What have you opened this week?

[Martin H]

Graham's LBV 2018

[Al B.]

The best 1985 VP?

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Inspired by a friend’s recent experience with this Port, I opened one yesterday. It’s finally starting to mature. It’s damn delicious!

[Moses Botbol]

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Inspired by a friend’s recent experience with this Port, I opened one yesterday. It’s finally starting to mature. It’s damn delicious!

Seems in an awkward phase for me. I didn't dig the last bottle (few months ago) as much as I had in years past. Hardly writing this off, but not anxious to try another one this year. Still the king of the vintage.

[Mike J. W.]

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Inspired by a friend’s recent experience with this Port, I opened one yesterday. It’s finally starting to mature. It’s damn delicious!

I don't think anything from '85 even comes close.

[Tom Archer]

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Inspired by a friend’s recent experience with this Port, I opened one yesterday. It’s finally starting to mature. It’s damn delicious!

I don't think anything from '85 even comes close.

As it approaches its fortieth, the 85 vintage is starting to come round very nicely. I had a really excellent Dow back in November, and a Croft, which I've never had a good word for in the past, put in a fair performance just before Xmas.

[Glenn E.]

Inspired by a friend’s recent experience with this Port, I opened one yesterday. It’s finally starting to mature. It’s damn delicious!

Yes they're starting to round out nicely at nearly 40 years old.

I do still see some bottle variation, which I suspect is what Moses is seeing. Some bottles are still a bit awkward and not quite resolved, while others are pretty glorious. I even still get the occasional bottle that's a young brute, though those are getting much more rare.

I do like the 1985 Graham almost as much, but lately as the Fonseca has started to roll into maturity I've settled on it being the better of the 2. It seems like it is almost certainly going to last longer.

Those 2 plus the 1987 Vargellas are my top 3 of the entire decade. The next group of 4-5 are still great Ports, but there's a noticeable gap between the two groups at least for me.

[Mike J. W.]

Quinta da Pacheca 20 y.o. Tawny (bottled 2016). One of the best 20 y.o.'s out there IMHO.

[Al B.]

Inspired by a friend’s recent experience with this Port, I opened one yesterday. It’s finally starting to mature. It’s damn delicious!

Yes they're starting to round out nicely at nearly 40 years old.

I do still see some bottle variation, which I suspect is what Moses is seeing. Some bottles are still a bit awkward and not quite resolved, while others are pretty glorious. I even still get the occasional bottle that's a young brute, though those are getting much more rare.

I do like the 1985 Graham almost as much, but lately as the Fonseca has started to roll into maturity I've settled on it being the better of the 2. It seems like it is almost certainly going to last longer.

Those 2 plus the 1987 Vargellas are my top 3 of the entire decade. The next group of 4-5 are still great Ports, but there's a noticeable gap between the two groups at least for me.

I agree that there’s a significant amount of bottle variation, but I am thoroughly liking the way the wine is developing.

Moses - you’ll have to travel to the UK so we can share one of our bottles with you!

I opened a bottle of Sandeman 2007 LBV today. Wow! Sandeman were making astonishingly good LBVs since Luís Sottomayor took over.

[Mike J. W.]

Ramos Pinto Bom Retiro 20 y.o. Tawny (bottled 2021). Very smooth.

[Tom Archer]

I agree that there’s a significant amount of bottle variation

Portugal was a desperately poor country in the immediate aftermath of the revolution, and in the years that followed there was little investment and renewal and a lot of cost cutting, which took its toll on quality and consistancy.

Things then looked up, although one well known port winemaker has described the 90s to me as 'a decade of excessive experimentation'. That said, most VP from that decade seems to be aging pretty well.

[Moses Botbol]

I don't think anything from '85 even comes close.

Grahams, Ferreira, Gould Campbell, and Ramos Pinto are pretty consistent and top notch. Niepoort is great when it's a good bottle.

[Mike J. W.]

I don't think anything from '85 even comes close.

Grahams, Ferreira, Gould Campbell, and Ramos Pinto are pretty consistent and top notch. Niepoort is great when it's a good bottle.

All good, but I still believe the '85 Fonseca is markedly better than all of those. Next best would be Graham's but it's still not close to the Fonseca.

[Eric Menchen]

2007 Quinta do Noval Silval
Took this up to the mountains for some time off with friends. Didn't take any notes, but definitely a great QPR at $26. (Purchased ~10 years ago as I recall.)

[Thomas V]

24 is off to a good start

1960 Cockburn's VP last week
1983 Wiese & Krohn colheita today
2018 Dow's Bomfim on Sunday for some NFL action with my Irish neighbor

[Andy Velebil]

2009 Niepoort Colheita
1986 Dow's Quinta do Bomfim VP

[Glenn E.]

DR 40 Year Old Tawny Port. Which is also a wine, technically.

[Bert VD]

Yes they're starting to round out nicely at nearly 40 years old.

i'm from '85 like those ports and your description fits me too

[A.S. Demka]

S. Leonardo 20 Year Old White Port, 2020 bottling, sitting by the fire place, and my wife preparing diner in the kitchen. Yes, life can be great!

PS we share the bottle

[Lindsay E.]

I opened a Graham's "Six Grapes" ruby reserve that I purchased back in 2019. It was more delicious and enjoyable than it has a right to be based on its price point. This was definitely more enjoyable on pop 'n pour than the Smith Woodhouse 2004 unfiltered LBV that I opened last week...at least on day one. By day three the softer, more plump attack and palate of the 2004 picked up a lot of complexity that elevated it. But if you want something that is luscious right on pop 'n pour, then the Graham's Six Grapes is it! This was even better on pop than the Graham's Six Grapes River Quintas edition. However the River Quintas editions got better and better with each day open.

[Al B.]

I opened a Graham Crusted, bottled 2000 for a Port-experienced friend, who was so impressed by the elegant fruit and powerful acidity - like drinking a pumped up version of Graham 6 Grapes.

That was followed by a bottle of Adams 1963, very tawny and simply sublime.