Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[Andy Velebil]

Hi Olivier, welcome to the forum and thanks for the introduction.

[Eric Menchen]

Welcome Oliver
I hope you find this to be a friendly and helpful place. As I recall, there are at least a few people from Belgium on the forum, and a few close by in the Netherlands.

[Olivier V]

Thanks for your messages! I've noticed a few Belgians on the forums, yes... And are there some French people too, or haven't they learnt yet that there are interesting wines outside of their country?

[Jason H]

Hi Everyone,

I have been following FTLOP for many years and have decided to sign up. I am from Massachusetts (not too far from Moses B.) and lucky enough to be married to a Portuguese woman and was introduced to port by her family. I like to joke that i have "converted" to Portuguese because there is something religious about the wine and food culture. Luckily we get to travel to Portugal often as we have have a property about 20 minutes north of Porto. I envision a great deal of time there when I am fortunate enough to retire.

I have built a small cellar of port consisting mostly of VP but love to drink all kinds of port. Thank you to all for your contributions, I especially love reading about tasting experiences and notes.

Cheers!

[Glenn E.]

Hi Jason, welcome to FTLOP!

[Andy Velebil]

Welcome to the forum, Jason!

[Mike J. W.]

Welcome Jason. It's a great forum. I've definitely learned a lot since I joined.

[D Lapassion]

Hello everyone !
My name is Denis Lapassion and I live in Nancy ( East of France).
Sorry for my English but I am using a translator. I have run a wine club for 30 years. I know French wines well but I appreciate Port more and more. My budget does not allow me to buy vintages so I mainly look for the ruby reserva (I'm looking for reviews and tips in this category), lbv and crusted. I went through all the messages on the forum but I still have questions and I hope the ftlop members can give me answers. Thanks in advance to all. posting.php?mode=reply&f=7&t=4756#

[Andy Velebil]

Hello everyone !
My name is Denis Lapassion and I live in Nancy ( East of France).
Sorry for my English but I am using a translator. I have run a wine club for 30 years. I know French wines well but I appreciate Port more and more. My budget does not allow me to buy vintages so I mainly look for the ruby reserva (I'm looking for reviews and tips in this category), lbv and crusted. I went through all the messages on the forum but I still have questions and I hope the ftlop members can give me answers. Thanks in advance to all. posting.php?mode=reply&f=7&t=4756#

Hi Denis,
Welcome to FTLOP Thanks for the introduction. Please ask away any questions you may have.

[WJ Evans]

Hi Everyone, I guess I should introduce myself.

I've been subscribed to the newsletter and such for several years, but didn't post for the first time until a few days ago.

I've been a wine and port drinker for a couple decades. Initially, I would simply drink Tawney port, but then started to sometimes, at restaurants or home, drink aged Tawney, and more recently started to collect vintage ports.

The primary transition to starting to collect vintage port was getting a wine cellar. When I built a new home in 2014/2015, I decided to add a wine cellar, which is about 1100-1300 bottles of racking (depending on 750-375 mix, etc.), and some additional floor space for stacking Weinbox, which I'll probably use for most of my Vintage Port 375s, and figure I can get another 300-400 375s.

I also have offsite storage (MO) for receiving orders that I couldn't otherwise receive, and am leaving some there to supplement my home cellar.

Like probably many people new to wines, I initially gravitated to sweeter wines, including dessert wines. Back in the day we used to always pickup a few bottles of Deco Chocolate Port, anytime we were in a Little Rock wine shop, along with other dessert wines and Tawneys.

As my taste in wines changes over the last two decades, so has my taste in port. I still love Tawney port, and have recently found I really like LBVs (tried for the first time a few months ago) and think are a great value/taste combo, but where I used to only like white wines, now I find myself quite often going to a red, even if it's just to sit and drink a glass away from a meal. Similarly, my taste in port has evolved.

On the vintage front, I started to collect them in 2015 before my house/cellar was completed, and had them held at a wineshop in MO that I frequently use. Since then, I've back filled a few vintages that are still fairly available and put a pretty good slug of 2016's, which is the first good release that I could buy upon release, since I'm new to collecting port.

Other than that, I'm just learning. Both with wine and port, I've been drinking ready to drink stuff for decades, and in the past used wine fridges to simply allow me to have a nice variety on hand, since the closest decent wine shop is nearly 2 hours away. My current cellar is a mix of wines I plan to hold for 5-10+ years, and simply the convenience of a nice variety of ready to drink wines that should hole for a few years as I rotate through them.

So, when it comes to collecting wines in general, and knowing what we will like years from now, what will age well, etc., we are still learning.

Billy

[Eric Menchen]

Welcome Billy, and happy collecting to you! I see you've asked some questions elsewhere on the board, so I'll see you around there.

[Andy Velebil]

Welcome to the Forum Billy! Ask away

[Nick Mc]

Hello,

I'm in the Milwaukee, WI area and pretty new to Port. I'm mostly a spirits and beer drinker, but have been drinking port for the last ~10 years or so. Mainly sticking to TWAIOA and a few Colheitas. Lately I've been trying to build a VP collection and started with a half case each of 2016 Croft and 2017 Fonseca.

I'd welcome any advice on where to head next. I'm trying to get a good mix of drinking windows. My personal vintages all seem to be garbage (born in '84, graduated high school in '02...) but there are a few that could be interesting (married in '07, kids in '08 and '09).

Would like to pick up a bottle or two of '55 (dad's birth year)...

-Nick

[Eric Menchen]

Welcome Nick.

A 1955 VP would certainly be a treat. I've tasted a few over the years and enjoyed them very much. Those 2016 and 2017 bottles will certainly be great someday, and you might enjoy them sooner as well. As for where to head next ... If you want some things to drink sooner, I think you still might be able to find 1985 Fonseca for a reasonable price. I really enjoy 1970 VPs now, but what's available may or may not be in good shape. That's also true for 1977, 1980 (I love Warre's and Dow), and 1983. I would also suggest looking for 1994 as well, but the big names have gone up a lot in price since I bought those 10 or so years ago.

[Andy Velebil]

Nick, welcome!

What Eric said. And I’d suggest try as many different producers as you can to sort out which style you like more and focus on those to start. Then back fill with some others as time progresses. But don’t wait too long on younger vintages. There’s not nearly as much released now as they’re used to be so in time it will be harder and more expensive to back fill the newer VP’s.

[John Pluta]

Hello I'm John from NJ. Very nice to see a site dedicated to Port and Madeira. I have a few bottles of Madeira downstairs. They are from 1954 and I bought them because of my birthdate. Another one of wine's little ironies vintage years. It turns out 1954 was a year of rain and bad weather for all wines. However Madeira did declare a vintage that year. Another irony is my wife's birthday, 1955, a year of almost universal good vintages.

[Glenn E.]

Hi John, welcome to FTLOP!

Yep, that's the eternal quest - finding Port from significant years! My birth year is bad for Port, but my graduation and Anniversary are both good years (though the latter wasn't declared because that would have made 4 in one decade).

[Andy Velebil]

John, welcome to the Forum!

[Scott Esterly]

Hello everyone. Just found this forum today. I'm relatively new to port wine (had my first tawny probably 6 years ago and fell in love). I'm just starting a VP collection. I live outside Cleveland, Ohio. I'm 37 years old. At times it feels like I'm on an island all by myself because nobody I know enjoys or knows about port wine haha.

My VP collection is off to a great start, I have about 30 bottles (a few duplicates in there but mostly one-off's). Sourcing them is difficult (most stores near me have a smattering of tawnys and LBV but never much else) so I have relied on online stores mostly.

So far the three highlights of my port-obsession have been

-Visiting Porto and the Douro in 2018 (I can't wait to go back)
-The Niepoort 20 year tawny (purchased earlier this year - absolute heaven)
-Adding a couple bottles of 2019 VP to my collection (my son's birth year)

My birthday is coming up next month so I'm planning to open a special bottle or two from my collection around then. Will be sure to post about it.

Scott

[John M.]

Hi Scott!!

I really get the "island" thing. My recco would be to chat it up amongst your friends and you might find a few who'd want to do a tasting. I started a Port Club years ago which was amazing for getting to taste a lot of things. Even a modest club can reap great benefits.

You are not too far from PA, and while PA has an arcane liquor system with State Stores, they oddly tend to have a wide and varied Port selection.

https://www.finewineandgoodspirits.com/ ... :&pageSize:&

And Welcome to FTLOP!