For The Love Of Port

I have had a good year of tasting some brilliant young and old Ports from a wide variety of Port categories. I will finish the current newsletter and then go through my 2025 top picks of the year.

Please don't wait! You can start to consider your tasting notes and top Ports now. Although it is Christmas Eve, I hope you will all enjoy something special tonight. Merry Christmas to everyone here!

I look forward to read your single bottle or list of Best Ports you had at some point this year!

Top VP = 1934 Dow’s VP.

Young VP 2023 Noval Nacional
Old VP 1945 Croft
Wood aged, tough one. My top three are DR Muitos Vehlos (1885), DR 150 year old, and Taylor Kingsman.

Top VP: 1977 Taylor's. I've opened some duff bottles of this VP before, but this one was really singing.
Top TWAIOA: Quinta da Romaneira 40 y.o. Tawny (bottled 2022). I opened it for Xmas and it was fantastic.
Top Aged White: DR 30 y.o. White (bottled 2023). Any wood aged Port by DR is always a winner.
Top LBV: 1995 Andresen (Unfiltered and bottled 2001). I've had this twice and it's always been fantastic. It's the best LBV I've had to date.
Honorable Mention: Pocas 30 y.o. Tawny (bottled 2018). Pocas makes really good wood aged Ports and this is a great Port at a great price (under $65).

I will limit myself to one, because it stood out so much to me:
1963 Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port
Best VP I've ever tasted.

I always do lists for this and figure out the "threshold" once I've made the list. I'm guessing the wood-aged lists are all going to be cut off at 97 this year - it was a very good year!

TWAIOA
100 - DR Barrel No. 150 V. V. Old Tawny (cask sample)
99 - DR L70 (cask sample)
98 - DR L70 (2017)
97 - Quinta de Brunheda T6a (2025)
97 - DR 50 Year Old Tawny (cask sample)
97 - Quinta do Mourao "60" (2017 - FTLOP buying op)
96 - Quinta de Brunheda T100 (2025)
96 - Quinta do Noval 40 Year Old (b. date unknown)
96 - DR 40 Year Old (2021)

I had to let the TWAIOA extend down to 96 points or I wouldn't have had any properly bottled examples on the list!

Colheita
100 - 1900 Andresen (b. same day)
100 - 1906 Quinta de Brunheda (2025)
99 - 1885 DR (cask sample, cask #1)
99 - 1885 DR (2023)
98 - 1937 Kopke (2025)
97 - 1941 Kopke (2025)
97 - 1941 Kopke (2025) yes, again, different bottle different day

White
98 - Quinta de Brunheda V. V. Old White Port (2025)
98 - DR 90th Anniversary Porto Branco (cask sample)
97 - DR Very Old White (2021)
97 - DR 50 Year Old White (cask sample)
97 - Quinta do Mourao "60" white (2017)

Vintage Port
98 - 1994 Taylor
97 - 1970 Graham
97 - 1945 Graham

Other
97 - Alambre 40 Year Old Moscatel de Setubal


The 1906 Brunheda Colheita is the first time I've ever given a Port a second 100 point score. In all other instances, later tastings just haven't had the same impact and so have reached no higher than 99. I have a pretty concrete definition of what it takes to get 100 points, and once I've tasted a Port that definition is just very difficult to meet again. This 1906 did it.

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Tue Feb 03, 2026 12:33 pm Colheita
100 - 1900 Andresen (b. same day)
100 - 1906 Quinta de Brunheda (2025)
99 - 1885 DR (cask sample, cask #1)
99 - 1885 DR (2023)
98 - 1937 Kopke (2025)
97 - 1941 Kopke (2025)
97 - 1941 Kopke (2025) yes, again, different bottle different day

Out of interest, what score did you give the Graham 1940 Colheita sample that you had on day 3 of the FTLOP Anniversary tasting?

Al B. wrote: ↑Tue Feb 17, 2026 12:43 pm

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Tue Feb 03, 2026 12:33 pm Colheita
100 - 1900 Andresen (b. same day)
100 - 1906 Quinta de Brunheda (2025)
99 - 1885 DR (cask sample, cask #1)
99 - 1885 DR (2023)
98 - 1937 Kopke (2025)
97 - 1941 Kopke (2025)
97 - 1941 Kopke (2025) yes, again, different bottle different day

Out of interest, what score did you give the Graham 1940 Colheita sample that you had on day 3 of the FTLOP Anniversary tasting?

95 points. Was that after we were done? If so, it may have been hurt by following the 97-point Mourao "60", the 98-point DR L70, and the 99-point DR 1885 that closed out that session.

Still, it was in good company. 2 Brunhedas also received 95 points that day - a Tonel #3 and a 70T.

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Tue Feb 17, 2026 4:25 pm

Al B. wrote: ↑Tue Feb 17, 2026 12:43 pm

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Tue Feb 03, 2026 12:33 pm Colheita
100 - 1900 Andresen (b. same day)
100 - 1906 Quinta de Brunheda (2025)
99 - 1885 DR (cask sample, cask #1)
99 - 1885 DR (2023)
98 - 1937 Kopke (2025)
97 - 1941 Kopke (2025)
97 - 1941 Kopke (2025) yes, again, different bottle different day

Out of interest, what score did you give the Graham 1940 Colheita sample that you had on day 3 of the FTLOP Anniversary tasting?

95 points. Was that after we were done? If so, it may have been hurt by following the 97-point Mourao "60", the 98-point DR L70, and the 99-point DR 1885 that closed out that session.

Still, it was in good company. 2 Brunhedas also received 95 points that day - a Tonel #3 and a 70T.

I scored it 97 points. For me to score it 2 points higher than you - and it's a brown sticky thing - suggests you might have had a little palate fatigue.

By comparison, I score the thoroughly delicious Quevedo 40YO (2022 bottling) at 94, occasionally 95, points. For me, the Graham 1940 is a tier above the Quevedo 40YO.

I'm going to follow Glenn's lead and do this by category, but since I am much meaner with my points that he is, my lists are a little shorter.

Tawny

• Graham 80YO Tawny (99, 98)
• Barros Tawny 102 Special Edition (98)
• DR L70 (98)
• DR Roncão (98)

Colheita

• 1972 Quevedo Colheita (99)
• 1952 Graham Single Harvest Tawny (98)

Vintage Ports

• 1994 Taylor (99 - OMG!)
• 1950 Cockburn (Raby Castle stock) (98)
• 1945 Graham (98)
• 1948 Graham (98)
• Graham Stone Terraces 2021 (98)
• Quinta do Noval 2011 (98)
• Niepoort Bioma 2011 (98)
• 1912 Taylor (98)
• 1935 Taylor (98)

The best White Ports I tasted last year I scored at 96 points so didn't make the cut for 2025.