Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[Glenn E.]

Hi Albert, welcome!



I hope you'll find that we have a great community here with a lot of first-hand knowledge. Thanks for joining us!

[Julian T]

Hi Everyone

I am a Port newbie, 36 yo and resident in Singapore but who also spends a fair bit of time in Malaysia.

I was bitten badly by the VP bug in April during my first ever visit to Portugal, in the form of the 2011 Quinta do Sagrado. I have since been trying to build up a little collection of the recent classic vintages, especially 2011, 2007 and 2003. There is no real Port culture here and availability is very poor, so I have done all of my buying through Berry Bros' online auction service, where the offerings are limited mostly to younger vintages, major shippers and collectibles. My best buys so far have been a case each of 2007 Dow's magnums and 2011 Taylor's Vargellas Vinha Velha.

We have a specialist Port retailer here now called Colheitas, but as the name suggests, the bulk of its range is Colheitas and tawnies, not VPs. I hope it is a sign that things are improving in terms of a nascent Port culture, but I still can't find many (OK, any) people with whom to share a nice glass of VP, which is a shame.

I started lurking here only this week, and am so glad to have found this thriving community of Port lovers. I hope in time to be able to contribute something to the discussions.

[Eric Menchen]

to the forum Julian.

I think there might be another forum member from Singapore, and I think there is at least one from Hong Kong. Now I know you aren't in Hong Kong, but I mention that because it is also a potential source of wine for you that is closer than London. There are a good number of auctions there. I've even purchased from Hong Kong through a couple of auction houses. For me I wait for a consolidated shipment by the auction house from there to the US.

[Glenn E.]

Hi Julian, welcome!



As Eric said, I'm pretty sure we have at least one other member in Singapore, but off the top of my head I can't remember who it is. It's such a modern city, I'm surprised that there isn't a larger Port culture there! Maybe you can get it started? :)

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Julian and welcome to the Forum!

[Julian T]

Hi Eric, Glenn and Andy

Thanks very much for the warm welcome!

Eric, thanks for suggesting Hong Kong. Are your HK auctions run by US auction houses, by any chance? I've spoken to a couple of retailers in HK and they have told me they don't consolidate purchases for shipping to Singapore, and privately-organised airfreight is horrendously expensive.

Glenn, I wish I could! I think the weather here (hot and humid all year round) may have something to do with it, as well as the mark-ups imposed by importers and retailers. For example, the best price (wholesale) I can get here for a Sandeman Ruby is around 23 USD, so I get a bit envious reading about "cellar defenders" on the forum. But we all need to start somewhere...

[Eric Menchen]

Eric, thanks for suggesting Hong Kong. Are your HK auctions run by US auction houses, by any chance? I've spoken to a couple of retailers in HK and they have told me they don't consolidate purchases for shipping to Singapore, and privately-organised airfreight is horrendously expensive.

Yes, those are. Christie's, Zachy's, and Acker I think all do HK auctions, but will ship back to the US. Although Christie's isn't really a US auction house, but UK based with auctions all over the world. I had imagined that even if you shipped from HK it would be cheaper than London, but that was just my imagination, perhaps inspired by some logical thing like distance. Oh, and Christie's has always had high shipping rates in my experience compared to the others.

[Al B.]

Depending on the quantities you buy, you might even find it cheaper to buy in the UK (auction or from an in-bond retailer) and have one of the major courier companies (DHL / UPS/ FedEx) pick up and ship to Singapore at your cost. Cuts out the margin the auction house makes on the shipping costs.

[Henry Sterling]

Hello - just introducing myself.

I'm an occasional drinker of port but am now building up a cellar for the future. Thankfully a benefit of living in England is the relative ease of supply!

Cheers

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Julian,

Sorry it took me so long to say hello and you here!

I have known the owner of Colheita for several years and was in Portugal with him in June. Met his biz partner too. Both are really nice guys. Matthieu and Mark have deep passion and knowledge for Ports and as you know, educating a marketplace is not easy. However, I believe they will do a very good job in Singapore over the next few years in trying to mainstream some Portuguese table wines and Port. We shall see. Matthieu is a member of this site and if you want a direct introduction, please feel free to email or PM me.

By the way congratulations on your purchases of the mags from 2007 Dow's and the 750 ml bottles of 2011 Vargellas Vinha Velha. Two sound investments in future drinking pleasure.

Please feel free to ask questions and don't be afraid to be curious out loud here; as you will find, the community at FTLOP is very welcoming!

Sincerely,

Roy

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Henry,

Nice to meet you and we have lots of people from the UK that visit and post here too. There is also a very friendly UK-based place to visit and post and they do lots of tastings in London and other parts of England. It celebrated their 10th anniversary this year and it is called The Port Forum. I am certainly NOT trying to discourage your from posting here too, to the contrary, but in terms of having a Cheers Bar in your backyard, http://theportforum.com/ will also be a great place for you to visit.

We look forward to have you ask questions, comment, read our archives, tasting notes and learn along with the rest of us.

to FTLOP!

Sincerely,

Roy

[Romao Santos]

Hello all, first time poster

My name is Romão, I was born and raised around the Porto area and as of the last few months I've being working as a Tour Guide at the Calém Lodges.

I don't have a vast experience as a Port Wine drinker per se, although I'm greatly interested in the history of the whole thing and I'm looking forward in developing and further my knowledge as a Port Wine drinker and mostly, as a Port Wine adviser.

Since I work right the hub of the very thing that is purpose of this whole forum, I hope my presence here can contribute something to what seems to be a great community from what I've followed in the past and I'm grealy looking forward to learning from all you.

And hopefuly, get the meet some members when they visit the lodges in Gaia

Thank you

Romão

[Andy Velebil]

Romao
Welcome to the forum and glad to have you. Look forward to meeting you at some point when I head back over.


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[Eric Menchen]

Romão. I first visited the Calém lodge back in 2007. That was enjoyable, but I must say the tourist exhibit is very impressive now. I hope to meet you some time there or in Porto.

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Romão,

I was very interested to see the newly remodeled Calem Port lodge in Gaia and was really impressed. While some lodges are just plain boring or require participants to read a ton of info off placards on the wall, or independently listen to presentations with headphones, the interactivity of the Calem lodge and the sophisticated technologies employed are certainly worth the time and effort to visit.

The tasting we had was wonderful and the staff we had looking after us was first rate. I am sure we'll meet at some point in 2018, as I plan to revisit.

We are glad you have joined us and having a Port trade insider voice here, can be very helpful. We look forward to your participation!

Sincerely,

Roy

[C. Stockwell]

Hello everyone!

My name is Craig, and I'm from Rhode Island (USA). I'm a law student.

I started exploring wine earlier this year. Port stood out to me from other wines because of the history involved. Also, the "A Year in Port" documentary lays everything out in a fascinating, stunning, and neat manner. Once I tried some ruby port at a restaurant, port seized my interest. I've had Taylor 20 Year Tawny a few times, and I bought my first bottle of it today.

I also have an interest in Madeira, again due to the history of it. I've had Blandy's 5 Year Bual and also bought the RWC Boston Bual (which I will be trying shortly).

I will probably be sticking to buying bottles of tawny ports and blended Madeira for the next few years, but I would like to try vintages if I get the opportunity.

Thanks in advance!

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Craig and welcome to the forum. This band of awesome misfits will help you to spend plenty of time and money on ours, and it seems your, favorite beverages. LOL! Seriously, a great group of folks here and I hope you can meet up with some in your area to help you explore this fun hobby more. This group loves to share their knowledge and bottles.


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[Roy Hersh]

Hi Craig,

Rhode Island is great, I used to spend time in Narragannset and more so in Newport, as I was a major customer (for a huge restaurant in NYC) of Aquidneck Lobster Co.; not to mention visiting the mansions early and often.

Port is a perfect beverage for the area, considering how many fishermen of Portuguese descent, live in the area. I doubt they are buying the expensive Port, but who knows nowadays.

Check out LBV Ports and I think you will get a good idea of what Vintage Port is like, at 1/3 of the price.

Some day, you should join us on our Fortification Tour, which includes Port and Madeira in a one week intensive eat and drink fest!

to one of the most focused Port & Madeira sites on the web.

We have many beginners, intermediates and a bunch of folks that could actually write an interesting book on Port ... or at least a great article.

Thanks for saying hello!

Roy

[C. Stockwell]

Morning Andy and Roy!

I spend a lot of time in the eastern side of RI, which definitely has strong Lusophone influences. There's a lot of mainland Portuguese, Azorians, Cape Verdeans, and Brazilians in eastern RI and SE Mass. This does impact package stores, because they sell things like cachaça, Douro reds, Portuguese liqueurs, vinho verde, and of course, port and Madeira. Good restaurants in Providence and Newport carry ruby or tawny ports. TF 20 Year Tawny sells well, my go-to store usually sells six bottles a month or so. Not bad considering it's $50 a bottle and the other fortified wines sit on the shelves.

At least three vineyards in RI make a port-style wine: Newport Vineyards in Middletown, Nickle Creek in Foster, and Sakonnet Vineyards in Little Compton.

I'll give LBV a try, and I would love to go on the Tour in the future!

[rudy p]

Hi ! I’m rudy !
I’m 27 .i first tasted porto around 5 years ago in a chrismas prty, it was a ruby at 26 celcius and it tasted awful. Since then i forgot about port until last automn, my girlfriend is a traveling entousiast so for our first vacation together she tough about going to portugal , lisboa and the south shore, by chance we went to porto , the best week of my life, we were supposed to stay only 2 days but after visiting some port house i fell in love with it and convinced her to stay 2 more i never tough that vintage port would taste so amazing, each and every bottle taste sooo different, since then i bough like 15 bottles but since i live in canada i cant order online anywhere but from the gouvernment monopol, pretty expensive too.

I found out about the website by looking at some way to identify some bottle that i bough from someone, i cant find em online anywhere so i think i maybe bought water... anyway im happy to join your community , reading your tasting notes make me so hasty to pop my bottles !

Rudy
P.s. Sorry for my english, it’s not my main language.