ThePortForum.com

What was the old method? You’d grow some roses and see how many aphids they attracted since they are more sensitive?

Roses tend to suffer mildew before the vines do, so if a rose bush planted near the entrance to a quinta starts showing mildew, it's time to spray.

My feeling is that the greatest improvements in recent years have been at the mid range of the quality spectrum. The producers have far better weather forecasts than in years past, so when the season's weather is challenging, they are much better informed now when it comes to deciding whether to pic...

Although I've never been quite sure when or why Niepoort makes a Crusted One of my great revelations with port was discovering just how absurd making wines from a single vintage is. Blending stocks from a single vintage to make a good wine is far harder than working with stocks from different years...

I'll bung an email off to Raymond - Dirk's UK agent - to see when and how much he's expecting to get.

I'm intrigued to see what the 2016-2018 LBVs offer over the next couple of years. I'm looking out for the Niepoort 2016 LBV with interest. 2016 was the year Niepoort had it's big family upset, and Dirk couldn't bring himself to declare a regular VP, only declaring a small amount of Bioma. Officiall...

My vintage port count has remained fairly steady over the past year, currently at 6063 bottles, but my LBV collection has grown significantly. I currently have 631 different vintage ports, with an average age of 34 years, 1 month, 28 days, 1 hour and 42 minutes. My vintage port collectively gains an...

I don't dispute DRT's post. I am preserving, for posterity, a couple of good examples of VC. The lesser styles of port do not survive the test of time. I have a half (and sadly empty) bottle of 'Invalid Port', but despite sales running into many millions, and from more than one producer, I have neve...

That is... as I should have expected... a much better idea!

Anyway, if you're doing a TTF vertical, I have the '82, '86 & '96 available

I thought you saved the last bottles of ports for the legacy port bottle library!?

I save the last bottle of each vintage - not the last bottle of every wine

I paid a full price but TTF 88 in bottle is rare as hen's teeth

You should have asked - I drank my one and only TTF '88 a fortnight ago!

I got that mailshot too - but I found the detail too vague, to sign up at the price.

50cL bottles would fall short of my expectations, unless very special.

I think Roy's numbers were way too low on the middle distance. Bottles in the 20 - 35 year range are usually significantly better after a day in the decanter - some need even longer.

On the other hand, bottles over 50 years old rarely gain much, and are usually fine from a fresh decant.

Rebello '66 decanted 6.30

I'm going to save the sample bottles for a future occasion when they can be properly shared.

As no-one else seems to be opening one, I'll pop a Rebello '66..

I've rather neglected this section of the forum over the past few months..

..I do have a couple of bottles of old De la Rosa LBV that Sophia sent over at the beginning of the year - waiting for a tasting occasion that has not been possible to arrange yet.

Waitrose are knocking down the price of the Warre LBV (07), the Sandeman LBV (15) and the Vargellas (02?) by between 20% and 25% currently. The Warre 'discount' is from a deliberately inflated price, so not really a discount. The discounted Vargellas price is reasonable, but the lack of a quoted vi...

On the subject of heretical port cocktails, I do find that if an old bottle of Claret or Burgundy lacks the body to age with elegance, and instead has become rather harsh; adding a dash of ordinary ruby port can work wonders..

Dirk Niepoort has said that he likes them with a bit of bottle age.

For 'a bit' read half a century or so..

Do you think that TPF might have a lot more half bottles of different vintages (SQVP's etc.) still hanging around. I'm sure there would be enough interest here to do a deal for a pallet or two? There's no harm asking! Mind you - start totting up the cost before you start talking pallet loads - ther...

Would be quite up for buying a load of halves of these - at a sensible price The wear / scuff marks on the letter and Taylor label in Axel’s photo suggests they have been stored already assembled, too, which must make preparing them for sale a bit of a nightmare: I wouldn’t be confident that none o...

I wonder what the back story to those half bottle gift packs is? Not normal to keep bottles in fancy packaging in lodge for an extended period. I've never seen one at auction, so if they were offered before but didn't sell as well as expected, it doesn't seem to have been in the UK. - Have they been...

Regarding corks. Branding adds to the cost and then that batch of corks can only be used for a specific bottle. Why most wine companies around the world use generic corks for most wines bottled is the reduced cost and flexibility of use. It just makes fiscal sense for most bottles. A worry is the c...

Tom, I was wondering what your view is of Taylor's, Graham's, Dow's and Cockburn's LBV selection? they all seem to be on the cheap end of the market, except for Dow? I was focusing on the unfiltered and very lightly filtered LBVs that should have ample ability to bottle age. Taylor ages to advantag...

A couple of years ago I was chatting to David Guimaraens as to what cellar remnants the TFP might be interested in disposing of. 'We have far too many half bottles kicking around' - he replied..

At any one time there are about a hundred LBVs on offer from the various producers. Keeping up with that number is a bit daunting. So, as I have no fireworks to light tonight, here are 24 producers who seem to me to merit some attention: - Tax exclusive prices shown are from Portugal Vineyards 1) J ...