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I've noticed that of the big names in vintage port, some get undue patronage, while others get ignored...

There are several shippers who clearly deserve more attention, and others, who have previously fallen from grace, who have worked to restore their reputation, and deserve to be judged objectivley on their more recent efforts.

So here's a little poll of possible 'focus' candidates for '08 - if you plump for the 'other' option, please elaborate!

Tom

OK - the 'other' option doesn't want to come out to play - I'm not sure why...?

Tom

This is a really tough question for me to answer as there are a lot of candidates in the list that I would like to learn more about, especially on their recent relaeases.

Martinez appear to have a low profile but produce consistently good wines that should really justify a higher profile.

Sandeman have produced some great wines in the past and still seem to be producing wines that are far more delicate in structure than many of their more burly competitors.

Cockburn recently generated some discussion as to how they were back producing great wines. This is something that hadn't hit my radar, so I could well do with spending some more time and trying to taste more of their recent releases during 2008.

I have had a few Ferreira wines in the past and never been disappointed. However, they are not easy to get hold of in the UK and so if I chose to concentrate some additional tasting effort in their direction next year then I would be making life unneccesarily difficult for myself.

Overall, I will vote for Cockburn. I'm interested to know whether their wines are back with the great reputation that they had 100 years ago. I will attempt to try one of their wines from each vintage released since 1990 and may even also try some of the Canais or Tua vintages in off years.

Alex

I too found it tricky to pick but I went for Sandeman, I have fond memories of consuming some at the house of a Uni mate. Clearly his family house (not his student digs) and they'd gone away and I found the port

Sandeman

As two of you have gone for Sandeman but it's only got one vote, has one of you got a slightly tipsy digit?

I went for the one coming up on the rails.

I’m struggling with the question. There isn’t an answer “can’t know unless I give it that attention to find out†. Perhaps I should answer a different question: “Which shipper deserved more of our attention in 2007?†, as that might be answerable. But is still tricky: in 2007 I tasted none of Delaforce, Ferreira, Martinez, nor Offley. Cockburn I tried only older vintages (≈⅔ of a sesqui-vertical), and Sandeman’s drier almond-flavoured style has never been my favourite.

How about “all of them†?

I voted Cockburn. Although I've been focussing on this shipper more already the last year, I will try to find more recent vintages to lay in the cellar. As for the others:

- Delaforce: never really does it for me
- Ferreira: is a contender, because the quality is usually solid, but just lost from Cockburn, because it has been pretty much stable over the years.
- Martinez: Their 2000 and 2003 vintages were very disappointing.
- Offley: .... don't know really....
- Sandeman: pretty much the same story as ferreira.

I went for Offley, mainly because I know where I can get an almost iinexhaustible supply across a large number of vintages

Derek

I picked Ferreira becuase its one I've not had a lot of, except for their aged tawny's, and I can find them fairly cheaply around me.

Where's Ramos Pinto?

There is never much mention on this brand. Is that it's not as widely distributed in England? They have a long history and deserve more attention.

Ooh this is a toughy on consistency I would go for Martinez or Ferreira I'll go for Ferreira.(Of the Ramos Pinto the vintage ports I've had have been quite poor in general but their vintage tawny's are quite good)