For The Love Of Port

hey roy,
i think i've got a great suggestion for your next question for the port trade/port makers in your newsletter.
one of the topics that ALWAYS seems to stir the pot, and elicits varying opinions, is how long to decant certain vintages/producers. why not ask the experts, the people who taste all of their vintages, all of the time, what they think the optimum decanting time is for all their past vintages. they are the ones who are constantly tasting their 50's, 60's 70's and 80's on a more consistent basis than any of us.
i've had a 70 taylor that was decanted for 7 hours and was just beginning to open up when we consumed the last drop. i've had a 70's graham that was perfect after 7 hours, but lost steam after 8-9 hours.
would love to know what the various producers would say about this

Dave,

Having attended Roy's Harvest trip in October 06 I was surprised to find that the majority of the VP we tasted was not decanted at all - at most of the tastings we witnessed the host removing the corks and then pouring straight from the bottle. I do not know if this is typical or just the done thing for tasting events on the Quinta's.

Perhaps your question would give us the answer to this.

Derek

Well so far, just another 2 ppl have responded this month. Arggghhhh!


But I like this question and will use it for April's question.

baby steps, baby steps after all, even 6 months ago there was no involvement. Now we even got an active member from the Port Trade posting

roy,
2 responses are better than one or none. derek pointed out that all port was decorked and poured on your visit. now that seems impossible, as EVERYONE here believes decanting is essential.
my friend, whos been collecting and consuming for years, just learned to decant his vp(just in time to enjoy his perfect 48 taylor i might add, 5 hours in decanter and was near liquid heaven.
glad you'll beb vusing the question for april!!

most of the Ports were pop and pour but we had some that were decanted ahead of time, but that was mostly before Derek got to join us. I don't think that there is anyone here who would agree that decanting does not improve drinking enjoyment of the Port. It is very simple. Take two bottles side by side. Open one 5-20 hours in advance and then pop and pour the 2nd one in glasses next to one another and compare and contrast the two samples. To me, it is a no-brainer.

i still think it would be cool to get the actual vintners input into optimum drinking conditions for all their back vintages, any little tips they could pass along, ie: double decanting, certain decanters working better, just insight into their product, their experience with nuances, characteristics of their plder wines. after all, we are all looking for the perfect pour(t)!!

I have been giving the "pop 'n' pour" method we encountered in the Douro some more thought. Given that the wines the group tasted in VNG were decanted ahead of time I wonder if the PnP method is really just a consequence of holding tastings in the Douro?

Anyone who has been there will know how inaccessible some of the Quinta's are. Perhaps our hosts were reluctant to pop the corks until we we had arrived? I am sure there will have been many occassions when visitors simply do not make it to their intended destination. I know this has happened to Fred (who knows the Douro fairly well) so I am sure it has happened to others.

I suppose the only way to find out is to ask the Quinta owners the question and hope that mre than 2 of them respond

Derek

Interesting question. But may I add, even at pop and pour, they were still great bottles that no one turned down

Andy,

A very good point - I was certainly not suggesting that this approach was bad or detracted from the events we shared in October, just that it seemed odd given the universal belief that VP should be decanted well ahead of drinking.

That said, there were quite a few classic wines we had that I would love to taste again after 4 to 8 hours decanter time 8)

Derek

I agree, that '70 Niepoort Colheita needed lots of air.

Roy

I apologize for not responding earlier to this post. I greatly enjoyed the answers to the last question in the newsletter. Hearing answers from the source is a wonderful thing!

I am also curious about the decanting time question. I also felt that the wines we had on the last FTLOP trip sometimes might have been even better than they already were (which in most cases was pretty darn good) with some added decanting time. I also recognize that we were late to a few tastings and, given the winding roads, think that this may often be the case and might lead to these decisions?

Anyways, another question for the trade: Why not label "ex cellars" bottles with a "release" dates from VNG (or the Douro if that’s the case). I can think of numerous advantages, and many wine sellers in the US will add their own label to this effect when it is (hopefully) the case. In my experience this is sometimes done with Bordeaux and Sauternes in particular. If you have trust in your retailer, this can be a significant selling point.

Jay

Ok, instead of just the bulk email to the entire trade, I've now sent six emails to specific members of the trade that I am close with. I am in Florida at a Starbuck's Coffee joint and they provide access that you have to pay for in order to get your email. Anyway, the good news is that three more people have now responded and we'll have at least 5 members of the Port trade in this month's newsletter. Progress is happening.

I will be checking this every day or two while I am down here.

Good to see that everyone is still having fun. I am working on the newsletter at night and beach with my family by day. Madeira gig in DC was better than expected and the wines were ... well, sensational! I am waiting for the real wine gig this coming weekend and Mr. Allistair Robertson will be here to do verticals of Taylor and Fonseca back about 8 decades each. That is just the first night. Crazy. I am slowly building up my tolerance but a bottle of Madeira pp and lots of old Barolo and Amarone was a good warm up.

I had my first coffee of 2007 (large iced Frappucino) an hour ago and I am flying.

Now to answer emails. Take care FTLOPers!

Roy