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As learned from trustworthy sources Croft currently tries to protect the Term Pink exclusively to their brand. I know of some more producers of rose Port, but I do not think I got them all. Please forward the ones you are aware of:

Croft (obviously)
Kopke
Quevedo
Cruz
Rozes
Sogrape

Axel

Croft (obviously)
Kopke
Quevedo
Cruz
Rozes
Sogrape
Poças

Sogrape with Offley, right?

I am not sure as I heard at the IVDP that Sogrape produced one though I ve never seen it. Might be one of their brands or just Sogrape Rose (?).

Axel

Should we try a blind tasting of pink ports (or pink port 'n' tonic) at an offline? Should we keep this as an offline theme for the next time we see Oscar?

(I'm still laughing at myself for some of the things which I said when Oscar set up a blind tasting of a number of 2003 LBVs. I was completely astonished when I rated the 2003 Taylor filtered LBV as the best of the ports on show...but then I had been avoiding it after a number of bad experiences with the 2001 LBV. So, thank you Oscar for giving me the chance to test my prejudice and find I was wrong!)

My blind tasting experience with the rubies was very impressive, too. My favourite LBV always was the Noval Unfiltered. When Oscar presented the four, I forced myself to say, that in my impression there is no VP amongst them, dangerously close to be impolite as my mind was set to only have Quevedo Ports in front of me. I disqualified the Noval filtered and grouped the rest of the LBVs together as "LBVs from a non-declared year" as they did not impress me either.

Outstanding idea to do a Pink/Rose-Offline, but that should not be the meat of the evening. We definitely should plan for a real port after this.

Fantastic experience

Axel

AHB wrote:I was completely astonished when I rated the 2003 Taylor filtered LBV as the best of the ports on show...

The 2003 Taylor LBV (filtered) is probably my favorite LBV right now.

I have plenty of Vintage Port for aging... I don't need unfiltered LBVs for short term aging to fill in the gaps. What the Taylor gives me is something that tastes like a young VP but without all of the "young and brash" side effects of an actual young VP. Yum!

Glenn E. wrote: I have plenty of Vintage Port for aging... I don't need unfiltered LBVs for short term aging to fill in the gaps.

Glen, of course you must be a lucky man. I am not on this sunny side . So I do buy LBVs to let them age some years. And I have to admit: I do like them . So: Mea culpa .

Michael

Michael M. wrote:Glen, of course you must be a lucky man. I am not on this sunny side . So I do buy LBVs to let them age some years. And I have to admit: I do like them . So: Mea culpa .

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that I don't like them! Just that I don't really need to buy and hold them since a) my Port consumption isn't as high as Derek's or Uncle Tom's, and b) getting aged Vintage Port in the US isn't too terribly difficult or expensive. At least not at my rate of consumption!

I do like the flavor of young VP, though, but often find the tannins to be too big. A filtered LBV seems to retain the flavor but in a package that is much easier to drink.

I did just buy 6 bottles of 2003 Niepoort LBV, though, as an experiment. I plan to give them a few years and then see how they're doing.

AHB wrote:
(I'm still laughing at myself for some of the things which I said when Oscar set up a blind tasting of a number of 2003 LBVs. I was completely astonished when I rated the 2003 Taylor filtered LBV as the best of the ports on show...but then I had been avoiding it after a number of bad experiences with the 2001 LBV. So, thank you Oscar for giving me the chance to test my prejudice and find I was wrong!)

I was in the same camp on this one. I had stopped drinking Taylors LBV some time ago as I was never really struck by them. This blind tasting changed my mind about the 2003 version, which I'd never had before. A stunning job by Taylor's and worth seeking out for an outstanding LBV.

When in Holland, I noticed that TFP also produces a Pink Port as BOB for Gall & Gall, called Rabelo's Pink Port. There's also a Rabelo's Green Port, a tawny (I think??) from organic grapes.