Lots of new faces ... please introduce yourself

[Andy Velebil]

Gerwin,

Welcome and glad you got experience a nice old VP recently and see how marvelous they are when they get old. That 1991 Croft is outstanding and one almost never mentioned from this Vintage. It's worth seeking and buying, I own a case of it myself.

[Gerwin de Graaf]

Gerwin,

Welcome and glad you got experience a nice old VP recently and see how marvelous they are when they get old. That 1991 Croft is outstanding and one almost never mentioned from this Vintage. It's worth seeking and buying, I own a case of it myself.

Hi Andy,

It certainly was a great experience (not only the VP 1945, but also the occasion in which it was drunk (with family, on my father's 62nd birthday)). And the 1982 Sandeman VP we had as well, added to the enjoyment!

The 1991 Croft is, as a matter of fact, one of the VP's on my "still-to-aquire-list" (which is rather lengthy as you can imagine). One of the retailers where I usually buy myh ports, still has the 1991 Croft, @ about 50 Euro's (US $ 69,50) a bottle.

[Roy Hersh]

Gerwin,

That 1991 Croft is outstanding and one almost never mentioned from this Vintage. It's worth seeking and buying, I own a case of it myself.

I know that upon release 16 years ago, Suckling had this rated right towards the very top of his entire list of 1991s. When I put together an article on my Top 12 Ports (affordable & available) this was amongst them for sure. I believe my own score for this was 94 points. I have talked many people into buying cases of this particular vintage for their children's birth years, wedding anniversaries and sheer excellence in drinking pleasure. I know several other serious Port lovers who think this is one of the finer VPs of the decade, no less that vintage.

[Peter W. Meek]

Roy,

Chaad says he's going to register. He likes port, but he's a serious Madeira fan, too.

He's been over tonight for MNATM (Monday Night At The Movies) where we show something from my collection with bubbly (Prosecco, champaigne, Moscato d'Asti) and follow up with Pistaccios and Port (Nimrod). He stayed on to help me get my new Facebook account organized, and we talked some about FTLOP. Look for a new registree soon.

(Three kinds of Bubbly and a bottle and a half of the Nimrod.)

He is also going to look into importing the Quinta de la Rosa ports into the midwest, as well.

[Henrik Lilja]

Well - a brief introduction...
My name is Henrik Lilja - I'm from Denmark. I'm 36 (born in 1972) - My main hobby is wine en general - but I must admit that port wine is my darling!!!

I'm member of the oldest port wine club in Denmark -> "The Danish Port Wine Club est. 1981". The club counts about 75 members - the limit. The waiting list is huge. Every 5 year the club organizes a trip to Portugal. I joined this year. Just got back (june). A great trip. 3 days in Porto/Vila Nova de Gaia and 4 days en Regua (base). We tasted all the new 2007 vintage ports from all the "big ones" - it is gonna be real good
We tasted so much good port wine - when visiting Adresen we tasted - direct from barrel - the 1910 colheita. I simply haven't got words to explain this experience - 99/100 points! Spitzenklasse!

I hope, that I can contribute with "something" to this forum.

Best regards frem Denmark
Henrik Lilja

[Roy Hersh]

Henrik,

It is wonderful to have you with us here at . One of my all time favorite Port books is by one of your countrymen and I am sure you know he has the same first name as you. Mr. Oldenburg is someone I would like to meet someday and it would be a great honor.

I am pleased that you had the chance to try the 1910 Andresen from pipe, what a fantastic impression that must have made.

I had it during a weekend late in June 2007 amongst 30 Colheitas, with 9 from 1937 alone and many from the 19th century going back to a pair of 1815s. Unfortunately my bottle of 1910 did not show well, which was a bummer, but many of the others which I opened fortunately did. If you'd like to read more about that, here you go: http://www.fortheloveofport.com/port/wo ... 957-7.html

I am sure you will have much to add here at FTLOP and we are a very welcoming group with lots of people from all over the globe visiting and also reading the newsletter; many who speak English as their second language or third. I hope that in time you will feel very much at home here and will introduce others from your esteemed Port colleagues to also register and join our midst.

Cheers!

[Bill Baker]

I see that it's been while since anyone posted here; not sure what that means, but since you asked that we introduce ourselves I'll do so.

I'm Bill Baker from Jackson, Mississippi, in the United States and I found this site from another wine site, WineLoversPage.com, on which Mr. Hersh also posts articles. I started trying port last year as part of an effort to try as many different wines as possible; I really enjoy the Warre's 10 year old tawny port. I've had a couple of others also. I don't know much about port, but want to learn more. I know that this will be a lifelong process; that I will always be learning about port and other wines as well. I also want to try more madeira, but they are not easily obtained here in Mississippi; I've had one, a 10 year old Broadbent.

Good luck to you all!

Bill

[Eric Menchen]

Welcome Bill, and good luck with your wine explorations there in Mississippi. Even where I live it is a little tough, but I guess I can't complain too much as Colorado is a beer mecca.

[Glenn E.]

Hi Bill, welcome to FTLOP!

I don't know what your shipping laws are like in Mississippi, but there are a lot of really good retailers on the internet. I guess the trick with Mississippi would be finding a time of the year when it's cool enough to ship wine into the state!

[Roy Hersh]

I see that it's been while since anyone posted here; not sure what that means, but since you asked that we introduce ourselves I'll do so.

Hi Bill,

Nice to have you join us here at and I am sure you will be made to feel very welcome. You would be surprised by how many people on this Forum began as rank beginners with Port, some had almost no prior experience ... even with table wine before coming here. Don't worry, the learning curve may seem steep, but the only thing steep about Port, is the vineyard expositions in the Douro. A few months from now and certainly before the end of the year, if you keep posting, reading and asking questions ... you will be amazed at how quickly your knowledge will increase!

I'm Bill Baker from Jackson, Mississippi, in the United States and I found this site from another wine site, WineLoversPage.com, on which Mr. Hersh also posts articles.

Bill, I used to volunteer for Robin Garr from 2000-early 2005. With very few exceptions, every Wednesday evening, I hosted a LIVE wine chat on WLP. I also published articles on Port and Madeira for that site starting circa 2001.

I must ask one small favor, please call me Roy. Already old-er, but young at heart, Mr. Hersh makes me feel like a grandfather -- and I have a long ways to go before my daughter makes that a reality.

So again, welcome aboard and we look forward to your ongoing participation here and thanks for introducing yourself. This helps folks get to know our new guests who we're conversing with.

[Andy Velebil]

Bill,

Welcome to I am glad that you found us and have join in the fun here. Have no fear about being new to Port. We are a friendly group and our unoffical motto is "there is no such thing as a dumb question." So please ask away, no matter how trivial you may think it is. This is a group that loves to pass on the knowledge that others have passed to us. I hope you enjoy your stay with us.

[Luc Gauthier]

Salut Bill et bienvenue from la belle province :hello:
Hmmmm, Mr. Hersh , the Hershman ? William Randolph Hersh ?
I'll stick to plain ol' Roi

[Marcel Cornelis]

Hi All,

Before I introduce myself I also want to excuse me for my english. It's not my native language so I have to translate it.

My name is Marcel Cornelis (35 y-o; 1974) from Zoetermeer, the Netherlands.
Like the most members on this forum I'm huge port fan and wine in general.
I've got a collection of 200 bottles of port (all types, shippers and mostly recent year vintages (1974 -> recent) and old aged tawny's and colheita's) and about 400 bottles of wine in my cellar.

I've als got a collection of books about port, sherry, wine and cooking. My favourite books about port is Richard Mayson's Port and the Douro and my dutch learningbook about all important wines, their geography, terroirs, tasting notes and winemaking aspects. I've done a couple of winecourses and exams.

I enjoy cooking with my wife and daughter and making a complete mess of the kitchen.
And after that having dinner with them, with friends and family and sit back and talk for hours enjoying the good food and better wine
Finishing with a great dessert or cheese plate a dessert wine (Banyuls, Vin Santo, Monbazillac, Sauternes or blind tasting) or of course a great port.
I also drink port as an apéritif before I start cooking.

What I absolutely don't like is being semi-interlectual about wine and port trying to impress friends, waitresses or sommeliers and belittling other people.
I think it's simple. How much you know, or don't know about wine doesn't matter. You like it and drink it, or you don't like it and spit it out and order a beer. No offense and the same respect.

I hope we have a great time here and I hope we can exchange experiences and knowledge.

Cheers,
Marcel

[Eric Ifune]

Welcome Marcel,
I think you'll find none of here are very intellectual at all let alone semi intellectual !

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Marcel,

Welcome to and I have a feeling that you're going to have a lot of fun here. We actually have quite a few participants from The Netherlands. In fact, over the years we've had so many it amazes me and lots receive have been recipients of the newsletter too.

Before we know it, we'll all be flying to The Netherlands for an offline to share some great Ports together.

Thanks for your great introduction and I am pretty impressed with the translation program you are using. I'd have no idea ... had you not said something about it.

We really hope that you will enjoy your time here and will share your experiences with us and help us all to learn more ... whenever you do have an opPORTunity to come back and visit with us.

Best regards,


Roy

[Chris Pfeiffer]

Good morning ,
My name is Chris Pfeiffer and I am a producer of wine in the Rutherglen Region.
Rutherglen is considered the centre of fortified wine production in Australia by many, and is world reknowned for Rutherglen Muscat and Rutherglen Topaque (Tokay).
We make a wide range of wines and our fortifed wines include Apera (Sherry), Fortifed Red (Tawny and Vintage), Muscat and Topaque. We also make Seriously Pink (a young fortified red with an alcohol of 16%) which we encourage people to break with convention and enjoy it on the rocks or long with soda or tonic. I hear the purists throw their hands up in horror (as they did with Croft Pink), but our experience is that it has introduced many people, particularly young people, to fortified wine that would otherwise not have tried the styles. In the long term I envisage some of these people will broaden their experience of the various wine styles and become devotees.
More information can be found on our website, www.pfeifferwines.com.au.
I began working with the Portuguese grape varieties Touriga and Alvarelho in the late 70s making more elegeant styles of wine than the traditional Australian style which was commonly made from Shiraz and is slightly sweeter than the classic Portuguese style. These traditional Australian styles develop into rich wines, often with licorice like flavours. My ambition was to develop finer styles with more of the chocolatey characters associated with the Portuguese style.
We had 26 different Portuguese varieties in our vineyard, and after monitoring these for a number of years, have settled upon Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Cao and Tinta Barocca. We are also trying to source some Touriga Franca.
A benchmark style for me has been the 1970 Croft Vintage, sadly I only have 1 bottle left. I am very fond of the fine structure of this wine coupled with the length of flavour and balance.
This benchmark sits in the back of my mind when I make our vintage wines.
I have had the pleasure of presenting in seminars with Gordon Guimaraens (Cockburns), Jim Reader (Cockburns) and David Baverstock (ex Symingtons) here in Australia.
I have a daughter who shares this passion for Port wines and she was lucky enough to work at Quinta da Roeda in Vintage 2007, under the tutelage of David Guimaraens.
In 2009, Joana Furriel, a winemaker in the Taylor Fladgate Partnership, worked the vintage with us in Australia.
I have just spent a couple of days reading "The Wine and Food Lovers Guide to Portugal" by Charles Metcalfe and Kathryn McWhirter, which I found a great read for those fond of things Portuguese.
Enough, Chris Pfeiffer

[Andy Velebil]

Chris,

Thank you for taking the time to write up another bio here, it is very much appreciated. I've got to run to work but I just wanted to say a quick thanks and again

[Thomas Lundh]

Hi everybody.

My name is Thomas, from Copenhagen, Denmark.
I have been reading on the forum for a while, but i haven't notised this introduction post before. So this will be my first post!
I really think this forum is wonderfull. It's a very good way to talk to other port lovers, and optain a lot of knowledge about port from all you people, thanks. Oh back to the introduction.. I'm 28 years old and have been really interested in port for the last 2-3 years.

About a year ago I started arranging port tastings with five of my friends. We meet up every second month for a tasting, and talk about the houses that we taste from. Beside tasting we also like to make a small dish, that will compliment the ports.

Last year I visited Porto with my girlfriend and some friends. We had a very good time and tasted a lot of different ports.

Next month we are going to Porto again. But this time will we focus on the Douro area visiting a lot of Quinta's, and only spend a couple of days in Porto. Besides that i think we will drive to Lisbon for a day to visit the Port wine Institute.
By the way, can you guys help me by recommending some small Quinta's to visit. I hope we will visit Quinta do Noval and Niepoort, but besides the big Quinta's we would really like to visit some small houses that are not very famous, just to see another angle of the port industry.
If you guys have any suggestions, I would love to hear about it. Or if you have visited a "must see" places, please let me know.

Hope to hear from you.

Thomas

[Glenn E.]

Hi Thomas, welcome to !

[Roy Hersh]

Chris,

Great to have you with us. I have enjoyed many a port and dessert wine in general from Australia ... not to mention that I am a Henschke addict. I have enjoyed Para port from the 19th century and love Muscat, Tokay and other great stickies from the Rutherglen area.

Good to hear that you are going to find some Touriga Franca to add to the mix. Should really balance out your vineyard nicely. Such a great grape!

It will be fun having a winemaker's perspective here, so welcome to and please do feel free to share your thoughts and ask lots of questions.

Cheers!