For The Love Of Port

Opened a Taylor 1945 that had been leaking for a while and was down to low shoulder. It wasn't bad, but didn't deliver all the wine can do when the bottle is in good condition, but certainly hinted at what this should be like. I paid a fair price for it - nothing!

In decanter for this evening: 2016 Quinta da Romaneira VP.

Quevedo 40 Year Old Tawny Port for a late Mardi Gras party.

Quevedo 40 Year Old Tawny Port for a late Mardi Gras party.

But, that's Lent!

A very enjoyable NV Fonseca Bin 27

Eric Ifune wrote:But, that's Lent!

Yes, my reaction when I saw some other place selling celebratory glassware after the fact. You can celebrate some things early or late, but for this one you have to wait 40 days.

Eric Ifune wrote:

Quevedo 40 Year Old Tawny Port for a late Mardi Gras party.

But, that's Lent!

What is Lent?

I was raised non-denominational and we didn't practice Lent. My wife is Lutheran and gives up alcohol for Lent. More for me! (As if.)

1963 and 1966 Sandeman in queue for this weekend.

Crasto 2013 bottled in 2017 - smooth and refined.

During my winter reset, I have completely re-worked the computer code that chooses bottles for me to drink at home. Now running to 1750 lines of Excel Vba, with 71 variables, it has selected the following first flight for death row:

1) Delaforce 85 - Reason: Not previously drunk at home (and slight seepage recorded on one bottle)
2) Martinez 60 - Reason: Overstock [of vintage] (and severe seepage)
3) Fonseca 77 - Reason: Poor level (although with no sign of seepage, probably a bad original fill)
4) Ferreira 70 - Reason: Not recently drunk (last drunk 11/11/13)
5) Warre Cavadinha 87 - Reason: Drink up (a rough odd bottle)
6) Taylor Vargellas 69 - Reason: Last bottle from stash (also an odd bottle with poor level)

Over the weekend I opened and poured away a bottle of Fonseca 1980, which was just so full of VA as to be undrinkable, and a bottle of Dow 1975 as a consolation.

Kopke 20 year old White Port, 375ml

Al B. wrote:Over the weekend I opened and poured away a bottle of Fonseca 1980, which was just so full of VA as to be undrinkable, and a bottle of Dow 1975 as a consolation.

Oh! I hate that! All that waiting for spoilage.
At least you had a backup!

1994 Warres, in 375ml. Corked!
And I didn't have a backup for that; although I also brought a NV Carcavelos white that was excellent. Such a great QPR that Carcavelos, IMHO. I wish the current vintage releases weren't in those strange rectangular bottles that are a difficult to pack in a suitcase designed for regular bottles.

1983 Niepoort VP

Krohn 30 year old Tawny

1968 Krohn Colheita

Ramos Pinto 20 year old Tawny bottled 1996

Saturday night with 6 blokes at my house.

1970 Graham's VP - In a really good place, though still some tannins left. Very fregrant with strawberries. Delicious drinking. 95 points

40 Anos Quinta da Romaneira (2010 Btl). So viscous and filled with brown Christmas cookies and spice, long and complex after taste that lingers. Excellent acid / sweetness ratio. It just does not get any better than this. 97 points

Vieira de Sousa Very Old White. Could not keep pace with the 2 other wines. Very brown sugar dominated. Much more light bodied than expected. Not very much exotic fruit, vanilla or honey. A typical for a older white port in my opinion. Just did not live up to our high expectations albeit a good port. 92 points.

2003 Smith Woodhouse LBV. Drinking extremely well and has a great freshness to it. We had it for some pasta with truffles. And it was just a great and sound LBV. Excellent QPR.

2011 Fonseca VP, 375ml

A bottle of Dow Bomfim 1965 opened on Tuesday to celebrate a couple of birthdays. As nice as it was, I preferred the F66, F70 and T77 that were also there.

1995 Porto Souza Porto Vintage
Upon removing the semi-hard wax and foil capsule covered by the wax, I discovered a protruding cork. But the top of the cork was angled and showed very clearly the dimple of the corking machine, so I suspected the protrusion happened at the factory as opposed to the cork just working its way up over time. So I then removed the first cork, along with a little bit of the second that managed to attach itself to the cork screw. Yes, this bottle was double corked. The second cork wasn't going to come out, so I ended up pushing it into the bottle and decanting, which I had planned on doing anyway.

I discovered a protruding cork

I have a strong suspicion that the whole notion of protruding corks signalling poor storage is either a complete myth or an almost complete myth.

Perhaps when there's a blazing hot day forecast, I'll take some cheap ruby, replace the T stopper with a new driven cork, and leave it in the car for a few hours to see if the cork budges at all..