Search found 3300 matches

by JacobH
10:37 Mon 12 Dec 2022
Forum: Port Tasting Notes
Topic: 2016 Messias LBV
Replies: 4
Views: 976

Re: 2016 Messias LBV

I don’t know a huge amount about their firm. I know they make a lot of different types of table wines, including some non-Douro ones (e.g. Dão & Bairrada) but can’t remember what any of them are like, although I can remember seeing their name on the back of a bottle from time-to-time. Looking at...
by JacobH
21:24 Sat 10 Dec 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Pointless Statistics
Replies: 251
Views: 191971

Re: Pointless Statistics

I’ve re-run the script on my records following the last post in July 2020. In that time, I appear to have tried a further 130 new types of Port which doesn’t seem bad going! The total recorded is therefore 796 different Ports & 843 tasting notes, although I am a bit behind with updating records....
by JacobH
11:58 Sat 10 Dec 2022
Forum: Port Tasting Notes
Topic: 2016 Messias LBV
Replies: 4
Views: 976

2016 Messias LBV

I don’t drink much Messias. I only really know of this company as the supplier of the house Ports at the (in)famous Gordon’s wine bar in London. I’m afraid, though they have never really impressed me. I generally go for Madeira or Sherry when I am drinking there now. I think this bottle came from on...
by JacobH
12:06 Sun 04 Dec 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Morphets auction
Replies: 7
Views: 1464

Re: Morphets auction

I don’t know Morphets but dealing with some other auction houses, I am amazed at how difficult they can be, particularly with regards to delivery and collection. I emailed one about a small, light and non-fragile antique recently; didn’t receive a reply for weeks and their quote for postage was just...
by JacobH
09:38 Thu 24 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Filtration
Replies: 27
Views: 8831

Re: Filtration

I’ve been reading about filtration in the context of making filter / “pour over” coffee which has been interesting. The consensus seems to be that paper filters strip the most from the coffee in that they remove not only the grounds but also the dust that arises from the grinding process and also ma...
by JacobH
08:46 Thu 24 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Tasting Notes
Topic: NV Rodrigo Tawny
Replies: 8
Views: 1744

Re: NV Rodrigo Tawny

These are all good points. What surprised me more than keeping the name going was that the company still seems to exist (see the "S.A." on the back of the bottle after Quarles Harris). I thought they've have wound that into the Symington company to avoid having a mess of subsidiaries lying...
by JacobH
13:21 Fri 18 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Tasting Notes
Topic: NV Rodrigo Tawny
Replies: 8
Views: 1744

Re: NV Rodrigo Tawny

I think one shipper said that they were taking advantage of the width of the IVDP’s tolerances to make Port at a lower ABV which would then be rounded up to the minimum, although I am not sure how that gets us down to 18% or up to 23%!
by JacobH
13:00 Fri 18 Nov 2022
Forum: Reviews
Topic: Sat-Sun 29-30 Oct 2022 - A (Nearly) Complete Vertical of Quinta do Noval Nacional in Los Angeles
Replies: 26
Views: 4902

Re: Sat-Sun 29-30 Oct 2022 - A (Nearly) Complete Vertical of Quinta do Noval Nacional in Los Angeles

Your comment about the 1887 makes me wonder just how much wine from what is now the Nacional vineyard went into the older Noval VP blends before the replanting in the 1920s? I can’t remember if phylloxera resulted in them replanting it in the late 19th Century on grafted stocks or not but, in any ev...
by JacobH
12:35 Thu 17 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Tasting Notes
Topic: NV Rodrigo Tawny
Replies: 8
Views: 1744

Re: NV Rodrigo Tawny

That’s all quite odd! I didn’t think you could bottle tawny Port at 18% and also that the Quarles Harris company would have been long dead...

I assume if it was meant for the French market the expectation would be that you’d drink it cold which might lower the spirity-ness of it?
by JacobH
13:47 Wed 16 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Port for sale by retailer
Replies: 1537
Views: 810430

Re: Port for sale by retailer

I don't recall ever seeing Fletcher's ports in the States. It’s a brand by Barão de Vilar which I think is exclusive to Aldi. I think we’ve discussed before whether the blend is different compared to some of the other Barão de Vilar Ports but I’m afraid I can’t remember the answer! ... and there I ...
by JacobH
10:06 Wed 16 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Port for sale by retailer
Replies: 1537
Views: 810430

Re: Port for sale by retailer

It’s fair to say that I haven’t ever drunk it blind or even at a tasting with other Ports so my impression my be completely wrong. However, if we were comparing it to “any 20 year old”, I’d take the Kranemann, Kopke, Niepoort, or Ramos Pinto over the 40-year-old Fletcher. If we are comparing it to s...
by JacobH
15:18 Tue 15 Nov 2022
Forum: Reviews
Topic: The Fladgate Partnership with Chris Forbes: Uncorked: 9 November 2022
Replies: 0
Views: 1170

The Fladgate Partnership with Chris Forbes: Uncorked: 9 November 2022

Julian and I went to this tasting. It was the first time I’ve been to Uncorked’s new shop which is quite nice and has a good space for small tasting. The staff continue to be fantastic and I would continue to recommend it as a place to buy Port in London. The tawnies were enlarged from the advertise...
by JacobH
11:03 Tue 15 Nov 2022
Forum: Reviews
Topic: Sat-Sun 29-30 Oct 2022 - A (Nearly) Complete Vertical of Quinta do Noval Nacional in Los Angeles
Replies: 26
Views: 4902

Re: Sat-Sun 29-30 Oct 2022 - A (Nearly) Complete Vertical of Quinta do Noval Nacional in Los Angeles

“Don” is Don Schliff, an avid Port collector in the US and someone who is now sharing his Port cellar with fellow Port and wine lovers. I guess organising tastings like this one (he has done 1 or 2 a year for some time now) is a good way to open the bottles in your cellar rather than have your chil...
by JacobH
09:59 Tue 15 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Port for sale by retailer
Replies: 1537
Views: 810430

Re: Port for sale by retailer

Having bought a couple of bottles of it in the past, the main problem I found with the Fletchers’ 40-year-old is that it is just not very good. I’d much rather have a cheaper and younger tawny Port which is better made than something with “40-year-old” on the label that is made with what appear to b...
by JacobH
19:08 Mon 14 Nov 2022
Forum: Reviews
Topic: Sat-Sun 29-30 Oct 2022 - A (Nearly) Complete Vertical of Quinta do Noval Nacional in Los Angeles
Replies: 26
Views: 4902

Re: Sat-Sun 29-30 Oct 2022 - A (Nearly) Complete Vertical of Quinta do Noval Nacional in Los Angeles

That is all fascinating to read. Thank you for posting! I don’t know “Don”: I presume he is a notable arranger of wine dinners and the like? Many years ago, I did some experiments with different Port glasses and found that the level of the Port in the glass made a huge difference to how certain aspe...
by JacobH
11:38 Tue 08 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Good Housekeeping - Best Ports 2022
Replies: 4
Views: 751

Re: Good Housekeeping - Best Ports 2022

Not at all suspicious that all of the Ports mentioned (except for the Kopke) appear to be BOB. It’s particularly odd because Daylesford Organics is an ultra-expensive glorified garden centre which I think started off life as a hobby project for Lord & Lady Bamford who run the digger company JCB...
by JacobH
10:41 Sun 06 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Old Price Lists
Replies: 8
Views: 2638

Re: Old Price Lists

This will not surprise anyone who has met him but Julian has helped me to the extent that he has short-circuited what I anticipated would have been about 6 months’ worth of visiting archives. Thank you very much.
by JacobH
10:46 Fri 04 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Mastermind
Replies: 8
Views: 2587

Re: Mastermind

It’s Episode 6 which is (in some locations) available to watch on the iplayer . The questions (no answers!) were: 1. What well-known slightly sparkling rose sold in a flask-shaped bottle was created by Fernando Van Zeller Guedes in 1942? 2. What word meaning “farm” or “country-house” is widely used ...
by JacobH
10:21 Fri 04 Nov 2022
Forum: Organising Tastings and Get-togethers
Topic: The Fladgate Partnership with Chris Forbes: Uncorked: 9 November 2022
Replies: 1
Views: 1089

The Fladgate Partnership with Chris Forbes: Uncorked: 9 November 2022

I received an email from Uncorked in London advertising a tasting with Chris Forbes from TFP next week. The cost is £45. They say: We are delighted to be welcoming Chris Forbes, export director of the Fladgate Partnership, who will be talking us through a tasting of these three houses. What is Port?...
by JacobH
14:50 Wed 02 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Filtration
Replies: 27
Views: 8831

Re: Filtration

That's amazing research. Are these stainless steel 75μm filters or nylon or what? If you have a specific stainless one to recommend, please do so. These were nylon from the ebay link up-thread. I think they are designed for aquarium use since the nylon has been stretched over a piece of PVC pipe wh...
by JacobH
14:43 Wed 02 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Old Price Lists
Replies: 8
Views: 2638

Re: Old Price Lists

As i have mentioned a few times on :tpf:, I would like to get a better sense on what non-Vintage Ports were historically available before the modern categories (Ruby, Tawny, TWIOA etc.) came in. I appreciate that Julian, Derek and perhaps others have spent a lot of time in archives looking at all so...
by JacobH
11:31 Wed 02 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Mastermind
Replies: 8
Views: 2587

Re: Mastermind

I only managed 6! I was rather annoyed that I couldn’t remember a further 2 questions where I once knew the answers but had forgotten. I thought I might have had a fighting chance with the previous round (Life and Music of John Cage) but the only one I got right was, weirdly, one of only two that th...
by JacobH
10:08 Wed 02 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Sandeman Port on Fox News
Replies: 6
Views: 2229

Re: Sandeman Port on Fox News

We don’t really have jug wine in the UK but Mateus was hugely popular in the same period and into the 1990s; although there was a tendency to look down on it as a bit naff. I suppose it was in a similar category to Blue Nun (a similar German wine). The picture on the front of the bottle is of the pa...
by JacobH
12:19 Tue 01 Nov 2022
Forum: Port Conversations
Topic: Sandeman Port on Fox News
Replies: 6
Views: 2229

Re: Sandeman Port on Fox News

Can’t see Mateus Rose being an obvious choice for those parts of the USA which have freezing cold winters! (Also: this has made me look at its technical specification. The blend is said to be Baga; Rufete; Tinta Barroca; and Touriga Franca which I thought was interesting: I wasn’t expecting it to ha...