Search found 3300 matches

by JacobH
19:10 Mon 29 May 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Hotel or Restaurant Price List of the Week
Replies: 169
Views: 117947

Re: Hotel or Restaurant Price List of the Week

The 40 Year Old retails for a comfortable £100-£110 a bottle these days in the UK! I did wonder if it was supposed to be a half but then the price per glass wouldn't make any sense...
by JacobH
18:15 Mon 29 May 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Hotel or Restaurant Price List of the Week
Replies: 169
Views: 117947

Re: Hotel or Restaurant Price List of the Week

We stopped at The Beacon today, which is located in the delightfully-named Tea Garden Lane in Happy Valley, just outside Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Their bar menu offered the following: Sandeman LBV 2016, £5 a glass or £70 a bottle. Quinta do Noval, 20 Year Old tawny, £7 a glass or £85 a bottle. Quinta ...
by JacobH
09:07 Fri 05 May 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Churchill's Port Club
Replies: 57
Views: 31505

Re: Churchill's Port Club

My assumption was always that they were aiming to use port club to drive a lower margin route to market with the online members' portal being closer to retail pricing, with both being probably at a better profit margin than selling via importers etc where at least 2 layers of businesses are taking ...
by JacobH
20:50 Thu 04 May 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: The World's Largest Bottle of Port
Replies: 18
Views: 7905

Re: The World's Largest Bottle of Port

I am worried that bottle 2 was the victim of a "let's just open one more" miscalculation after bottle 1 was finished...
by JacobH
18:21 Thu 04 May 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: The World's Largest Bottle of Port
Replies: 18
Views: 7905

Re: The World's Largest Bottle of Port

Glenn E. wrote: 17:30 Thu 04 May 2023 So when you consider that this was bottled 40-ish years ago and that bin 27 isn't meant to be aged, it's probably already overpriced just on the basis of the Port it contains.
I’d stick it in some bottles for 10 years and treat is as a DIY Garrafeira!
by JacobH
18:20 Thu 04 May 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Churchill's Port Club
Replies: 57
Views: 31505

Re: Churchill's Port Club

I am absolutely not complaining about the selection! But I just wonder how sustainable it is? £80 is about €91. The retail prices are €24 for the 75cl tawny and €32 for the Crusted (so €56 in total). Whilst they don’t sell the 1992 QdAA; the 2003 QdG is €75 and the 1997 VP is €110. It just feels lik...
by JacobH
13:13 Thu 04 May 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Churchill's Port Club
Replies: 57
Views: 31505

Re: Churchill's Port Club

My most recent box turned up today. A really nice selection, I think: a 1992 SQVP; 2014 Crusted and 10-year-old tawny. I’m a bit worried about the long-term survival of the Port.Club, though. They seem to have terrible trouble with shipping: my box was marked as being sent on 28 March and I am not s...
by JacobH
10:20 Thu 04 May 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: The World's Largest Bottle of Port
Replies: 18
Views: 7905

Re: The World's Largest Bottle of Port

Classic case for the Port Garotte, I think!

I assume Bin 27 was chosen so it wasn’t necessary to find a decanter large enough to decant it!
by JacobH
12:49 Wed 03 May 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: The World's Largest Bottle of Port
Replies: 18
Views: 7905

Re: The World's Largest Bottle of Port

That’s excellent! Maybe not one for solo drinking, though.

Someone should ask the IVDP about the number on the selo. Or were you allowed to sell Port in 98-litre bottles in 1982?!
by JacobH
20:09 Mon 01 May 2023
Forum: Other Wines
Topic: 2001 Penfolds Bin 707
Replies: 4
Views: 3402

Re: 2001 Penfolds Bin 707

Sorry: that was a Private Eye-esque 94 rather than an actual product in their range! My difficulty was that if I visit the Penfold’s site and narrow my options by looking at their Cab Sav wines (which are far less numerous than the Shiraz), it gives me the following: Max's Shiraz Cabernet; Bin 707; ...
by JacobH
09:22 Mon 01 May 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: 2021 Declarations
Replies: 30
Views: 36034

Re: 2021 Declarations

That surely can't be right from a winemaking point of view? You don't not declare a SQVP because you need the wines for tawny? Or perhaps the SQVP quality stuff is going into the LBV blends to free up wine for the tawnies? On re-reading this, the impression might have been given that I was arguing ...
by JacobH
14:56 Sat 29 Apr 2023
Forum: Other Wines
Topic: Barão de Vilar Cheaper DOCs
Replies: 3
Views: 3391

Re: Barão de Vilar Cheaper DOCs

Barros is owned by Sogevinus, and Cristiano van Zeller (not of Barão de Vilar) owns the Van Zeller brand (along with his daughter, I think). Thanks. I thought it was something complex like that. Although I guess the fact that the Van Zeller brand is actually owned by someone with “van Zeller” in th...
by JacobH
14:51 Sat 29 Apr 2023
Forum: Other Wines
Topic: Barão de Vilar Cheaper DOCs
Replies: 3
Views: 3391

Barão de Vilar Cheaper DOCs

I apologise in advance if I get the corporate structure wrong, but I think I am right in saying that Barão de Vilar is owned by a combination of the Barros and Van Zeller families who have bought various brands, including Feuerheerd. Although I am not quite clear if they also own the Barros and Van ...
by JacobH
21:20 Thu 27 Apr 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: 2021 Declarations
Replies: 30
Views: 36034

Re: 2021 Declarations

That surely can't be right from a winemaking point of view? You don't not declare a SQVP because you need the wines for tawny? Or perhaps the SQVP quality stuff is going into the LBV blends to free up wine for the tawnies? Incidentally, looking back on recent years, are TFP declaring SQVPs a little ...
by JacobH
08:40 Thu 20 Apr 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: 2021 Declarations
Replies: 30
Views: 36034

Re: 2021 Declarations

Graham's have posted on Twitter that they have declared a 2021 Stone Terraces, as predicted by Alex. They say they will bottle 4,800 75cl bottles and 280 tappit hens (225cl).
by JacobH
22:02 Fri 14 Apr 2023
Forum: Other Wines
Topic: 2001 Penfolds Bin 707
Replies: 4
Views: 3402

Re: 2001 Penfolds Bin 707

I appreciate this is probably a failure of mine but Penfolds is one of those companies that completely defeats me because of the number of wines they produce and their confusing names. Is the Bin 707 better than the Bin 94? Perhaps if I were a member of the Penfolds Club I would be able to tell...
by JacobH
21:57 Fri 14 Apr 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: 2020 Declarations
Replies: 74
Views: 32666

Re: 2020 Declarations

Alex Bridgeman wrote: 22:05 Sat 08 Apr 2023
JacobH wrote: 10:30 Mon 13 Mar 2023 Perhaps a kind moderator could create a 2021 thread so we can all wildly speculate before being proven wrong when the declarations start coming in?
Pay attention Jacob! There is already one going.
I am pleased to see :tpf: has broken free of the linear progression of time ;-)
by JacobH
21:53 Fri 14 Apr 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: 2021 Declarations
Replies: 30
Views: 36034

Re: 2021 Declarations

From memory 2021 was quite a good year up until the harvest which was rather tricky. It started very early in late August but then the temperature dropped in September and there was quite a lot of rain. The impression was not of a classic vintage but for those producers who managed to pick the right...
by JacobH
21:26 Thu 13 Apr 2023
Forum: Beer, Spirits, Cigars, and Pork Pies
Topic: Port Pie with Stilton and chilli
Replies: 3
Views: 6013

Re: Port Pie with Stilton and chilli

I was there. I can reassure you that it was not a "Port" Pie, it was an excellent Pork Pie adulterated with some sort of sludge in place of the usual delicious pastry topping. I remember declaring "Good God, NO!!!" when I heard Julian placing his order in the Leeson's Pork Pie E...
by JacobH
11:57 Wed 29 Mar 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: which are the biggest quintas?
Replies: 12
Views: 5748

Re: which are the biggest quintas?

They must be in order to make the beneficio system work, surely?
by JacobH
08:42 Wed 29 Mar 2023
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: which are the biggest quintas?
Replies: 12
Views: 5748

Re: which are the biggest quintas?

Are there any large quintas away from the rivers which might be sizeable if not very famous for bulk production of grapes? Something like Quinta de Ervamoira (although I appreciate that that is used for making quality wines).
by JacobH
18:46 Thu 23 Mar 2023
Forum: Organising Tastings and Get-togethers
Topic: Thu 30 March 2023 - An Online Tasting with Friends
Replies: 60
Views: 70060

Re: Thu 30 March 2023 - An Online Tasting with Friends

Could I be put down as a “maybe”? I’m currently down to be either in Leeds or Birmingham during the day so I am not sure I will make it home in time but will try to join you if possible.
by JacobH
10:12 Wed 22 Mar 2023
Forum: Other Fortified Wines
Topic: Madeira for Beginners
Replies: 19
Views: 5909

Re: Madeira for Beginners

For example, whilst i knew that the regulation was problematic with usual issues like a bottle of Sercial not having to be exclusively Sercial That's pretty common in the wine industry, actually. In the US the normal limit is that at least 75% must be the as-labeled grape variety, but there are exc...
by JacobH
19:24 Tue 21 Mar 2023
Forum: Other Fortified Wines
Topic: Madeira for Beginners
Replies: 19
Views: 5909

Re: Madeira for Beginners

I bought a copy of Alex Liddell’s (of “Port Wine Quintas of the Douro” fame) book from 2014 called “Madeira: The Mid-Atlantic Wine”, published by Hurst & Co just before Christmas which I finally got around to reading. It is extremely good and I would highly recommend it. It sets out the extremel...
by JacobH
10:34 Tue 21 Mar 2023
Forum: Organising Tastings and Get-togethers
Topic: Tuke Holdsworth vertical (abandoned)
Replies: 21
Views: 17999

Re: Tuke Holdsworth vertical (? TBC perhaps 21st Nov 2023)

Gosh. I had no idea they kept that brand going for so long. I had thought it had petered out 50+ years ago, although I suppose the declarations post 1963 were rather capricious!

Incidentally, there is a photo of a 2003 floating around on the web. I assume there is no reason for it to be a fake!