For The Love Of Port

I opened a CellarTracker account many many years ago but never did anything with it. Now that I'm starting a VP collection I understand it's value. If anyone is willing/interested in connecting there, I'm curious to see other port collections. I also understand if people would prefer to keep their collection private.

I am "scottesterly" on CellarTracker.

Another thing re: CellarTracker: I connected "For The Love Of Port" to CellarTracker and having the tasting notes and ratings pop up are just a fantastic resource. I absolutely love that.

One other piece of information I'm curious about...how long have people been collecting port? Everything in my 51 bottle wine fridge has been purchased in 2022, so I really am just starting out.

Scott Esterly wrote: ↑Sun Sep 04, 2022 3:06 pm One other piece of information I'm curious about...how long have people been collecting port? Everything in my 51 bottle wine fridge has been purchased in 2022, so I really am just starting out.

I first tasted Port in 2004 when I was given a half bottle of Porto Rocha 20 Year Old by a friend. 3 Years later during our 20th anniversary vacation, my wife and I visited Portugal and loved it. (We went back again in 2008 with my parents.) I found this forum in January of 2008, started doing tastings, and as they say the rest is history.

I, too, started with a small wine fridge thinking it would be sufficient.

(Narrator: it was not sufficient.)

I now have that original Danby 56 plus 3 full-size fridges, plus a 200-bottle wine rack. And even with all of that, there are around 8-10 cases just sitting on the floor in the study where the 3 full-size fridges are.

It is, as they say, a slippery slope...

Yup - I predict my 51 bottle fridge is maxed out by New Year's Eve haha. One thing working in my favor on the storage-front is that I buy a lot of 375ml bottles so they take up less space.

It's a blessing and curse that my wife doesn't really drink port. I can save money by going the 375ml route, but it would be more fun to share the experience.

I love the Pro reviews feature on CellarTracker - I connected a few I pay for including "For the love of port" one! Thank you, all!

Great app experience overall - web access is feature rich and powerful, mobile app (I use Android) is great as well though a bit clunky for more advanced or complex 'user journeys'.

What I think it lacks is a more granular (or just better/smarter) privacy control features. If you want to share your cellar with a friend, you share it with all friends, and when you share your cellar, you also share information about your purchases and consumption history. I'm not sure most people are comfortable to control these sharing preferences with one umbrella settings like this. And I'm still figuring out if the 'fan' feature can be of any use to me.

I think there is a great potential in the social aspect of the app, and the owners could consider building more social features. Building communities, interest groups, etc. However, I already love the way it is - it has become my trusty sword to manage my cellar. Social needs come second. :)

Truth be told, the founder of CT is a long time friend of mine. In fact, Eric LeVine joined my tasting group, when CellarTracker was still being tested in its beta phase. We have been at one another's homes dozens of times in the past 2 decades since, and watched each other's kids grow up. His eldest, (son) and my daughter are just 2 months apart. Eric is a great guy and was a MSFT programmer prior to his passion for wine. One day, I will write about a fun wine dinner at my home, where I seated Eric next to Dirk Niepoort (unbeknownst to him at the time of the seating) in May 2003. But that's for another day!

I began drinking Port in 1983, so this will be my 40th year of Port consumption. I did not begin actually collecting it with any seriousness until 1987. Did not get to the Douro until 1994. Did not begin writing about Port until 1995 on "Thrive" which belonged to AOL at the time. Then my articles were written on Robin Garr's Winelover's Pages (Words About Port ... also Madeira back then) circa 1999-2003. Then FTLOP newsletters began in Feb. 2004 and this website of the same name, and Forum in July 2005. I did not begin to drink Madeira until the mid-1990's and it was rather inexpensive by comparison to today. Plus there were tons of old bottles from the 18th and 19th centuries at the time. They were quite reasonable until about 2005 or so.

Roy Hersh wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:20 am I did not begin to drink Madeira until the mid-1990's and it was rather inexpensive by comparison to today. Plus there were tons of old bottles from the 18th and 19th centuries at the time. They were quite reasonable until about 2005 or so.

Wow, no kidding! Even I remember much much lower prices on Madeira, and I probably wasn't even aware that Madeira existed until 2009 or 2010. I distinctly remember thinking that the D'Oliveiras 1875 Malvasia Family Reserve was too expensive (for me) back then... when it was $300/bottle. It's now more like $1500/bottle and that's if you can even find it! (RWC currently has 6 of them at that price.) I bought mine for $840 in, I think, 2016 just to give you an idea of the curve.

I am not a fan of Cellar Tracker or any inventory tools. Too much of a pain to check in and out. What I think I have for bottles is a much fancier than the reality. I do often say, "I have that?" when looking through the port section.

I thought I had '83 Ramos and for the life of me couldn't find any in the cellar over the summer. So I bought 6 bottles more and find out I had 6 bottles of it already.

Moses Botbol wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:26 pm I am not a fan of Cellar Tracker or any inventory tools

Certainly there is some fun in discovering things in your own cellar, and no model fits everyone. Personally I like having my inventory readily accessible when I'm drinking with some of my wine groups and we're trying to plan our next get-together.

I refer to my Cellar Tracker every time I’m in the store to see whether or not I already have a bottle of what’s available haha. Today I was at a store I’d never been to before and they had Warre 2017 VP and I just couldn’t remember if I already had one at home so I was glad to have my inventory handy.

Moses Botbol wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:26 pm I thought I had '83 Ramos and for the life of me couldn't find any in the cellar over the summer. So I bought 6 bottles more and find out I had 6 bottles of it already.

Oh darn. That's horrible. I will take 6 off your hands to help.

So when do you plan to open one of your 12 bottles of 1983 Ramos Pinto, Moses?

Roy Hersh wrote: ↑Thu Jan 04, 2024 7:55 pmSo when do you plan to open one of your 12 bottles of 1983 Ramos Pinto, Moses?

I had one a couple of months ago; great vintage. Pretty even between 80,83,85 with Ramos.

They've really fall off with representation on VP around here. Never see Ramos Pinto VP at store. Use to be the one you'd see for sure.

Moses,

Can you tell me from back labels on your bottle, who the importer was, and I can ask Jorge the head of RP, to see if that importer is still actively involved in bringing in their Ports anymore? He is the cousin of Ana Rosas that did a GREAT job in Port Personalities; In Focus ... in last month's newsletter.

Roy Hersh wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2024 11:39 am Moses,

Can you tell me from back labels on your bottle, who the importer was, and I can ask Jorge the head of RP, to see if that importer is still actively involved in bringing in their Ports anymore?

World Shippers in Philadelphia for the '83 & '85 and Maison something in CA for the 94's. I would've thought it was more local importer to me.

I bought the '83 and '85, retail at a B&M in Rhode Island.

Around the same time span that RP fell off the market locally, the same for Barros and Niepoort. Both were quite common. Occasionally we'll see a basic Niepoort dry wine like Twisted. Cabral and Calem have also disappeared from the store shelves.

I will do my best to find out the importer(s) on the E. coast and let you know!