ThePortForum.com

Sainsbury are currently discounting various champagne marques, maximum of 6 bottles per transaction. Currently on offer at £15 per bottle are Lanson Black Label, Piper Heidsieck, Heisieck Monopole Blue Top, Sainsbury BOB (Duval Leroy). Sainsbury BOB vintage 2003 is down to £14. Buy 6+ and get a furt...

I tasted this 48 hours after Axel gave me the sample. I'm not sure when it was opened - perhaps 24 hours before I was given the sample?

PS. I love the phrase "lusty acidity". I shall try and use that in the future!

From a sample kindly provided by Axel Probst. Inky purple in colour, opaque and sticking to the sides of the glass. Very fragrant and floral nose, full of ripe blueberries but swirling brings a slightly unpleasant streak of petrol. Strong and firm tannins hold a grip on the cheeks and teeth. Good le...

Young, opaque and with a vivid purple rim. Blackcurrants spring out of the glass. Aggressive acidic / tannic entry, with the powerful tannins dominating the fruit. The aftertaste is tannic and grippy - there is fruit in the aftertaste, but the tannins are all powerful. Interesting and potentially ve...

A trial blend. A glass staining and opaque purple colour. Paul Symongton described the nose as "blue violets" and explained it was a very desirable scent, which predicted a lovely cinnamon tone in the future of the wine. Blueberries and floral perfumes dominated the nose. The texture in th...

Very dark, deep red and absolutely opaque. Still showing blueberries all over the nose, with hints of other things. Fresh violets mixed in with dry blackcurrant skins dominate the initial impressions before the tannins grab hold; delicious fat fruit dominating over a lovely acidity. Sweet blueberry ...

Rich and attractive red colour with an easily transparent centre. The nose developed a perfumed strawberry sweetness over the course of the evening. Sweet and smooth entry with a lovely balance in the mouth before the tannins took hold. Full bodied and complex in the mouth. Warm, sweet and attractiv...

Clear centre, but a well pigmented mature looking wine and lighter than the '66 shown alongside. A dusty nose that opened up as it sat in the glass and was at its best 3-4 hours after the tasting started when it was soft, full of cinnamon and a fabulous fruitcake. Assertive entry, dense and concentr...

Deeply coloured, dark but transparent centre. Nose was a little reluctant with heat being the main feature for the first hour or two in the glass but with time it opened to reveal a very attractive rich and spicy mélange of Dundee fruitcake. Huge flavour profile in the mouth, massive and complex. Th...

A lovely rose red colour with quite a deeply coloured transparent centre. Warm and rich on the nose, sweet and inviting. Thick and rich on the palate, full of complexity and with a touch of heat that faded over the course of the evening. A hot aftertaste preceeds a long and lingering richness on the...

The wines for this tasting were tasted under single-blind conditions at the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto (IVDP) in Oporto on January 22, 2010. These were all finished wines from bottle. A total of 59 wines were presented. That sounds like an extensive snapshot tasting. Tough thing to do...

mosesbotbol wrote:As soon as I saw "1985 Croft" I thought, "Wow, someone is brave."

The Crusting Pipe were extremely understanding and accepted both bottles we bought as returns, so they cost us nothing (but neither were we able to drink anything but a tiny sample).

Light red with a slightly stinky nose. A good mid-weight but a little hot but with nice red fruits. The finish was mouth-numbingly minty. The guesses: DJP: Graham 1970 (0 points) RLC: Vargellas 1989 (0 points) WS1: brought this bottle (0 points) CSD: no guess recorded (0 points) AHB: Ferreira 1970 ...

10 days after decanting, this was quite enjoyable

Lighter in colour than the 1995 or 1996 shown alongside. Quite subdued on the nose, showing very little. Dry and woody initial impact, very dry and acidic. Fruit is late to come through with the acidic structure and a sawdust flavour initially dominating, but the fruit does come through. The afterta...

DRT wrote:What AHB said.

Stop trying to needlessly increase the post count for this offline compared to the others.

On a boring financial side, please remember to bring the necessary cash to the tasting if you still owe some (I currently have down Alex, Christopher and Andy and small sums from Chris and Derek) so I can transfer it over to those who I think should be receiving some (currently the RAF Club, Axel a...

Hi there, apologies, but I fear I cannot come and have to drop out. Looks like I will be in Paris on the 19th of May on a conference. :( Enjoy uncle Toms birthday tasting. regards WS1 Attendee list updated. If JDAW forgets to ask for permission, perhaps TPF could see the first, multi-location offli...

I would like to object to this proposal.

I would like to, but I can't think of any possible reason to do so. Go for it

I've just finished updating the list. The first challenge is to decide which 15 ports to drop. Any suggestions?

Vesuvio 1863 (which is a Colheita) Please say how you know this as I do not agree, but could be wrong That's pretty persuasive. I guess most "vintage" ports back then were colheitas. At Roy's 50th birthday bash we had a bottle of this, and it appeared to have been bottled a very long time...

DRT wrote:Vesuvio 1863 (which is a Colheita)

Please say how you know this as I do not agree, but could be wrong

I've modified the list to remove wood-aged ports and to reflect comments from various people. Is this now a decent list to try and choose which of these should form our top 10 or are there still ports which people would like to see removed and replaced? 1 Calem White 1933 (is this a vintage or colhe...

Combining all the lists together and liberally adding a few more of my own, I've come up with the following list of the 100 Greatest Ports Ever made ( with minimum age of 10 years today and as judged when drunk today for both future potential and current enjoyability). So which of these represent t...

My add ons would be: Nacional 97 Dalva Golden White 1952 Warre 66 Cockburn 35 Niepoort 1970 (bulky bottle) Niepoort Colheita 1863 Quarles Harris 1970 Axel I consider myself to be such a novice on the topic of colheitas that I will leave a list of the top wood matured ports to someone better equippe...