ThePortForum.com

Years ago when I really got into port, one of the things I found a great help in selecting things to try was a chart that somebody had created and put up on a webpage; The table showed a list of all port producers, which years they declared from ~45 to ~90(ish) and gave a score (either a WS score, or that of the guy who created the chart, I can't remember which). It was a very helpful chart, giving an interesting indication of relative good/bad years, and opinions across the producers. I also remember there being a comment along the lines of "If you're buying ports older than 45 then you don't need my help" or similar

I wondered
(i) whether that table might have been created by someone here?
(ii) whether there is any equivalent table anyone knows of anywhere these days?

Phil.

Afraid I cannot point you at a chart. I find the tasting notes in this site extremely useful to get a 'picture' of a port.

Here is a link to a thread from a couple of years ago discussing a similar idea: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1412&p=11775#p11775

That discussion evolved into a major research product by jdaw1 and I which, at some point in the next ten years, will form the basis of a book

Were you thinking of The Port Man’s site? There’s a more comprehensive chart on the AEVP’s site, though it doesn’t have scores. I imagine Roy’s For the Love of Port has some similar charts, too.

The tasting notes here are indexed by Vintage and Shipper so although it’s not quite as at-a-glance as a table, you can still pretty quickly work out which wines people here think are good or bad for each year.

Aha!

JacobH, you get the prize - the chart I was referring to was the one on 'theportman' site, which I notice was last updated around 2000/2001. Have to say this chart was *very* helpful to me around that time in understanding the relative quality of different years (which were better across all shippers) and relative quality of shippers (which were better across all years) etc. It was the only real information on relative quality across the years/shippers I could find back then, rather than just the list of declared years, or sellers info (where every port is 'marvellous'!). For a while as I tried various ports to see what I liked I created my own version in Excel to compare my scores vs those from that table and WS or other score, for interest. Adding bottle price into the equation then creates the 'sweet spot' for selection on a budget

DRT, your thread looks like you are well on track to producing a more comprehensive version of the same kind of thing; I'd strongly suggest web posting of it when you do, as I know how invaluable such information was to me when I was initially learning about the different VPs, and while sections like the tasting notes on this forum seem excellent for experienced port drinkers, I think that kind of table is ideal for encouraging people to try good port and people starting out with VP. I'd make one suggestion; In addition to your table showing the declared years, you've mentioned potentially including scores or similar - I think this is where the real value is, whether a literal score or some form of simple grading (e.g. colours of sun from blue to red or whatever).

Phil.