ThePortForum.com

Who are the recognised authoritarians on port? (or authorities).

The wine world has Jancis, Parker, Johnson, Spurrier etc., their knowledge is wide and varied but are there any writers / commentators out there who specialise on port?

Links to their websites (if allowed) would be appreciated.

Graham,

The port world has very few experts who are willing to share their thoughts on the web. The link below will take you to a place where you can find a few of them...

Click Here

Derek

You tease Derek!

There are a few respected individuals:

For depth of personal experience (and tasting notes that broadly concur with my own) - Michael Broadbent

For all-round knowledge, and a scholarly attention to accuracy in his written work - Richard Mayson

Others might mention James Suckling, but his book is now out of date, and I find it easy to disagree with his pronouncements...

There are several other authors who have written good works.

Of the on-line community, there is only one person who openly presents himself as an expert.

His knowledge, while extensive in certain areas, is notably lacking in others - we don't often mention him here..

Tom

uncle tom wrote:
Of the on-line community, there is only one person who openly presents himself as an expert.

His knowledge, while extensive in certain areas, is notably lacking in others - we don't often mention him here..

Tom

A troll through previous posts unearthed a review for this site on infoportwine.com, this also mentioned RH, I guess this is who you are referring too. Say no more.

That reminds me: I needed to write to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Roy,

If you do read this, I'm sure you know its only gentle mocking. Now why dont you sign up, and we can all cross swords in the humour department and learn a bit in the Port Department!

Alan

Conky wrote:Roy,

If you do read this, I'm sure you know its only gentle mocking. Now why dont you sign up, and we can all cross swords in the humour department and learn a bit in the Port Department!

Alan

That's a lot of departments, are you sure there are enough of us?

Sideways

You should see the late night 'Tired & Emotional' Department, that hangs around the Meaningless Drivel Corridors...

Alan

Meaningless Drivel

A natural by-product of too much wine I fear.

Sideways wrote:Who are the recognised authoritarians on port?

Interesting choice of word.

Yahoo’s dictionary wrote: ADJECTIVE:

1. Characterized by or favoring absolute obedience to authority, as against individual freedom: an authoritarian regime.
2. Of, relating to, or expecting unquestioning obedience. See Synonyms at dictatorial.

Or did you mean “authorities†?

Meaningless Drivel

A natural by-product of too much wine I fear.

You're thinking of meaningless dribble...

Tom

jdaw1 wrote:
Or did you mean “authorities†?

Take your pick.

To come back to the original topic, I would say that the tasting notes of Michael Broadbent are of great value. I usually agree with the scores of James Suckling, although these are fairly useless for older ports, since they mostly consist of one single tasting note from nearly 20 years ago.

Sideways wrote:

jdaw1 wrote:
Or did you mean “authorities†?

Take your pick.

Graham,

I think it is worth explaining that jdaws' primary function here it to edyoukate us; into using propper grammmer and punktuation. It is fort-unate that he also like's port and kan ---- therefore ... also engaje in port-related-topics-of-conversation

Dere-'k

Derek T. refers to this thread, incomplete in the sense that many crimes go unrecorded.

My use of the word authoritarian was intentional, Parker anyone?

More careful in future I will be.

My edumication and grummer r note so gode ether

AS for Parker, I think he is the last person I look to when searching for wine reviews on Port. Others wines yes, but he is not good at Port. Although Mark Squires did a great job reviewing dry wines from Portugal in the last ediition of The Wine Advocate. I havn't seen him rate any Ports yet, so not sure there.

Sideways wrote:[A troll through previous posts unearthed a review for this site on infoportwine.com, this also mentioned RH, I guess this is who you are referring too. Say no more.

If you are interested in learning about port, Roy Hersh's site is a definite place to visit. Roy has an extensive cellar and probably drinks more different ports than most (all?) of the rest of us so also has an extensive library of tasting notes. Several of the people who post here also post on Roy's forum, the two different forums having complimentary approaches to the topic of Port.

(Plus Roy lets me post my tasting notes of South African wines made with traditional portuguese port varieties and with the fermentation stopped early through the addition of neutral grape brandy in with all the other port tasting notes.)

Alex

You mean he lets you break one of the fundamental laws of the Universe?

!!!ARMAGEDDON!!!

For pure info on the Port world , ya gotta visit RH's site .

But for better info - stick right here!

Tom

You guys crack me up .

I'm a forum slut, I shall take what I want from both and leave without warning.

Bring me your tired , your homeless , your weak , your port & peanut butter guys , your Portonians and your port forum sluts .