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Portman

The fall has arrived in the mid Atlantic US, and the Portman has emerged from his chysalis to begin his six month season of port engorgement.

Last night, in front of the first fire of the season, a 1995 Taylor's Vargellas, most enjoyable after a six hour decant.

Portman

I came back from Spain and Portugal this week. I had a fantastic tasting and lunch with Raul Alex from this board and Grahams one day in Oporto. I didn't do much buying this year but I did find a couple of gems at my favorite wine store in Valenca. Most ports I find in Portugal are just wildly overp...

Portman

Of course we have a/c. In summer we spend a lot of time on our deck regardless of temperature, and most nights will throw fish or meat on the grill and eat outside. I'm saying that my body for some reason doesnt crave the port like it does once the temperature cools down. It is just too rich and inc...

Portman

Here in Washington DC it is just too hot to drink port. My port consumption goes down in the summer normally, but this summer has been a real brute. We normally average 7 days in June with temperatures above 90 degrees F. This summer we had 18, and it feels like nearly every day in July has been a s...

Portman

There is short and cryptic announcement on the Wine Spectator web site. I wonder what the real story is. I enjoyed his port reviews and also appreciated his Bordeaux tasting notes. HIs palate aligned pretty well with mine and I felt he was one of the few critics who was passionate about port. His po...

Portman

I wish Seely would come to America for a tasting like that. The price is not bad either considering the range of ports for tasting.

I've never had a Nacional... (quietly sobbing)

Portman

2004 Quinta de Romaneira I actually know very little about this house, but when I read AHB's note and saw the price ($20), I jumped on six as cellar defenders. Thank you AHB and TPF for helping me score what should be an excellent value. Purple and opaque. Very open blueberry nose. Sweet and fruity ...

Portman

Great story. Please follow up as your detective work bears results. I think we all want to find out what you end up with and hope it is something delicious and valuable.

Portman

Great big bottle of a great big wine. Well done Axel.

Portman

It's funny, because I just was renovating this old cellar on my property here in Virginia and I found some dusty old bottles. The front is engraved "Laffite 1787" and in smaller letters "Th. J". Any idea what this is worth? The closest I have ever come to a diamond in the rough s...

Portman

Uncle Tom, That is an interesting thought that I have had a few times as well. It often seems that vintage port can go through an extended "dumb phase", but while I have experience drinking young and teenaged port, I dont have the heavy experience drinking the mature stuff like some of you...

Portman

I picked up a six pack of Vesuvio 1992 a couple years ago and drank them all over a year as cellar defenders. Every bottle was consistently underwhelming, marked by thin fruit and a woody, disjointed character. Not horrible, but certainly not up to expectations. They all seemed much older than their...

Portman

Drank at D+3 hours. Lightly sedimented, dark purple, with just a hint of red translucency at the edges. Very grapey nose with a distinct note of iodine. Plenty of black fruit in the mouth, especially plums, but also notes of something red, perhaps strawberries. Bright acidity and palate coating tann...

Portman

You guys have hit most of my favorite low priced vintage ports, particularly the 1995 Smith Woodhouse and 1995 Taylor's. I guess I would add the 1995 Fonseca Guimaraens as well, which I have always found to be inexpensive and solid. With a bit of luck you can sometimes find 1991 Taylor's cheap, and ...

Portman

Not only have I not tried 31 Noval I have far less experience buying at auction than many of you. But after reading "the Billionaire's Vinegar" and following subsequent developments in the counterfeit wine world, I would urge extreme caution in buying this or any other legendary wine. I be...

Portman

I can assure you BP is going to get the full on "DC treatment", with hearings, blowhard Congressmen, self righteous media, and plenty of opportunities to make a bad situation even worse.

Send lawyers, guns and money.

Portman

Good luck over there from your American cousins. The British election has actually been receiving considerable media attention here, which is very unusual. Usually foreign affairs never break through the dome of ignorance and apathy that covers 90% of my country.

Portman

I opened this just so I could be the first to post a note on a wine. Opened and sampled immediately. Lightly sedimented purple space slime at the bottom of the bottle, but not overtly alarming. The variation in port sediment never ceases to amaze me. (I'm surprised no one at this forum hasn't made a...

Portman

I hope our friends in Portugal see this through without too much damage. My relatives in Spain tell me everyone in Madrid is scared and people are losing their jobs left and right.

Portman

Setting aside the whole critic scoring issue (how do you quantify something that is such a moving target), I'm curious if you have had port bottles that YOU felt were perfect, or will be perfect with bottle age. Some recent bottles the critics have dubbed as perfect are 94 Taylors and Fonseca, 1997 ...

Portman

I actually have a boysenberry tree in my yard. I'm not sure what the actual variety it is but they are delicious when they ripen around June.

If anyone detects Himalayan blackberry in their port please let me know.

Bill

Portman

Ronnie,

Profound congratulations and all the best from my family to yours.

Bill

Portman

1995 Taylor's Quinta do Vargellas x 3

Portman

This reminds me of those overdone TN's, not to mention specific critics (cough- Robert Parker - cough cough) that instead of saying "aromas of tobacco and leather" instead write impossibilities like "smells like fresh cut Virginia lowland tobacco and notions of manure dusted, lightly ...

Portman

Lots of contradictions in these TN's! Wine can be such a moving target depending on the bottle and the taster, yes? I believe I have one bottle left of six that I bought as cellar defenders at auction. I found these wines to be dark, fleshy, and well perfumed. They were a bit disjointed, but I wasnt...

Portman

Congratulations Raul! Here in the US 100pts from Suckling will be well received by port lovers, and it is nice to see a Symington property get that kind of recognition. Speaking of port, my wife and I may be in Oporto in early August. Would you like to have a drink or two with us if we drive down fr...

Portman

2 x 1983 Graham's @ $50 per
1 x 1991 Fonseca Guimaraens @ $45

Portman

Do some believe that Stilton is not a match with Vintage port? I love to drink younger VP's with Stilton. I find it to be one of the great food/wine pairings. The sweetness of the port is offset by the saltiness of the cheese, and the searing tannins of a young VP fit perfectly with the creaminess o...

Portman

I hope both 2008 and 2009 are good vintages that are not declared. Because for me it is all about the quality of the juice in the bottle relative to the price. I love off years where the port is good and ageworthy but just didnt fit into the crazy declaration schedule dreamed up in the Factory House...

Portman

And I have another question raised by your post. Cork worm? I have never heard or seen of that. I assume this is an actual parasite that bores its way into the cork?

Can we look forward to "Drink the worm" port bottlings like our friends in Mexico do with certain tequilas?

Portman

Tritto. I havent made this particular drive but you could start early, spend a few hours or a day in the great medieval university city of Salamanca, which is on the way, and end up in Pinhau with a great visual (the drive) and cultural (Salamanca) experience. Plus Salamanca has the best chorizo in ...

Portman

Move along.

Portman

Fonseca all the way! More wine, drinking sooner, and the qualitative difference is marginal.

Portman

Decanted and drank immediately from a 375 ml bottle, very lightly sedimented. Light purple, with pleasant nose of primary black and grapey fruit, as one would expect from such an immature port. Medium sweet, with licorice, chocolate, and an odd metallic note that was somewhat offputting. Tannins wer...

Portman

Here on the Mid Atlantic east coast of the United States it has been bloody cold since mid December, when we got plastered by a rare December storm that dropped a record 22 inches, which is more than we usually get in a whole winter. I love big storms, not least because school and work are cancelled...

Portman

No need, I just found the thread http://www.theportforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1165&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=IVDP+big+bottles#p9434 . I should have known you guys have already been in the bowels of cement Brussels office complexes trying to resolve this injustice. Personally, the 3...

Portman

Thanks. I wonder why IVDP wont allow bottlings greater than magnum? Seems like an arbitrary and nonsensical rule.

Portman

For Christmas I received a magnum of Fonseca 2007 from Santa. I guess I was a good boy this year. This is my first VP magnum, and it made me wonder why there seem to be few big bottles of port produced. They appear pretty rarely at auction, and I dont know if Ive ever seen anything bigger than a mag...

Portman

I had a lovely bottle of 1995 Fonseca Guimaraens at Christmas. This one was surprisingly evolved, smooth, and balanced.

Portman

They have decsended to the lowest depths of tabloid sensationalism in their news reporting and I suspect a similar thing has happened here. I am sorry but the lowest depths of news reporting are safely secured by the American 24 hour news channels like Fox. We would rather hear in excruciating deta...

Portman

4 x 1995 Smith Woodhouse Madelena

3 x 1995 Fonseca Guimaraens

4 x 2000 Delaforce (@ $25 per, not a bad deal)

Portman

These prices look God-awful from North America. Six bottles of Taylor 1977 for 1,100 Euro? That is twice what you can get it for here per bottle, not even adding the weak dollar/Euro conversion. Mon Dieu!

Portman

I also tried this in the Graham's lodge a couple years ago and I was likewise impressed with this top notch port. I wish I had more than one bottle in my cellar. Bill

Portman

I am a first generation oenophile and so was not fortunate enough to have any wine left to me. My three children do not have auspicious wine birth years (1999,2001,2006) but I have a few treats for each one, such as a few bottles of 2001 Rieussec Sauternes. I also have 3 liter bottles of Bordeaux fo...

Portman

Well DRT, your TN on the Graham's helped me pull the trigger, so thank you. The TN section of this board is incredibly useful.

Portman

4 x 1991 Grahams Vintage

Portman

It was Portman who posed the question.

I went with the Taylor 1977, mostly because I dont want yet another great bottle in my cellar that I can only look at with unrequited love for 20 years. Cant wait to get my teeth purple on this one. Bill

Portman

Opened for the masses at Thanksgiving dinner, prior to two vintage ports. I think someone gave this to me in Spain.

Here is my TN, to quote Hobbes:

Nasty, brutish, and short. To which I will add:

Astringent, bitter, and medicinal.

Portman

What a fascinating thread. I too thought James was a fake until late in the thread. It was the multiple return trips to the board that convinced me. James' unconvential writing style didn't help matters.

Forgive me Tiny Tim, and welcome non-port drinker James to the board.

Bill

Portman

I have the opportunity to own either a bottle of

1977 Taylor

or

2000 Taylor Vinha Velha

Im actually leaning toward the 77 because I have so little older port in my cellar. Thoughts?

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