursday is great!

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 3:17 pm

Andrew Kirschner wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 1:32 pm I have a dinner with high school friends on Thursday, so opening a Taylor Fladgate vintage from our graduation year, 1985. I’ve opened three of these in the past spread out over about 20 years, and they seem to cycle between being lovely and being ‘meh’. Hoping it’ll be lovely on Thursday. 1985 was a very strange vintage year, just sayin’.

The 1980s were a down decade for the brands of The Fladgate Partnership, with the notable exceptions of the 1985 Fonseca and the 1987 Taylor Vargellas. At least for bottles here in the US.

Interestingly, bottles of 1985 Taylor in the UK seem to have been notably nicer than ours. (But bottles of 1985 Fonseca are not as nice. It's very strange.)

I normally rate 1985 Taylor 91 or 92 points. It's good, but it's not great. And given the name Taylor, one expects greatness so I often find it disappointing.

I hope your bottle on Thursday is great!

I will definitely keep you posted.

Andrew Kirschner wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 3:57 pm

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 3:17 pm

Andrew Kirschner wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 1:32 pm I have a dinner with high school friends on Thursday, so opening a Taylor Fladgate vintage from our graduation year, 1985. I’ve opened three of these in the past spread out over about 20 years, and they seem to cycle between being lovely and being ‘meh’. Hoping it’ll be lovely on Thursday. 1985 was a very strange vintage year, just sayin’.

The 1980s were a down decade for the brands of The Fladgate Partnership, with the notable exceptions of the 1985 Fonseca and the 1987 Taylor Vargellas. At least for bottles here in the US.

Interestingly, bottles of 1985 Taylor in the UK seem to have been notably nicer than ours. (But bottles of 1985 Fonseca are not as nice. It's very strange.)

I normally rate 1985 Taylor 91 or 92 points. It's good, but it's not great. And given the name Taylor, one expects greatness so I often find it disappointing.

I hope your bottle on Thursday is great!

I will definitely keep you posted.

Andrew, check your PM's please.

1992 Quevedo Colheita, bottled 2019. Acquired via a FTLOP buying op. I have a few of these but did not open one until Friday night. Struck by the lack of nuttiness usually associated with tawnies about this age. Citrus fruits (various oranges mostly). Really lovely in a unique way. Half the bottle is left---curious to see what it is like 48 hours later.

John M. wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 6:18 am 1992 Quevedo Colheita, bottled 2019. Acquired via a FTLOP buying op. I have a few of these but did not open one until Friday night. Struck by the lack of nuttiness usually associated with tawnies about this age. Citrus fruits (various oranges mostly). Really lovely in a unique way. Half the bottle is left---curious to see what it is like 48 hours later.

I think that was the first Quevedo I ever tried as well, John. It was from the same buying op. It was good, but it's definitely a very different style from most Colheitas I have had before it. For me, it was more of a drier, savory style.

John M. wrote:1992 Quevedo Colheita, bottled 2019. Acquired via a FTLOP buying op. I have a few of these but did not open one until Friday night. Struck by the lack of nuttiness usually associated with tawnies about this age. Citrus fruits (various oranges mostly). Really lovely in a unique way. Half the bottle is left---curious to see what it is like 48 hours later.

Quevedo takes a more “Portuguese” take on tawnies. A bit more fruit forward and less that nuttiness that you get in “non-Portuguese” tawnies.