Good Housekeeping Best Ports of 2021

[Doggett]

Maybe this should go under the Reference section ?!
But for what it is worth here is the Bests Ports for this winter from the team at Good Housekeeping.

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/win ... best-port/

[JacobH]

I always think the Good Housekeeping list is quite interesting. It can’t be easy suggesting a full range of Ports for the non-specialist market and whilst I’m a bit surprised that the 30-year-old Graham’s scores so highly, I can understand why they might have plumbed for Aldi bargain 40-year-old and the Quinta de la Rosa BOB LBV for Harvey Nick’s which is further down the list. The only fault would not be putting the Graham 2015 LBV on the list, unless they have moved onto the 2016 already.

[Doggett]

You are right to point out that there are some good Ports on the list. However, I am sure the magazine Ad Sales team were thrilled that Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, M&S, Co-op, Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose all featured as well as Harvey Nicks and Adnams. No one was targeting Morrison’s obviously!

[JacobH]

Hah! I was so engrossed in thinking to myself: “have I tried that one?”; “who makes their BOB Port?”; etc. that I was completely oblivious to that!

[PhilW]

Are you suggesting that the media might not be providing an unbiased viewpoint, the selections not being based on a blind tasting? Mock horror!

[uncle tom]

The list seems a little more thought through than the usual reports from the big name journalists - which are all too often copy 'n' paste reprints of the producers own hand-outs..

[jdaw1]

I don’t understand all the categories. Please explain:
• “Most versatile tawny port”;
• “Best crowd-pleaser” (how is this not a best of a particular type?).

[uncle tom]

• “Most versatile tawny port”;
• “Best crowd-pleaser” (how is this not a best of a particular type?).

I found the originality of those descriptions a little refreshing, although the difference between those two headings is not at all clear.

I can understand the notion of versatility in terms of products that have a broad appeal, but crowd pleasing is surely the same..

[JacobH]

They do give some hints in the descriptions. The Ramos Pinto SQTP is described as “equally at home alongside a cheeseboard as it is a fruit cake, chocolate or creamy dessert” whilst the Bin 27 has “in short, an enjoyable wine that both newbies and oenophiles will appreciate.”

I have a little sympathy with the first one. If you wanted to choose a tawny Port that could go with a wide selection of food or be drunk on its own, a 20-year-old isn’t a bad idea. And from memory the Ramos Pinto is quite nice.

I also like the idea of the second category, although my impression is that people who don’t drink much wine tend to prefer tawny reserves. That said, I bet what they really mean is: “if you have to buy a bottle of Port for Christmas lunch and don’t want to spend much because you don’t drink much of it but are worried that your wine-snob cousin is coming around, go for this”. I have no views as to whether the Bin 27 fits that bill!

[flash_uk]

I don’t understand all the categories. Please explain:
• “Most versatile tawny port”;
• “Best crowd-pleaser” (how is this not a best of a particular type?).

You might want to consider Simon's insightful point:

You are right to point out that there are some good Ports on the list. However, I am sure the magazine Ad Sales team were thrilled that Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, M&S, Co-op, Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose all featured as well as Harvey Nicks and Adnams. No one was targeting Morrison’s obviously!

The team must have had to work quite hard to create categories that could fit all those brands into