For The Love Of Port

Certainly, a visit to my local Tesco was instructive in the context of this debate. Tesco must be the single biggest arbiter of bulk winenfashion in the UK. The shelf space devoted to port was, indeed, miniscule compared with table wines. However, the quality on the shelf was not half bad. Around tw...

This story seems suspiciously close to that surrounding the 1792 which became the famous Napoleon Madeira of 1840, the history of which was recounted by (inter alia) Alex Liddell.

I like to think that romantic myths can be constructed around this wine!

Thanks for that, Roy. I am surprised that the regulation is so recent.

Does anyone know when, assuming it to be the case, it became illegal not to bottle Madeira on the Island? I assume that the same rule now applies as for port. The reason for the question is that I am interested in discovering when a couple of solera wines might have been bottled, being British bottl...

I have recently broached a bottle. It was not my first VJH 1940 sercial, but struck me as being a dry as was either possible or proper. It is a wine of great depth and with an excellent finish. It will be interesting to compare it with a Blandy sercial of the same vintage, a wine of repute which I h...

Roy has previously published, in an earleir number of FTLOP, a table of decanting times for various ports which repaid careful study. From my own limited experience, for example, eight hours is quite enough for my Taylors '83, and twenty four hours barely enough for Dow '85. This is one reason why i...

I have recently used 'decanter balls' which are available from, amoungst others, the Wine Society. A swirl round with a little water removes staining in awkward spots which a bottle brush might not reach. If used regularly, they seem to stop the build up of unsightly staining.

Eric, Over here, the price of a solera, against a vintage Madeira, from the UK's leading merchant is roughly one half for the same 'vintage'. That seems, to me, fairly to reflect that the wine is mixed. Is there less difference in the USA? I feel that the solera prices are perhaps more rooted in rea...

I am surprised that Roy can still type after that lot. This weekend, having a visitor, I broached two VPs, first Warre 77 and Taylor 83. The Warre showed very well after 24 hours decanting; fresh and with a good structure. Not over sweet, but satisfyingly rich. The Taylors was very sweet, too much s...

Roy,

A second hand recommendation is Reid's hotel. My friend found it eye wateringly expensive last month, but the experience was worthwhile.

Best wishes

John

Mark,

You must be very popular in your tasting group.

Make sure you decant the Dow '85 at least 24, preferably 36 hours, before tasting. Once it has opened out this is a full and lovely wine. Insufficient decanting leaves it pretty unsatisfying.

John

Alex, You will find the answers to your questions about Madeira longevity in Alex Liddell's eponymous book, published in the Faber series (same one as Richard Mayson's). Having attended only one Madeira tasting, I can say that although ancient wines may have trophy value, they change so much with ag...

Quite so, which is why I buy discretely from a relaible wine merchant.

You have discretion and also a reasonable assurance of good provenance.

John Hardman

Ray, Your plight brought tears to my eyes! If you look on Wine Searcher, I am sure that you could find VPs from 83, 85 and 97 which will provide reasonable short to medium term drinking. Dow 85 is not loved by the critics, but if decanted for a good 24 hours and allowed to open up is an enjoyable ti...

As a chest beating Brit, I drink my port old as Broadbent or Mayson advise. Being told that VP closes up to go through a surly adolescence, I do not know what would, all things being equal, be a good time frame in which to enjoy VP young.

Any ideas?

My introduction to VP was Dow '63, a case of which I had acquired as my start in collecting port. This was more than fifteen years ago. At this distance in time, I cannot say whether the novel experience, or the inherent quality of the wine predominated, but I can say that I shall remember that Dow ...

Coincidentally, I also broached the same 1880 solera last spring; my tasting note emphasised the freshness of the wine which also kept well over several weeks. It was, I think, a fairly elderly bottling which just underlines what pleasant surprises there are to be had from these soleras. By no means...

It is interesting to see how much heat the en primeur debate generates. This evening, I opened a bottle of Mersault bought en primeur from a very respetable Burgundy specialist; it had gone off and tasted like battery acid. Another bottle from the same case had also gone. So what price provenance? N...

As I understand it, whilst the wine matures in barrel, having been blended, it will be refreshed. That is to say that some younger wine from a different batch and year can be introduced into the older wine. In turn, some wine may be drawn off the older barrel to refresh a yet older wine. The result ...

Sanjay I do not know about Broadbent's, but, depending on your location in London, try a Waitrose supermaket (upmarket), or the Oddbins wine shop chain, or, for a very respectable merchant, Berry Bros and Rudd in St James Street. They will all have 5 10 or 15 years olds. Berrys should have vintage. ...