Christopher wrote:12 Bomfim 92
24 Fonseca 85
12 Warre 83
12 Graham 00
1 Cockburn 1908
1 Graham 27
1 Taylor 70
2 Taylor 45
2 Taylor 48
Got a bit carried away!
OK, so the Finest Reserve isn't subtle. I'm not going to go for official tasting notes but it tastes like port, it looks like port and has a mouth feel that isn't bad at all.
My tally shows 24 of those so that's the next month sorted anyway.
Shed loads of vintage champagne from Tesco in their latest bout of vinous generosity. Two bottles have been consumed already! And 6 bottles of Vargellas 1998 for what worked out to be £11.25 per bottle - sadly this seems to have been a local manager shelf clearance exercise restricted just to one store.
Top Ports in 2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2025: Quevedo 1972 Colheita, b.2024. Just as good as Niepoort 1900!
AHB wrote:Shed loads of vintage champagne from Tesco in their latest bout of vinous generosity. Two bottles have been consumed already! And 6 bottles of Vargellas 1998 for what worked out to be £11.25 per bottle - sadly this seems to have been a local manager shelf clearance exercise restricted just to one store.
I have witnessed the same shelf clearance phenomenon before. It seems that modern retail management training ensures that store managers never fall into the trap of allowing their current batch of Vargellas 1998 go out of date before they put the next batch of fresh Vargellas 1998 go on the shelf
"The first duty of Port is to be red" Ernest H. Cockburn
Thanks to Tesco my ‟causal drinking” mixed bin (aka ‟the pile of LBV”)is now looking rather full and I’m rather worried it’s now going to fall over before I have a chance to make serious inroads into it...
JacobH wrote:Thanks to Tesco my ‟causal drinking” mixed bin (aka ‟the pile of LBV”)is now looking rather full and I’m rather worried it’s now going to fall over before I have a chance to make serious inroads into it...
DSC_0006.JPG
I love the picture! I can make out Croft 2004 LBV - what else is in there?
Top Ports in 2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2025: Quevedo 1972 Colheita, b.2024. Just as good as Niepoort 1900!
1 bottle Quinta Do Vesuvio 1994 purchased and consumed in the Beckford Inn near Tewkesbury where I was staying over weekend. Thought £45 was quite reasonable for hotel price.
Miele KWL4712Sed wine cellar for £395 including delivery from Ebay, now need to either clear a space in the spare room or get rid of pile of junk in lobby before it's delivered. Can now at least think ab out replacing broken tumbledrier(would have considered under counter unit if one had come up at right price) but on further thought might prioritise filling the cellar!
AHB wrote:I love the picture! I can make out Croft 2004 LBV - what else is in there?
Thanks; I think it’s currently: Quevedo ’03; Croft ’04 & ’05; Taylor ’05; Graham ’06 and some Quevedo 10-year-old tawny (in the optimistic believe that we may have some hot weather at some stage this year...)
I slowly work my way down the pile whenever I want to open some Port to quaff in the evening. None of it is VP, of course, but it was all insanely underpriced. I think I paid about £8 a bottle on average...
Picked up 6 of the Bomfim 1999 from Asda yesterday. I'll tuck these away into storage for a while. Might get another one just to see what they're like at the moment.
Top Ports in 2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2025: Quevedo 1972 Colheita, b.2024. Just as good as Niepoort 1900!
9x Osborne 1992 VP (no idea how these will turn out, I've got one on deathrow for next week when I'm organising a little wine tasting) at auction a couple of weeks ago (got them delivered last week). They all do look to be in very good condition, which at least gives some hope that they have been cellared well over the years.
I've never seen a TN on this particular VP.Gerwin de Graaf
gerwin.degraaf wrote:9x Osborne 1992 VP (no idea how these will turn out, I've got one on deathrow for next week when I'm organising a little wine tasting)
A vintage port tasting on Dutch soil? Did you know it's always good karma to invite your fellow port-forum members? .
... added a case of Smith Woodhouse 1995 (couldn't resist)
plus 6 Fonseca Guimaraens 1991
Next target: the Delaforce agent here in Bermuda!!! Have a root around in their stores.
Was this a special blend from Quinta d. Vale Dona Maria or is it another project?
This from wineanorak (undated):
"Other Van Zeller involvements include a joint venture with José Maria da Fonseca, called José Maria da Fonseca & Van Zeller. This venture owns two Quintas in the Alto Douro, Vale da Minha (5 ha) and de Mós (10 ha), and are producing a table wine (called Domini), and LBV and vintage Ports"
The name Fonseca is a common surname in Portugal, and there is clearly no recent connection between this Fonseca and that owned by the TFP; so the forenames are significant with regard to the first party of this partnership.
The inclusion of the word 'Van' in names of Dutch origin is essentially an adjective rather than a noun ( -JDAW will probably correct me..!) so in the case of the second party, the latter part of the surname would seem more relevant.
With that in mind, I think I will book this under 'J' and use the abbreviation JZ (if it hasn't been allocated already..)
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
roel wrote:
Any cork-leakage on the Niepoort '97s?
too hot in NY to take delivery but the warehouse manager says everything looks clean.
Sounds good! I bought a case myself a couple of weeks ago and picked it up at the retailer. We had to go through multiple cases out of his cellar to get enough clean bottles. He didn't yet know about this issue and didn't look very happy seeing the content of his cases. I tried to suggest opening one of the leaky bottles on the spot for an improvised tasting session but he didn't follow up on that. Too bad, I am still curious about the effect of this leakage on the wine. Probably should have just offered half price for one of those bottles, just as a comparison.
roel wrote:
Any cork-leakage on the Niepoort '97s?
too hot in NY to take delivery but the warehouse manager says everything looks clean.
Sounds good! I bought a case myself a couple of weeks ago and picked it up at the retailer. We had to go through multiple cases out of his cellar to get enough clean bottles. He didn't yet know about this issue and didn't look very happy seeing the content of his cases. I tried to suggest opening one of the leaky bottles on the spot for an improvised tasting session but he didn't follow up on that. Too bad, I am still curious about the effect of this leakage on the wine. Probably should have just offered half price for one of those bottles, just as a comparison.
Roel.
oof, sounds like that i would need to setup an emergency tasting!
you around NY? =)
Disclosure: Distributor of Quevedo wines and Quinta do Gomariz
g-man wrote:
oof, sounds like that i would need to setup an emergency tasting!
you around NY? =)
Nope, I'm on the other side of the pond. But you are more than welcome over here in the Netherlands of course.
On the other hand, a Niepoort vertical is as good a reason as any for a short (wine-related) trip to the states. I could bring in a bottle of almost any vintage of choice, from 77 onwards and I would tend to favor september or october.
g-man wrote:
oof, sounds like that i would need to setup an emergency tasting!
you around NY? =)
Nope, I'm on the other side of the pond. But you are more than welcome over here in the Netherlands of course.
On the other hand, a Niepoort vertical is as good a reason as any for a short (wine-related) trip to the states. I could bring in a bottle of almost any vintage of choice, from 77 onwards and I would tend to favor september or october.
Roel.
i am unfortunately a Fonseca man with a smattering of other houses here and there
Disclosure: Distributor of Quevedo wines and Quinta do Gomariz
Hello All - have had a nice Father's Day gift from my wife & kids:
a Fonseca 1994, from a friend's wine shop. Couldn't stop drooling thinking about it!!!
Wookie wrote:Hello All - have had a nice Father's Day gift from my wife & kids:
a Fonseca 1994, from a friend's wine shop. Couldn't stop drooling thinking about it!!!
Wow. Very nice.
I got a grunt of acknowledgment from my teenage son.
Top Ports in 2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2025: Quevedo 1972 Colheita, b.2024. Just as good as Niepoort 1900!
I got a home made Father's Day card sent in absentia (not my weekend that weekend) with a drawing of me with a glass of port in one hand and a bucket of empty port bottles nearby.