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It's only two weeks left and the bottles need to be put upright. Can't sacrifice anything too good, as it may not be appreciated, but must be drinkable as I will be drinking it. I am declaring Fonseca Guimaraens 1988 for several reasons:

1. I like it;
2. I have several bottles;
3. It was relatively cheap;
4. I can get hold of more;
5. It is not overtly young;
6. It is not too old;
7. It will hold up against cheeses;
8. It will go nicely with chocolates;
9. Christmas Pudding and trifle are good accompaniments
10. I will not be upset if people slug it;
11. I will not be disappointed if there is any left at the end.

It is, in fact, perfect - 11/10

KillerB wrote: 4. I can get hold of more;

Please tell from where! I love this port too - I can only ever find it in silly wooden boxes with a cheap funnel though!

I have a bottle of Graham Crusted ('01). Will open that for mainly reason 10, but also haven't had it before. It does come in a wooden box, which will impress the others who have it , and be a useful box-to-put-things-in afterwards (though I can't work out what!). Reason 11 won't be a problem, so there's also Lustau Anada '90 sherry, and homemade bramble brandy from last year; also a really sticky black-treacle-in-a-bottle PX to go with Christmas Pudding (homemade a few months ago of course), or to pour on some, er, Arctic Roll ... And a Musar '00 with Boxing Day lunch, provided the food is appropriate.

benread wrote:

KillerB wrote: 4. I can get hold of more;

Please tell from where! I love this port too - I can only ever find it in silly wooden boxes with a cheap funnel though!

Correct. My Sainsbury's keeps putting the odd bottle of 88 out, which I snaffle each time. It may come to an end but I am an eternal optimist.

since i did not have any vintageport this year
(i will finish my studys on dez. 18.)

- if i'm going to meet, my two friends, rainer and david (from switzerland) i'm willing to open a great bottle like a 1955 graham or similar

- if i will be seeing my family, i think i'm going to open someting like a 1991 niepoort vp

time will tell

Like most of the reasons. Tesco put that Fonseca out at £25 most of the time and drop it to £20 periodically.

I hear that I'll be getting as much port as I like (to drink) on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day however I am given to understand it will be LBV. Boxing Day should be Smith Woodhouse 87 or the Tesco 94. That's the day I give the old man a bottle of Martinez 63 in readiness for his birthday (that I'll be attending - I'm not stupid!).

Since I'm going to other people over the period, I won't complain about the port. With the exception of a £6 bottle from Lidl of unbranded tawny, I've yet to find a bottle I can't enjoy. Or at least drink...

Nick,

Sainsbury's are knocking the 1996 version of FG out at £20.49 pretty much all the time. When the 25% deal was on it came down to just over £15 and had got some for the same price a couple of years ago from Waitrose. Tom got them even cheaper by some form of jiggery pokery.

Ooh - then I shall watch out for those offers. Cheers KB.

Like every year, I shall not be drinking (alcohol) at all on Christmas Day since I will be the designated driver for the day - I might squeeze in a glass of claret over lunch, but nothing more.

Boxing Day will be our annual trip to the pantomime, and I will be driving again.

So my Christmas port doesn't get opened until after Boxing Day - but when it is, it will be Vesuvio 2007 (courtesy of Axel, who brought a bottle over to the UK for me). New Year will probably be a bottle of Warre 1958.

Hi,

I love the systematic approach to this important question ! I however fall unfortunately into the emmotional section. Guess I will go into my cellar at my mothers place in Germany and pick a bt. Love doing this!!!
It will be highly likely a Croft 1955 recently aquired at auction since it started leaking shortly after it arrived (typical transport issues of old bts of wine ;-((()
The port will be great (had bts of this lot before), but the emmotional act picking the bt is not as great as usual because I know I will not let this bt continue to leak. ;-((( or )) as you like it. Good news is knowing my mother and sister they will help emptying the bt quicker and I can go back into the cellar on boxing day ))))

regards

WS1

Dow's 1978

First year that I have the entire family over for X-mas dinner so I do hope they will not drink it entirely while I'm cooking/cleaning

My parents are visiting this Christmas. They do enjoy a glass of port, but the really special stuff is wasted on them. At the moment I'm thinking of opening a bottle of Kopke 1985. That should be good to drink now.

I will be hosting a party of 15-20 who know nothing about port so I am doing a house tasting from Offleys, its the only thing I could get a whole run of. I have a white, ruby, tawny, 10 year, 97 colheita and the vintage will be a '94 Dows, all we have is 2000 Boa Vista, no thanks. Hopefully I can turn some of my friends on and have someone to drink with, or bum a sip from. I'll report back.

Furrybug - welcome to the Port Forum. Nice idea for a tasting event, hope it goes well for you.

For Christmas I will do a little Warre re- or aftertasting. Since I could manage to acquire a bottle of 45 very cheap, I will combine this with a bottle of W 70 and 91 (since this bottle was bad in October).

Axel

Axel P wrote:For Christmas I will do a little Warre re- or aftertasting. Since I could manage to acquire a bottle of 45 very cheap, I will combine this with a bottle of W 70 and 91 (since this bottle was bad in October).

Axel

So a very modest, nothing really special, middle of the road Christmas for you then eh?
Very cool. Looking forward to hearing about the ports, especially 1945 and 1970.

I know that this is a real special tasting, but the 45 needs to be drunk soon.

Axel

Guys,

Xmas is a family time, and my family deserves the best. And as i'm having 14 people at the table my choice will be:

A Graham's Vtg 1975 Magnum.

It is one my favourite VP and it was not expensive.

raul_alex wrote:A Graham's Vtg 1975 Magnum.

I didn’t know that the ’75 was bottled in mag. Did you mean ’85?

Would you believe that my Christmas port to date has consisted of two half bottles of Croft 2004 unfiltered LBV (bottled 2009) and a single bottle of Cockburn 2000 LBV (which must have been savagely chilled and filtered as even after 4 years in the bottle it went through a coffee filter paper without a single piece of sediment).

Thank goodness for the excesses of the Christmas Offline!

We did indeed open the 1985 Kopke. It was lovely, and I'll post notes sometime soon.

Due to the bad weather in Germany the Warre re-tasting could not take place, so postponed until Feb. Instead I will have a 70 Graham tomorrow as the last port before my 4 weeks without port in jan.

Axel

I had a lovely bottle of 1995 Fonseca Guimaraens at Christmas. This one was surprisingly evolved, smooth, and balanced.

None consumed until this evening (Delaforce Corte '91). Not a bad thing really as I'm a bit selfish when it comes to sharing good wine with people who aren't interested in it!

Burmester LBV 03

Seara D Ordens LBV 03

1977 Quarles Harris and 1977 Taylor.

Due to being in Kansas City visiting my family, I did not have access to my cellar. Thus the only Port available was a 2003 Noval LBV, which was completely wonderful.