Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[Glenn E.]

Hi Dave, welcome to FTLOP!

[David L]

Hello All,

As I've now posted my first post here, I'd better introduce myself.

i've always liked Vintage Port, but until relatively recently I hadn't tried that many. Over the last few years I've been buying more Vintage Port (and some good Crusted and Late Bottled Vintage), and have been lucky enough to attend offlines here in London where I've tried many excellent Ports and equally importantly made many excellent friends. I'm pleased to say that I have begun to correct my inexcusable lack of Port error, and I am now most certainly hooked.

Dave

Hi Dave,
Welcome to the Forum! Have no fear this group and the Londoners will have you spending all your spare Pounds on Port in no time LOL.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you.

Ha ha. You're probably right!

[David L]

Hi Dave, welcome to FTLOP!

Thank you Glen. I confess to preferring red to the brown sticky stuff although I did have an opportunity to try a rather lovely 68 Noval Colheita. Hasn't turned me to the dark side yet though! :)

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Dave,


Welcome aboard!

No coincidence you are drawn to the red stuff and not the brown. For many years I only drank mostly older Vintage Ports, at least 20+ years old. It all changed in the late 1990's when I began really experimenting with Tawny Ports With An Indication Of Age, (TWAIOA) and also nice and acidic Colheitas. Nowadays, I will drink either one with passion and probably no longer have a strong preference; although if in great shape, I truly love great old Vintage Ports. It really shows the quality of the year and producer, whereas with Tawny, the wood-age and blending cut to the chase; with Colheitas it is like a mix of the two. But when you drink a 1970, today or if fortunate, something decades older ... you never forget the experience!

As for you enjoying drinking the red stuff, it is very common in the UK and has been a fairly standard practice for centuries. Our British friends here are the same way, yet behind closed doors, they too will drink the brown stuff. They just rarely boast about it online. They also love to tease their American friends about drinking their Vintage Ports too young.

Please do feel free to join in any conversations and you'll find a very mixed depth of experience here. All of the folks that now seem to have a great expertise, all started out asking a lot of questions and learning as they go, and you can see a lot of the fundamentals and novice questions that have been asked, since our beginning nearly 14.5 years ago. in our BASIC FORUM. But you can post anywhere here at any time. Thanks for joining us!

Roy

[Ivan P]

Hello everyone!
New face here! I've been reading a lot on this forum and finally decided to create an account. So glad I'm finally here!
I live in central Ohio. My relationship with port started when I was probably 15-16 - I got to try some cheap Ruby if I recall correctly.
Since then I was mostly drinking Ruby, Tawny and occasionally, Colheita until a few years back a friend of mine who knew that I loved port, gave me a gift of Taylor Fladgate 2011 Vintage port. It was around 2016 I believe, we didn't know better so we opened it and drank the whole thing. It was the best port we've ever had, it was certainly nothing like I have ever had before. Later, when I discovered this forum I realized that in the hindsight I should have probably aged that bottle another decade (or two).
Since then, I tried to educate myself on various types of port wines, etc. Coming to this site helped a lot but I still have a lot of questions! Don't even know where to start...
First off, do we have anyone else from Ohio here? It would be nice to meet some local port lovers and find out best places to buy port.

~Ivan

[Glenn E.]

Hi Ivan, welcome to FTLOP!



Your story is familiar, as I think that's how a lot of people get drawn into this little following of ours. A couple of entry level Ports spread out over some time, then that first encounter with something really nice that opens your mind to the possibilities. It's a slippery slope from here - be careful or you'll soon own multiple wine fridges and/or cellars!

[Andy Velebil]

Ivan,

Please ask away any question you may have!

[Scheiny S]

First off, do we have anyone else from Ohio here? It would be nice to meet some local port lovers and find out best places to buy port.

~Ivan

Hiya! I'm in Pittsburgh, PA. I don't know about buying in OH, but I think we have comparable retail prices. I think you have wider selection at the right stores.

Taylor 2011 was one of my first VPs, too. In 2017 I found it with 2011 Fonseca at a good price and got friends to split them. I actually asked on the forum here if I should, or would they be wasted on me because I'd drink them right away and my experience was only Reserves and a couple LBVs? Everyone encouraged me that having them then was better than not having them at all. I'm so glad they did! I haven't had any VPs since, but I look forward to more.

I might visit friends in Columbus or Cleveland in the next few months, can you make a trip for lunch or dinner and a bottle at a BYO place? Let me know if you'll be in Pittsburgh!

[Ivan P]

First off, do we have anyone else from Ohio here? It would be nice to meet some local port lovers and find out best places to buy port.

~Ivan

I might visit friends in Columbus or Cleveland in the next few months, can you make a trip for lunch or dinner and a bottle at a BYO place? Let me know if you'll be in Pittsburgh!

Yeah I think we can make it happen. If you end up coming to Columbus - let me know, it's closer for me than Cleveland...

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Ivan, nice to have you join us. Your questions are welcome here and I think you will find that we really enjoy helping newbies get started and providing as much solid info as possible to bring them up to speed.

"Scheiny" is a great example. She came here as a total novice and now has gained a lot of knowledge in recent years and her tasting experience continues to grow.

We will be happy to make suggestions and offer advice and we are a pretty open minded group of Port consumers, with a broad range of experience. Thanks for coming and we hope you will feel free to join us early and often!

By the way, congrats on trying a bottle of 2011 Taylor's Vintage Port. It is amazing and one of the top 10 of the Vintage. Most people with one bottle, would hold that for a few decades. But new to Port, having tried that ... you will always have a great story of your very first Vintage Port. For me, it was 1963 Sandeman VP in 1983 when it was 20 years old. I was hooked immediately and forever.



Roy

[Bram C]

Hi Guys,

I'm new here, but was already reading some of your posts about different topics.

I live in the Netherlands and have a small collection of mostly vintage ports.
Most of the vintages are from the younger years (from 1994 till now).
I have mostly recent vintages, because i'm only 30 years old.

[Eric Menchen]

Bram.
We all start out with small collections, or maybe just a bottle, then we go down that slippery slope.
I hope you find this a friendly group. I know there are a few other members from the Netherlands, and I myself lived there nearly 30 years ago, for a short time in Houten and Delft. Along with other cheese, I like to find just the right aged Gouda to go with a VP--the younger the Port, the older the cheese, so the intensity matches up.

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Bram,
Welcome to the Forum and thank you for the introduction! I look forward to your involvement on the Forum and have no worries we all started out small. I have no doubt your collection will grow, in both size and age, in due course. Please feel free to ask away any questions you may have, no how small you may think it is. We’re all here to help each other learn.

[Bram C]

Thank you guys for the warm welcome. It's right that you have to start somewhere with your collection, but i hope to find some more information overhere.

[Roy Hersh]

Ivan,

I just wanted to stop back here to say that we just had three guests from Ohio on our Port Harvest Tour 1. It was a great trip and they live (a couple) in Canton and another was from No. Royalton, which I gather is not far from Cleveland. If you would like, email me and I will let you know how to get in touch with them.

They've all been on two tours now and are pretty strong in their knowledge nowadays!

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Bram,

I was 26 when I began my Port journey and plenty of others here were even younger. We have quite a few people from your country that read here, but do not post. A couple do, but mostly on our FB page of the same name, (IG too!). I was over there a few years back and met up with six or seven of the FTLOP Port lovers in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem and other areas as well. Loads of fun and there's no shortage of Port lovers in your country to meet up with!

I am planning another visit in 2020, or at the very latest, 2021. I hope to have a chance to meet you then.

As Andy and others have said, please bring on the questions. No Port snobs here. In fact, you will find that this group really enjoys helping others to get further involved with Port.

Take good care!

Roy

[Nicholas S]

Hey all,

My name is Nicholas and while I've been lurking for a while, Roy has encouraged me to finally introduce myself. I just had my first drink of port early last year and it immediately led me down the rabbit hole of trying more, researching the drink and the producers, and building a small (not for long, I imagine) cellar.

My SO had mentioned that she once enjoyed a pour of 20 year tawny at a restaurant, so I picked her up a bottle of Taylor LBV as a treat one night. I had a taste and found it to be completely different from any wine I'd had previously. You see, I'm generally not a "wine guy", much to the chagrin of my two wino parents. My drink of choice is typically craft beer (IPA, barleywine, stout, lambics or other sour styles) or dram of Scotch (quite partial to Springbank). For those that know Springbank and the US beer scene, you'll understand that I support founder- or family-controlled businesses who believe tradition and innovation are not mutually exclusive when it comes to making a quality product. From what I've read so far, I feel the port industry pretty much epitomizes that ethos.

I am also hitting 4-0 this year and we are starting to research a few different destinations for a big international trip, with one option being Portugal. I look forward to reading through the travel section of the site to help in our decision.

Thanks for allowing me in your sandbox!

Cheers,
~Nicholas

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Nicholas,
Welcome to the Forum and thank you for the introduction. Glad you’ve found us! Please feel free to ask any question you may have. No question is too small so don’t worry. Look forward to hearing more from you.

[Glenn E.]

Hi Nicholas,

Welcome! We're happy that you've joined us. There is a lot of knowledge here, so don't be shy about asking questions!

[Olivier V]

Hello everyone!

I'm Olivier, I'm Belgian, and I've been a wine enthusiast for as long as I've been allowed to drink it - 22 years, soon... However, I was only knowledgeable about the famous vintages from our Southern neighbour, and my wife, who's from Georgia (the country in the Caucasus between Russia and Turkey, not the US state) introduced me to the rich wine culture of her country.
However, earlier this month, one of my business partners served me a bottle of port, and it was an instant hit! However, I don't know much about these wines - and I wasn't going to hassle the poor partner about them, either - and decided to learn more about that topic. A quick Google search gave me the address of that forum, and that's how I registered my account here!

I hope I'll soon be able to gather some actual knowledge about port, and that I'll soon be able to choose it by myself and add some of it to my future wine cellar, along with some Châteauneuf du Pape and Khvanchkara.