ThePortForum.com

Tom. I have absolutely no doubt that they would! We live in an extrodinarily regulated environment which unfortunately has very little imagination or simple marketing experience and believes that restriction is the best solution! ... aka, despite what some of the worthy members of this forum may fee...

Derek, you are partly right ...! Crusted is now the only permitted version and the wines are certified on bottling, must be cellared for a minimum of 3 years before release and undergo a second certifictaion from the IVDP prior to final release to market. The "toast" on port barrels is a r...

Hi smisse (!) Essentially field blends are a mixture of a number of the douro varietals but certainly won't be all of them. Baisically all replanting in the Douro over the last 30 years or so has focused on the 7 plus possibly a few people have planted one or two more. I think it would be extremely ...

well that certainly woke everyone up! Tom, very fair comment although I'm not sure I'll bring up your second point at tomorrow's Board Meeting! Julian, generally correct although the bottling was very much a question of merchants choice (and conviction in some cases). There was no firm rule as to th...

Very intrersting thread but much of what is being refered to as Crusted or Crusting in the comments and photo's is infact "old fashioned" LBV ... as Andy made clear in his post. These two terms were in quite common use in the wine trade even when I strated (!) and simply refered to wine th...

Some of these comments are getting dangerously close to Thunderbird! our US friends will certainly know what that means! Port is only allowed to be produced from recognised varietals and no "international" varietals are permitted. Field blends will definately contain more than the "ch...

Have no fear, I have no problem with CSR but am a little confused at going from Cruz to Cheap ... not sure what that means for my credibility! as you know I thoroughly enjoy most of my colleagues offerings ... Just decanted a magnum of Graham's 77. Absolutly superb, very firm, concentrated, still ve...

rather like Churchill said ... now that we've established the fact it's all a matter of the price!
I can see a serious challenge coming my way during the vintage.

Cooled considerably in Porto today. I'll get an update from the Douro later (and an excuse for another post!)

well, well, well, that's certainly an incentive ... thanks.
I shall have to see if the site administrator is bribeable!

on an entirely different subject ... why am I tagged with Cruz Ruby??? ... a fine bottle but not quite what I normally keep at home!

No rain yet! Yesterday evening threatened thunder and showers in Porto and we had a few huge drops of rain but no clearing of the air. Nothing at all in the Douro. I’ve just spoken to Vesuvio and although a little cooler (relative) there is no sign of rain at the moment although the forecast does sh...

I'm assured they've now sorted the problem! All should be back to normal. Very many apologies for the trouble...
Dom Symington

Any chance of an image of the capsule form the side? If AJMM is prepared to do so, a simple solution will be to remove the lower part of the capsule and shine a bright light on to the neck and read the cork matkings. The lettering on the base is the glass manufacturers code. I'll ask our bottling pe...

Thanks Derek, as mentioned I've passed on yor note to the IT boffins who assure me they are resolving the issue! ... hopefully.
Many apologies for the trouble!
Dom Symington

(Andy, sorry! I missed your warning!)

I can categorically assure you that we don't blend any old wines into a Vesuvio Vintage Ports, this would totally ruin the wine. All the other posts essentially answer the question, the size of Vesuvio and the many micro-climates allow us to make a very stict selection and only make a tiny amount of...

Zimbro was sold to the Pinto Espanyol's by my family in 1952. We continue to make the Port from the property although they have recently started to make some Douro DOC's from Zimbro as well. (at the time the sale of Zimbro & Sra. da Ribeira enabled the family to remain independent) Roncão was a...

W H Chaplin was an old traditional wine merchant in Sussex, I think based in Worthing and some time of the City. I can only assume Concord was one of their brands and nothing to do with American grape varieties... When I first worked for Fells in the mid 1970’s Chaplin’s Port was bottled by us at ou...