ThePortForum.com

More than happy to be the first guinea pig; was posting to avoid being the second!

Don’t laugh but I have considered that! But I thought that gravity filtration is less likely to strip something from the Port that should stay in there...

I have long been dis-satisfied with my decanting and, in particular, the problems of filtering the Port to get a clear liquid in a reasonable amount of time. Over the years, I have used everything from coffee filters, muslin, traditional decanting funnels (which have a metal plate with some holes pu...

I am quite amused that the old lables say “not for commercial use” rather than “not for sale or resale”: I like the idea that one might not merely drink a bottle of Port but, instead, “use” it.

I bought a case of Vin de Constance from Klein Constantia a few years ago after hearing a radio programme about it. Before listening to it, I didn’t know anything about it. Particularly its very long history (back to the 17th Century) and that it was the first SA wine to become popular in the UK. It...

PhilW wrote: ↑10:48 Fri 08 Jul 2022 That link shows as £22.75/bt for me.

However, Waitrose currently have Graham 2015 lbv reduced to £10.99/bt.

Me, too. “Similar item to consider: Amazon Brand - Compass Road Merlot, California (1x75cl)” !

Pico wines is available locally, generally at only real "neighborhood" liquor stores in heavily Portuguese enclaves. It's at a low price point. Next step up and it's port or madeira for most consumers. I thought might be the case. Although this one is pretty pricy. It’s €47.68 in Portugua...

After two years of waiting, my ebay saved search for “Bittall” finally threw something up. Not a bottle, alas, but an advertising stamp which at least lets us have a good look at the logo.

They were sent to Quinta do Bomfim to be vinified there and incorporated into other SFE ports (I think the Vesúvio DOC wines were still made and will be released, unlike the Vesúvio VPs). Interesting. Thank you. I suppose with volumes being down generally for 2020 and 2021, they probably don’t have...

I recall hearing that Vesuvio was closed in 2020 and 2021, meaning that there will be no VP for either year. What happened to the grapes I do not know... I presume they were harvested somehow, by someone, just to get them off the vines, but I have no idea when that may have happened or what they ma...

Apologies if this has been posted and I have missed it but does anyone know what happened to the Vesuvio grapes? I presume they were harvested and vinified (albeit not under foot) which would give them a stock of decent wine to use for something else.

It only took 11 years, but I finally came across some Leve Seco Port in the wild, by Nicolau de Almeida. This was quite a serious wine. It seems to be a single-quinta Port from Quinta do Monte Xisto which is high up near Foz Côa. The technical sheet says it is 70% rabigato with the rest being a blen...

Assuming that this forum is going to be reasonably low-traffic is there any objection to being a bit more flexible with the titles of threads than in the main Port forum? For example, can I have one called “Villa Oeiras Carcavelos” and post my thoughts about the range? Flexibility seems to work quit...

I have not bagged much since last posting. I have become aware that there is at least one new DOC in Portugal: DOC Alentejo Vino de Talha being an Alentejo wine that has been aged in a clay pot—talha—rather than anything else. It probably existed in 2020 when I started this thread but I was obliviou...

jdaw1 wrote: ↑14:18 Sat 05 Feb 2022 Beeswing is mentioned in the book. Start at index entry on p634.

Thank you: I hadn’t realised this. Some very interesting passages which I will enjoy reading.

I have lots of these old price lists which were accumulated as part of the research for The Book. I will dig out some interesting ones and post images for those interested. I must say this Allnutt's price let is quite exceptional! I would love that if you don’t mind. It would be really interesting ...

They are probably hand filled. One would need to bottle a lot of them to make it worth the investment of buying a special bottling machine for such a small bottle. Your post caused me to look at how much a bottling machine costs! I noticed that you can buy quite cheaply (i.e. < £/$/€ 100) a machine...

There are definitely more non-Portuguese grape pickers now than there were even 10 or 15 years ago, but from what I see it's still a mostly Portuguese workforce. The berry industry, on the other hand, is a completely different beast. There was a big scandal last year regarding working conditions of...

Thank you for posting this. As I seem to be mentioning very frequently at the moment, I find these old non-Vintage Ports really interesting. It is such a pity that we don’t know exactly what these Ports are. Although it must have been pretty good to be enjoyable after 65ish years in a bottle! How sw...

winesecretary wrote: ↑22:37 Sun 30 Jan 2022 Was a 'thing' among Victorian port connoisseurs.

I wonder when that stopped being fashionable? I presume it was seen as some sort of mark of quality. I suppose like having a driven cork rather than a t-cork today might be today.

I’ve had a couple of sample bottles which have tasted pretty odd and flawed since we started to do this a lot in March 2020. I wonder if the small amount of liquid makes them more susceptible to something going wrong? It’s also made me wonder how they are bottling these: can you run 90ml bottles thr...

I think these sorts of things are really interesting. Especially for the non-vintage wines since I think we have much less of an understanding about what non-vintage Port used to be available before the modern categories came in. Some of the terminology, I can understand: “old” usually means “tawny”...

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jan/30/fruit-pickers-lured-to-portugal-by-the-dream-of-a-raspberry-passport Fruit pickers lured to Portugal by the dream of a ‘raspberry passport’ Farm workers from south Asia describe exploitative conditions at the heart of Europe’s soft fruits i...

Ah: should have realised that similar issues might also arise in Madeira. Are there similar issues with the grape varieties (e.g. can a single-varietal Madeira contain a proportion of other grapes)?

it seems that not acting, not bidding, cannot of itself be manipulative. No longer my area, but I am surprised that market manipulation can only be achieved by an act rather than an omission so that a failure to bid could not be prohibited. It seems to me the question is really why there was a fail...