For The Love Of Port

Hello everyone, it's wonderful to find such a great meeting place for Port and Madeira lovers as FTLOP! I've enjoyed reading this forum for a few months now and finally decided on registering. I recently discovered the joy of Port and Madeira, and I have to say I'm completely hooked! However, the sale of Port in Norway has steadily declined since the 80s, but I'm going to do my utmost to help friends and family discover the joys of this great wine and hopeful contribute somewhat to reversing this sales trend!

Now, on to my question. As some of you probably know we have a government-run monopoly on the sale of wine and spirits (see here for more info). As a result of this we're somewhat restricted in our selection of ports, though they do have an impressive catalog.

I'm quite fond of Colheitas, but the retail selection is quite poor. The noteworthy ones are Niepoort 1934, and Hutcheson Feuerheerd 1957 and 1941. I tasted the HF 1957 last year and it was magnificent. Since then I have tried looking for some information on this producer without much luck. It's also difficult finding tasting notes or experiences with Hutcheson Feuerheerd products in general. If anyone has any experience or information on this producer, especially with the two Colheitas I mention, i'd appreciate hearing form you!

I've never had the HF's that you mention. But according to Mason's book, HF was the result of Hutcheson and Feuerheerd merging into one company in 1996 under the Barros Almeida company ( I think the year was a typo in the book, as it also references they merged in 1927). Feuerheerd was established in 1815 and used to own Quinta de la Rosa and Hutcheson was fuonded in 1881. Most of their wines are basic rubies and tawnies.

H & F also made a string of totally forgettable (or should I say "regrettable") Vintage Ports. I have not had many, mostly tasted in the late 1980s and early 1990s ... they are rarely seen in the USA today.

However, I would not be surprised if they made decent Tawny or Colheitas. Until recently, lots of the Portuguese producers up until about 1994 made some pretty weak VPs. Of course there are exceptions, but not all that many, esp. pre-1987!