For The Love Of Port

I'm sure the first answer is something like "as old as possible" but that isn't really what I'm looking for.

Just curious what you consider 'ideal' age wise.

Port and Madeira can obviously last decades beyond ordinary still wine but when for example will you start to touch your 00 vp?

It seems like I often see Roy refer to some port from the 60's as a "youngster" and if so then at what point do you stop buying VP to cellar?

The question arises from finally getting my wine out of multiple offsight storage and starting to inventory it.

I started asking myself "when the hell are you going to drink all this??"
-granted a good problem to have except most of it is sooo young.

-thanks any insight is appreciated.

-paul

Paul,

Kind of a tough question to comment on without knowing specific bottles you may have. If you want to list some I'd be more than happy to recommend drinking windows (or email or PM the info)

But generally for VP's, I prefer 20+ years on them. This of course varies by producer, year, etc.

Also, those 1960's (or other old bottles) are typically the top dogs from those years. So when I say that 1963 Noval Nacional is still a baby, the same would not hold try for a 1963 Croft (just pulling those two names randomly)

It depends on the event and how many bottles of the VP I have. If I have more than 6 I tend to try a couple from 10 years on because I find it interexting to see how they emerge.

"at what point do you stop buying VP to cellar?" NEVER!!!!!


Once a port has 20 years of age I generally consider it to be in the drinking window. 30 years of age is even better and after they surpass 40 years then I start to consider them to be "special occasion" ports.

I like my VP's just as they're starting to go tawny. Of course this varies with the wine and storage. I'm holding onto my 1977's a bit longer. The 70's are doing very well right now.

a minimum of 20 years to start, and preferably more like 30. i think the 77s i've had in the last year are drinking beautifully. in fact, i'm pretty locked in to that vintage right now. i've tried several taylors, gould campbells, warres, dows, grahams, and smith woodhouse in the last 7 months, and they've all delivered. i wish i had more 70s, i've got about 25, but they are special occasion ports due to their prices, being saved mostly for thanksgiving and christmas weeks, when i'll drink 10-12 of them with family and friends.

dave

The beautiful thing about this fine topic is that there are NO wrong answers.

Paul,

Its always fun to live vicariously through some one else's drinking planning so if you feel happy to share the wines you have inventorised, then we'd be pleased to offer some specific thoughts on when to drink them.

In general terms, I am happy to drink my VP at any age other than during the closed period that they go through between about 5-10 years after the vintage.

Right now, I don't find the 2000 vintage very enjoyable and even the 1997s I'm finding a little hard to enjoy. However, I'm really enjoying the 1994s and will happily open those now (also ports from 2003 and 2004). Anything older than 1994 is also at risk in my cellar, my next bottle on death row is a Quinta do Noval 1960 that should be rather enjoyable.

And the other question - when to stop buying port to cellar? I'm not sure. Its going to depend on how much money I have in my old age. My 11 year old son already enjoys sharing my vintage port so it is quite possible that I will continue to buy port for cellaring for as long as I am able to sign a check and will simply leave it to him to drink in my memory when I am gone from this world.

Alex

I'm with Alex for the most part. I will open 94's and some of the 95's for current drinking, but more recent than that only for "tasting" purposes. I like to mix up the younger 94's with earlier stuff as my budget and mood fit, and probably drink 1985 more than any other vintage these days. Older than 85 I have less stock...I would like to drink more. If I had an unlimited budget and cellar, I would probably drink more 66 and 63 than anything else. It seems to me that I enjoy the 60's vintage more than most of the others, but don't get to drink it every week for simple practical reasons.

That being said, if I had an unlimited supply of 66 and 63, I would still drink some of the younger vintages.

Jay

I prefer to drink the 1955's (especially the Graham's) to me they are ideal right now age-wise. I just don't have enough to drink on a regular basis! So I would have to say my favorite age range that I open most often are from '63- 1970. I drink Ports from the 80's but I think they just need more time to really improve. The only Port from the 90's that I've had that tasted somewhat ready to drink was the 1991 Croft ..it was great but in 15 years ..wow!

A couple of great questions.

As far as age, I think most excellent vintages drink the best when they hit between 30-40 years of age.

Based on the above, I can tell you that I've already stopped buying new vintages of Port for the cellar. The newest I have are some 2000s. I'm about to turn 48 and I don't want to wait until I'm in my late 70s to start to enjoy some of these ports at their best.

That doesn't mean that I'm not buying port. Right now I only buy VP that has at least 20 years of age on them, from reputable sellers. I don't think there's enough of a difference in the price of a 1983 or 1977 or 1966 port and some of the 2000 and 2003 vintages to be concerned about, IMHO. The Dow 1966 I just bought is an example, where I got them for about $75 each, IIRC.

Sorry for the stream of consiousness.

All the best,
John

John

Where does one get 66 Dow for $75? :?

Come on, you know you want to tell.

Jay

Jay Powers wrote:John
Where does one get 66 Dow for $75? :?
Come on, you know you want to tell.
Jay

Hi Jay,

I checked my records and it turns out I was wrong. I didn't get them for $75, it was $85.

For the greater good of Port humanity, I will defintely tell you where I get them. I get them at auction. While I will occasionally buy from Winebid, my auction house of choice is The Chicago Wine Company. Their auctions charge no buyer premium (you heard that right). It also helps that they're about 45 minutes from my house in a suburb of Chicago, so I don't have to worry about shipping costs. Here's their website: http://www.tcwc.com.

Now don't start outbidding me!

All the best,
John

I don't drink any of my own vintage port younger than 1985 except for experiment or checking the status. I've had only two half-bottles of 1994 (Warre) since I bought 1994s on release and don't plan to try any for several more years. Although some people are hesitant to buy 1985, I've had nothing but success with all that I have bought and will buy more. If more colheitas were available around here, I would probably follow more or less the same schedule.

Gary

I first tried port when I was 30. Thats was a good age. i like it now at agre 55, that is a good age. If i am drinking it when I am 100 , that might be the best age for drinking port.

I prefer drinking Vintage Port at age 45, which currently my only choice. After Aug 4th though, my birthday, I'll be drinking them at age 46! Hope to be drinking them at age 90 too, in 2052

In terms of the age of the Port, I'm ll over the map, although about 30-35 years old seems to be the sweet spot for great vintages, and 20 for good ones.

I have been drinking Port for half of my life. Far more than that if I were only to count the legal drinking years of my life, which would raise the percentage enormously.

All kidding aside, I find that the optimum drinking age for VPs is 35-45 years for most of the great ones.

Of course I don't mind when they are considerably older either.

30+ years is my ideal, but plenty of ports in their early 20’s are incredible now. It is up to the port to decide how long it before it should be consumed.