ThePortForum.com

Good afternoon,

I'm after some advice on laying down birth year ports.

I'd always loosely intended to buy a nice bottle of wine for my children (born 2010, 2013 and 2015). I finally sat down to research this today, and swiftly came to the conclusion that port will be a better bet.

A swift period of education has followed, but my head is now spinning, and I was hoping to tap into your collective expertise if possible.

I know it's too early for 2015, but it looks as though now would be a good time to think about buying bottles for 2010 and 2013. I know that neither of those years were good for vintage port, but I understand there are Single Quinta ports available for these years. I have also been able to find the late-bottled variety (e.g. Warre's 2010 LBV), but believe these are not so good for laying down.

Any top tips for wines to seek out from those years? I haven't set a budget yet, as I'm frankly too ill-informed at this stage.

A quick note on storage. I don't have a wine cellar. I have a dark cupboard that sits out of sunlight, but it is at room temperature. Presuming this won't suffice, I do have a cupboard that is always cold and dark that I can use.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Hi and welcome to

You cannot go wrong with Quinta do Vesuvio for this sort of purpose. Consistently great vintage port and made in almost every year since 1989.

Others are available, but QdV should be easy to find, is nicely packaged and will no doubt produce a 2015.

I have reason, also, to lay down port from 2010 and 2013, but likewise found the pickings scarce. As I didn't buy it "on release," I'm waiting a bit to see how things evolve before buying some bottles. As you don't have ideal cellaring conditions, and its well past 2012 and 2015 (respective release years), you may want to be similarly patient.

What other styles of wine had you considered (with better vintages in 2010 and 2013)?

SushiNorth wrote:I have reason, also, to lay down port from 2010 and 2013, but likewise found the pickings scarce. As I didn't buy it "on release," I'm waiting a bit to see how things evolve before buying some bottles. As you don't have ideal cellaring conditions, and its well past 2012 and 2015 (respective release years), you may want to be similarly patient.

What other styles of wine had you considered (with better vintages in 2010 and 2013)?

I would agree that it is worth waiting a bit, usually port does not go up in price in the first ten or even twenty years. Lack of stock in 'undeclared' year's can be a problem though. If you are just keeping a few bottles a dark, coolish place with no vibration is the standard advice, but I think that minimal temperature variation is as important as it being at ideal cellar temperature. Port will stand home cellaring in less than ideal conditions better than most wines. If you are thinking of a case (12 bottles) or even a half case it is not too expensive to leave it in the merchant's storage.

Have a look at the tasting notes section for the years you fancy, look out for notes by AHB (Alex) as I have found his notes reliable. DRT (Derek) suggestion about Vesuvio is a good one. Other reliable names are Fonseca, Dow, Taylor, Warre and Graham. There will be single Quinta wines from these producers available. 2010 was a belter of a year in Bordeaux, the Rhone and Northern Italy. Just sayin.

LGTrotter wrote: Have a look at the tasting notes section for the years you fancy, look out for notes by AHB (Alex) as I have found his notes reliable. DRT (Derek) suggestion about Vesuvio is a good one. Other reliable names are Fonseca, Dow, Taylor, Warre and Graham. There will be single Quinta wines from these producers available. 2010 was a belter of a year in Bordeaux, the Rhone and Northern Italy. Just sayin.

Lol -- I believe Alex liked everything he tasted from 2010 and 2013

Now I need to go find the 2016 harvest reports. [edit] Found -- that sounds promising for QdMalvedos.

I have tasted the 2013 Vesuvio and can confirm that it's utterly lovely. It will no doubt be a fine drink in due time.