I will keep this as a "sticky" topic all month, meaning it will stay at the very top of the Port Forum.
You may choose just one, (like a Lay's Potato Chip) or put together a short list of your faves so far. Given that the whole month of June is part of the first half of 2009, this will remain in place until then.
I think it would be great to see which you've enjoyed the most. I know that some folks will include bottlings from our FTLOP Gala weekend from late Jan. of this year, but I'd also encourage those of you who were not there to include Ports you've had too.
Well so far for me that award goes to the 1947 Noval VP we had at the 2009 Port Gala. I know a lot of people liked the 1935 Sandeman better, but to me the Sandeman felt like it was over the hill while the Noval really seemed to be at its peak.
I haven't had any truly spectacular Tawnies yet in 2009. The 1966 Kopke and the mystery Kopke "Roy Hersh blend" that we had at the 2009 Port Gala were both fantastic, but to me were a step below the 1947 Noval.
I have to said Quinta do Estanho vintage 1997, on the first place for the vintages, followed closely by Dow's Quinta do Bomfim 1998 and Graham's vintage 1994.
Tawnies, are Barro's Colheita 1963 and Kopke Colheita 1977.
These are my choice.
For me, it has been a 1976 Porto Rocha colheita. It was sumptuous, and I savored every last drop of the bottle. (Curiously, a 1976 Kopke colheita paled in comparison.)
1942 Niepoort VP, Tasted early in January, it was simply amazing. 3 hours after the initial pour it was becoming so younger. The complexity, flavours profile and lenght of this Port was exceptional.
Living the dream and now working for a Port company
Without any doubt my favourite port drinking experience in the first half of 2009 has been having the opportunity to taste 14 x 2007 cask samples, all completely blind and each tasted a number of times over a period of a few days. This is the first time I have attempted this and it has been great fun and has been a big learning experience for me and one that I hope to repeat in future years.
Oh - and I had Cockburn 27, Noval 31 and Fonseca 48 all in the same tasting last week - which was fun
Port Forum.
untill now the best VP 2000 in my opinion.
