ThePortForum.com

Hello there. I’m a new member having been told about this fine forum via a member on Instagram. I’m a chap in my mid-30s in Leeds, England. I’ve liked port all my adult life and have tried to educate myself a little about it.

I’m interested in hearing your recommendations on bottles of port that aren’t on supermarket shelves but that I don’t have to spend lots of money on finding them. I am not the greatest fan of white nor tawny port (although I will drink them!) I dearly love unfiltered LBV especially. Any recommendations etc as well as a friendly welcome are appreciated.

Yours, in port

Welcome! I would very much recommend some LBVs that are readily available to get going with. I am a big fan of the Sandeman LBV which I think is currently on the 2015 release but will be moving on soon to the next year if it hasn’t already. This are easily available from Waitrose at about £18 and discounted by 25% fairly regularly on promotions which provide great QPR. Quevedo LBVs are another that are worth looking out for and Vintage Wine and Port are a good supplier of these. Crusted ports also provide great value for high quality Ruby ports. Sainsbury’s often has the Graham’s Crusted and Asda the Dow’s Crusted ports, and Churchill is another worth looking up. Then the Single Quinta Ports available through supermarkets and retailers can offer great value. My advise would be to keep an eye on the Tastings posts and try to get to one of the TFP tastings, bring an appropriate bottle and get ready to descend into the rabbit hole!

Hi!

Welcome to .

If you’ll forgive one supermarket recommendation, the 2015 Graham LBV is excellent and much better than previous years. It is sometimes on offer and so really cheap. I’d highly recommend stocking up on it if you can find it.

In terms of interesting and affordable Ports which aren’t available from supermarkets, I should start with a significant disclaimer: Port is often sold for a ridiculously low cost by British supermarkets (sometimes even as a loss-leader) so if you start looking for wines that are more unusual, you will struggle to find ones which represent quite as good value.

Some suggestions:

2014 Tanner’s LBV made by Churchill’s which is £17.20 a bottle. I might also be tempted by their 2006 Crusted, also by Churchill, which is £23.50.

One of the Niepoort LBVs. Uncorked has the 2014 at £21.50, although if choosing blind, I’d go for a 2015 if I could find one. They also have the Niepoort Crusteds, although those aren’t particularly cheap and the Martinez 1985 VP which I haven’t tried in the last decade but which will give you an impression of a fully-matured VP at only £30ish.

The Quinta do Infantado 2015 LBV which Nickolls and Perks has for £21.60. This is a traditional Portuguese LBV: it’s essentially a Vintage Port that has been bottled late. The Infantado Ports are also interesting since they try to use as little spirit as they possibly can.

Majestic usually stocks the Taylor’s SQVPs. The Quinta de Vargellas is the most famous from the main property in the Douro Superior but you can also find the Quinta de Terra Feita which is a bit cheaper, rarer and often excellent. They also sometimes stock some of the other Taylor Fladgate Partnership SQVPs like the Croft Quinta da Roêda which is excellent value, although I think you sometimes see that in supermarkets too.

I’d also suggest trying the Quinta de la Rosa and Quinta do Noval LBVs and the QdlR VP if you see them, despite them being supermarket Ports, too. The Warre unfiltered LBV—again another supermarket Port—has consistently good reviews although I’d only buy it when it is significantly discounted.

Welcome to TPF

Given your liking of unfiltered LBVs, and that others have made several recommendations for more of those, so I'm going to answer as if you'd said "I love unfiltered LBVs, so if I wanted even better without paying much more, can you recommend any VPs that can be obtained for not too much more which you think I might enjoy?" in case those are of interest to you.

Jacob has already mentioned Taylor SQVPs, but I'll be even more specific; my top recommendation right now given your criteria would be Taylor Terra Feita 2005 vintage port, as quite a volume of this has been put through many merchants recently so it is readily available at £25-30 from several online retailers and is delicious for drinking now or will last for many years. I'd probably also try a bottle of Fonseca Guimaraens 2004 vintage port available for £25 from several retailers, though I haven't yet tried it personally.

Focusing on unfiltered LBVs is not a bad idea in terms of bang for your buck and I would recommend checking Wine Searcher regularly. Search for "Late Bottled Vintage", select UK shops and, ideally also filter for good to excellent years such as 2011 or earlier ones. The benefit of that is obvious, you don't have to invest the time needed for the wines to reach optimum maturity. For example, I tested a Ferreira 2011 the other week which was very nice but nowhere near where it needs to be - still much too tannic for my liking.

At the moment 19 results are returned (if you have pro version which i don't) including Ramos Pinto and Quinta do Noval (BBX @ £145 for 6 in bond - a bit steep).

Greetings! and welcome to the forum.

The range of LBVs offered by the supermarkets is small and a bit repetitive. I personally like buying from Portugal Vineyards, who ship directly from Portugal at reasonable prices, and are very friendly and efficient. They are currently offering no fewer than 76 different LBVs.

www.portugalvineyards.com

Auctions can also be fun places to discover different ports - try searching for port at www.the-saleroom.com. Mixed lots from house clearances can be interesting and informative for the newbie. Don't write off tawny ports until you've tried some that have twenty or thirty years of bottle age behind them, the rough edges vanish and they become very mellow. The better and sweeter whites can also age well, although the dry standard whites tend to go sour after a while. Chilled white ports are very agreeable on a hot day.

If you want one book to give you a good insight into the subject, I'd recommend Richard Mayson's 'Port and the Douro'

And finally.. don't be afraid to sign up to one of our offlines - we are a mostly slightly certifiable bunch, and very informal. New faces are always welcome!

uncle tom wrote: ↑13:22 Thu 09 Sep 2021 The range of LBVs offered by the supermarkets is small and a bit repetitive. I personally like buying from Portugal Vineyards, who ship directly from Portugal at reasonable prices, and are very friendly and efficient. They are currently offering no fewer than 76 different LBVs.

www.portugalvineyards.com

Incidentally, I recently ordered some wine from them—about 8 bottles of moderately priced table wine—to see how they were holding up post-Brexit. The shipping was pretty quick via. DHL, although I think shipping is done at cost which makes it a bit pricier than some places. DHL didn’t want anything from me pre-delivery but sent me an invoice afterwards for VAT + duty and their additional handling cost which was £11.

So, to give you an idea of figures, for an order of wines that cost c.€168, I paid an additional €21 for PV’s shipping; £11 for DHL’s handling and £54 in duty and VAT. The duty will clearly be a bit more if you are ordering a Port. I’d do it again for a specific purchase of unusual wines but I am not sure you save much money by doing it this way.

So, to give you an idea of figures, for an order of wines that cost c.€168, I paid an additional €21 for PV’s shipping; £11 for DHL’s handling and £54 in duty and VAT. The duty will clearly be a bit more if you are ordering a Port. I’d do it again for a specific purchase of unusual wines but I am not sure you save much money by doing it this way.

A small order may not be such a good idea, but three or four dozens usually pays. For an example, PV's price on Warre 2008 LBV is currently £12.61 - nearly ten quid less than anywhere in the UK, which provides quite a lot of headroom for duty and shipping.

uncle tom wrote: ↑14:40 Thu 09 Sep 2021A small order may not be such a good idea, but three or four dozens usually pays. For an example, PV's price on Warre 2008 LBV is currently £12.61 - nearly ten quid less than anywhere in the UK, which provides quite a lot of headroom for duty and shipping.

That’s true. Presumably DHL’s £11 cost is fixed so the more you order the less this costs per bottle. I made a consciously small order this time to see how it worked post-Brexit in case it was a complete disaster to limit the damage. Do you know how much they charge for shipping if you order 36-48 bottles?

Do you know how much they charge for shipping if you order 36-48 bottles?

Choose a few items and add to basket - the shipping costs should calculate automatically on the basket page.

The Crasto 2015 LBV is very excellent (TN). It was being offered by MySomm at £15, though when I bought some (gentlemen don’t ask) the invoice was for £14.50 per bottle. Recommended.

Actually, I’ll decant one now.

uncle tom wrote: ↑13:22 Thu 09 Sep 2021 Greetings! and welcome to the forum.

The range of LBVs offered by the supermarkets is small and a bit repetitive. I personally like buying from Portugal Vineyards, who ship directly from Portugal at reasonable prices, and are very friendly and efficient. They are currently offering no fewer than 76 different LBVs.

www.portugalvineyards.com

Auctions can also be fun places to discover different ports - try searching for port at www.the-saleroom.com. Mixed lots from house clearances can be interesting and informative for the newbie. Don't write off tawny ports until you've tried some that have twenty or thirty years of bottle age behind them, the rough edges vanish and they become very mellow. The better and sweeter whites can also age well, although the dry standard whites tend to go sour after a while. Chilled white ports are very agreeable on a hot day.

If you want one book to give you a good insight into the subject, I'd recommend Richard Mayson's 'Port and the Douro'

And finally.. don't be afraid to sign up to one of our offlines - we are a mostly slightly certifiable bunch, and very informal. New faces are always welcome!

Thanks for this; I’d love to attend an offline thing at some point in the future. The book you mention, I’ve seen recommended before. I’ll have a look out for it.