Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[Glenn E.]

Hi Scott, welcome to FTLOP!

The "island" thing will resonate with a lot of people here. There are a couple of small clusters of Port fans (the Seattle metro area being one of them), but most of us are scattered all over the US with not too many other Port fans nearby.

Luckily, it's usually pretty easy to make new fans!

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Scott And welcome to the forum! Niepoort 20 is a wonderful tawny and hard to beat. Have no worries, like all of us here, you’re VP collection will very rapidly spawn children and you’ll wonder where they all came from

[Jim E]

Hello I am new here. In a nutshell I joined the forum after researching a bottle of port that I’ve had for many years. My research led me to For The Love of Port.

Can anybody give me an idea of how much my bottle of port is worth please. I am a novice.

It is:-

Graham’s Malvedos 1986 Vintage Port

Thanks, hope someone can oblige.

[Mike J. W.]

Hello I am new here. In a nutshell I joined the forum after researching a bottle of port that I’ve had for many years. My research led me to For The Love of Port.

Can anybody give me an idea of how much my bottle of port is worth please. I am a novice.

It is:-

Graham’s Malvedos 1986 Vintage Port

Thanks, hope someone can oblige.

Hi Jim. Welcome to the forum. The Graham's Malvedos 1986 is a very nice Port and it's drinking well right now. Unfortunately, it is not what I would call highly valuable. I've been able to find them at auction in good condition for less than $60. With that being said, some places will sell it for more than that, but normally under $100. It is getting harder to obtain, but it will never be valuable like say a 1963 Fonseca; but even there, you'll pay a little over $300 for that bottle. If you don't know about wine-searcher.com, you can look on there as that can give you an idea of retail pricing.

[Glenn E.]

Hi Jim,

Mike is correct - 1986 Malvedos is probably worth something in the $80 - $100 range. It can be found at auction for less than that, but then you have to pay buyer's premium too. It's a very nice Port.

Winesearcher is a good resource, but be careful reading prices from there. Those are retail prices, and a private sale will only very rarely get you close to those numbers. Another problem with winesearcher when trying to value rare bottles is that there are often merchants who list rare bottles a stupidly high prices just to attract attention, but those stupidly high prices are still included in winesearcher's average price. So generally the best way to price bottles via winesearcher is to scan the first page for the lowest consistent price... that's likely your best approximate retail value.

[Red Aaron]

Hi everyone. I'm Aaron.
Just getting into port a little more seriously. I forgot I liked it, and am rekindling my enjoyment. Putting together a little collection of things i can find around at local grocery and liquor stores. Probably the most interesting thing I have now is a 1970 Maynards Colheita bottled in 2021. If I might ask, what auction sites are you all using for buying bottles?

[Eric Menchen]

Hi everyone. I'm Aaron.
Just getting into port a little more seriously. I forgot I liked it, and am rekindling my enjoyment. Putting together a little collection of things i can find around at local grocery and liquor stores. Probably the most interesting thing I have now is a 1970 Maynards Colheita bottled in 2021. If I might ask, what auction sites are you all using for buying bottles?

Welcome Aaron. Finding 1970 Maynards Colheita at a local store puts you in a lucky neighborhood. That would be an interesting one to try.

As for auction sites, that's a big question and probably worthy of its own thread. My most recent buying has been at winebid.com. There you will find good pictures, reasonable service IMHO, and some o.k. prices, but some not so great. I used to buy a bunch from Acker, but their offerings have been more limited as of late, and I must say I put them near the bottom on bottle and provenance quality. But the prices are accordingly some of the lowest. Next up I've probably bought the most from Zachy's and Christies, maybe Spectrum ... then Chicago Wine Company, HDH ... and plenty others, but not lately. Besides bottle quality, other factors to keep in mind are buyer's premium, any storage costs, and shipping. I quit buying from Christies a while back because the shipping just seemed out of line.

[Red Aaron]

Hi everyone. I'm Aaron.
Just getting into port a little more seriously. I forgot I liked it, and am rekindling my enjoyment. Putting together a little collection of things i can find around at local grocery and liquor stores. Probably the most interesting thing I have now is a 1970 Maynards Colheita bottled in 2021. If I might ask, what auction sites are you all using for buying bottles?

Welcome Aaron. Finding 1970 Maynards Colheita at a local store puts you in a lucky neighborhood. That would be an interesting one to try.

As for auction sites, that's a big question and probably worthy of its own thread. My most recent buying has been at winebid.com. There you will find good pictures, reasonable service IMHO, and some o.k. prices, but some not so great. I used to buy a bunch from Acker, but their offerings have been more limited as of late, and I must say I put them near the bottom on bottle and provenance quality. But the prices are accordingly some of the lowest. Next up I've probably bought the most from Zachy's and Christies, maybe Spectrum ... then Chicago Wine Company, HDH ... and plenty others, but not lately. Besides bottle quality, other factors to keep in mind are buyer's premium, any storage costs, and shipping. I quit buying from Christies a while back because the shipping just seemed out of line.

Thank you for all of that information!
The Maynard's was found in Maryland at Tri-State Liquor. They didn't have much else of interest on the shelf, but that one was a surprise.
I think finding truly interesting stuff is going to be a challenge around here, but I'm willing to buy some fairly standard things, and also hold onto it. Maybe one day Port will become like Bourbon and bottle prices will rocket and we'll all be rich.

[Andy Velebil]

Welcome, Red!

[A.S. Demka]

Oops, I joined exactly seven years ago, and haven't properly introduced myself yet... My name is Alle de Muinck Keizer (68), we live in Kortenhoef, The Netherlands, and I collect and drink Port wines since 2010.
Four years ago, I called Roy with some questions about the PHT tours. It was our first contact, and our telephone conversation took almost 1,5 hours!
In 2021 my wife Marguérite and I were trown in the deep end when we joined the merged PHT 1 and 2 (covid!), a fantastic trip with great and experienced port lovers like Stuart, David, Eric and Glenn, who were happy to share their knowledge on Vintages and, more or less new to us, Colheitas. Thanks to Roy and Mario, Marguérite has developped great tasting capacities; I am still confused, be it at a higher level than before.
It's feels great to be part of the FTLOP community, we all have a mutual interest in Port and there is so much information/knowledge available (if you know where to search for it ).

By the way, is there a Dutch community of Port lovers within FTLOP? If not, I would be happy to (help to) regularly organize tastings in a informal setting. Sharing is half the fun!

[Andy Velebil]

Oops, I joined exactly seven years ago, and haven't properly introduced myself yet... My name is Alle de Muinck Keizer (68), we live in Kortenhoef, The Netherlands, and I collect and drink Port wines since 2010.
Four years ago, I called Roy with some questions about the PHT tours. It was our first contact, and our telephone conversation took almost 1,5 hours!
In 2021 my wife Marguérite and I were trown in the deep end when we joined the merged PHT 1 and 2 (covid!), a fantastic trip with great and experienced port lovers like Stuart, David, Eric and Glenn, who were happy to share their knowledge on Vintages and, more or less new to us, Colheitas. Thanks to Roy and Mario, Marguérite has developped great tasting capacities; I am still confused, be it at a higher level than before.
It's feels great to be part of the FTLOP community, we all have a mutual interest in Port and there is so much information/knowledge available (if you know where to search for it ).

By the way, is there a Dutch community of Port lovers within FTLOP? If not, I would be happy to (help to) regularly organize tastings in a informal setting. Sharing is half the fun!

Welcome (officially) to the Forum. Glad to have you!

[Mike J. W.]

By the way, is there a Dutch community of Port lovers within FTLOP? If not, I would be happy to (help to) regularly organize tastings in a informal setting. Sharing is half the fun!

Welcome to the forum Alle, although you've been here longer than I. If you go to the Board Index and then do a search for "Netherlands" I believe at least 3 different names pop up for your fellow countrymen.

[Glenn E.]

Hi Alle! I was great meeting you on the tour in 2021... I have very fond memories of that trip!

[Eric Menchen]

Welcome Alle
And as Mike said, there are at least a few other FTLOPers from the Netherlands that show up upon occasion. Years ago before I discovered Port I lived in the Netherlands myself for a just a little while, south of Utrect in Houten, and in Delft. At that time I learned to appreciate good beer compared to the mass market swill that was pretty much the only thing available in the United States.

[A.S. Demka]

Hi Alle! I was great meeting you on the tour in 2021... I have very fond memories of that trip!

Hello Glenn, so do we. I'll never forget your big smile in the Wine School, when you returned from a private lesson 'how to smell TCA'!

[A.S. Demka]

@ Mike and Andy

Thanks! I found 23 names in The Netherlands! Unfortunately there's a lot of dead wood here as only eight of them have been (more or less) active since 2021. I will contact them shortly to see whether there is sufficient interest to set up a tasting. Regards, Alle

[A.S. Demka]

@ Mike, Andy and Eric

Thanks! I found 23 names in The Netherlands! Unfortunately there's a lot of dead wood here as only eight of them have been (more or less) active since 2021. I will contact them shortly to see whether there is sufficient interest to set up a tasting. Regards, Alle

[A.S. Demka]

@ Mike, Andy and Eric

Thanks! I found 23 names in The Netherlands! Unfortunately there's a lot of dead wood here as only eight of them have been (more or less) active since 2021. I will contact them shortly to see whether there is sufficient interest to set up a tasting. Regards, Alle

[Andy Velebil]

@ Mike and Andy

Thanks! I found 23 names in The Netherlands! Unfortunately there's a lot of dead wood here as only eight of them have been (more or less) active since 2021. I will contact them shortly to see whether there is sufficient interest to set up a tasting. Regards, Alle

I’m site you’ll find a few to share some bottles with.

[Martin H]

Hi everyone, I am Martin from Tallinn, Estonia. I am relatively new to the Port world and started drinking (by a friends suggestion) port very occasionally some 6-7 years ago, starting from cheap Tawny's and Rose's, as Port is not well known or marketed in Estonia (also the selection is quite poor). About 3-4 years ago I started to read and research Port and drink it more often, moving to fine Tawny's and LBV's. Last year I travelled to Douro region, went to about 4 factory tours with tastings and now I am dreaming of living in Portugal (port wine + seafood + climate) :).

I get most of my port by ordering it from Portugal and besides a few 10 year old Tawny's and LBV's I also have a 2011 Kopke Colheita, Barao de Vilar 20 year Tawny and 2010 Dow's Quinta do Bomfim Vintage, which I hope are a bit higher in quality compared to my usual go-to bottles. I live in an apartment so I don't have a special cold cellar, only a ventilation room which is dark but around 20-24 degrees C depending on the season, so not a good place to hold any ports for longer period (feel free to comment on what happens to a Vintage in such an environment). Best ports I ever had was a 20 year old Tawny and a 1985 Niepoort Vintage. My goal is to try different ports and test with decanting, so I would develop a better palate and understanding of differences in taste.

I have been reading the forum and found loads of useful and interesting information about port wine and registered so I can ask some questions once in a while.