For The Love Of Port

Roy, I brought an absolutely pristine British bottling of 1966 Fonseca to Laurent Drogin's house on Sunday. As far as post 1963 "mature" Ports go, this could be my all-time favorite. Absolutely stunning. As balanced as Port gets. What an amazing vintage. If anyone knows where to get any 19...

DavidG wrote: I need to start buying more older vintages to drink and not just the young ones to collect, ones that will stay in slumber for so long.

Have you seen my Bordeaux for Port trade proposal on this board? Much of them are either mature or approaching maturity.

Paul

"Amen" to point (ii) that Alex makes in his post. The value-to-satisfaction ratio of Bordeaux relative to VP's has already rapidly declined for me as well. You both make a really good point in regard to Bordeaux being low in value. With the falling US dollar and more competition from Indi...

Roy, No, unfortunately I didn't get one response. I guess people are hanging on to their Bordeaux these days. I do have an offer from elsewhere for a bottle of 1982 Petrus for an assortment of Ports from that list. I may take the guy up on that but a single bottle of that value is not what I was loo...

Re: 1997 Niepoort: I had bottles that literally dripped onto the floor (and other bottles). Also, not only did a few .750s leak but one or two of my .375s leaked also. Maybe ask Dirk about this also. All my leakers were consumed with no noticable flaws (actually they were extraordinary!). Paul Roy,...

Hey Nick,

Thanks so much for the explanation. I know very little of that. It is precisiely for reasons such as this that I find wine boards interesting...and the lack thereof the reason I have left (ahem) other boards.

Paul

davidpg wrote: I'm considering adding to my cellar rigt now and have the following available and consider interesting:

Warres VP 2000 (375ml), $35.50

Any particularly good values there?

Premier Cru had a sale on this, this weekend. $29.99 a bottle. For a full .750!

I just checked the link and the item was removed. It doesn't say why, but maybe someone emailed the seller and told him there IS A DIFFERENCE between LBV and VP I didn't see the item, it had already been removed. However, if they were selling alcohol that is against ebay rules. I used to sell wine ...

So maybe 1500-2500 would be optimum Tom A quick check of my cellar inventory program says I have 756 bottles of Port which takes up about a 1/5 of my cellar. My wife is a heavy duty Port fan but if I tell her we need to at least double the amount of Port we own she will most likely start a bottle o...

I notice that PC is selling the 77 Taylor for $90, but they're leakers. I wouldn't buy them, would you? I can't attest to PCs leakers but I bought a case of 77 Taylor at auction about 5 years ago and they were all, every single one, outstanding. I was sure to mark them from where they came from and...

Wow Roy, that was an extremely nice thing to do and say. Thanks a lot. I do take provenance very, very seriously. p.s. to my post above...If there is any Port not listed above that you are looking for, please let me know. I have a fair amount of 1966s, 1963s and 1955s. You can contact me here or at ...

Hi all, I have over 60 cases of Port and my mature Bordeaux is dwindling rapidly. I would like to trade some of the Ports I have in larger quantities for any of the mature Bordeaux I have listed below. However, I am interested in any good Bordeaux from the 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1989 or 1990 vintag...

It's one hell of a list once you start putting it together. I was surprised by how many truly great Ports there are....and I have been lucky enough to try. Most of the pre 1963 wines I have had with you, Roy. Remember the 1912 Niepoort Colheita? The 1900 Taylor? Pre 1963 1900 Taylor 1912 Taylor 1912...

Roy, I hope you don't mind, but can we quailfy the responses here? Many people have not had the pre 1963/1955 Ports and anything post 1985 is not mature enough for drinking yet IMNSHO. Can we get about five responses pre 1963, five 1963-1985 and five post 1985 to present? I have to run now, but I'll...

I drink a lot of Port but I can happily say that I haven't had more than 5 or 6 profoundly corked Port's in my life. Of those 5 or 6 corked bottles, 3 were 1977 Dow's.

A friend recently told me that 1977 Dow's has a history of corked bottles, is this true? It sure seems the case to me.

Roy, But that wouldn't explain why they continued to leak, right? Once the cork was put in and some wine came out that would be the end of the leakage, right? I had bottles that literally dripped onto the floor (and other bottles). Also, not only did a few .750s leak but one or two of my .375s leake...

I have not tasted many 85 as I always fear the problem of VA. .... I do have only a Fonseca 85 remaining in my cellar and am only looking for a Graham 85 to add from this Vintage. Wow, such fear of this vintage by many here! ;) As Roy said, you all owe it to yourselves to try the Graham's and Fonse...

Roy turned me onto this Port many years ago and I thank him for that. Always LOADED (as someone else here said) with fruit but balanced as far as acidity, alcohol and tannin. Will be awesome in 15 years.

Roy, PS: For the benefit of any who suffer acronyms, VA means volatile acidity - i.e. turned to vinegar. T. Tom, I can never figure out why people equate "turned to vinegar" with volatile acidity. I thought the ketone aromas were a result of a very ripe vintage and/or winemaking practices...

I've had loads of 85s too and no problems whatsoever. As I've said elsewhere, Taylor from that year is a personal favourite - v. fortunate as few agree with me, thereby making it a rare, mature, affordable Taylor. I have always liked the 1985 Taylor as well, Stuart. I think it gets a bad rap. I hav...