Food/port pairing: How to get a full spectrum

[g-man]

Thread spin off from
[url=http://theportforum.com/viewtopic.php?f ... 813#p44813]NY Wishlist tasting[url]

I was thinking

1 Ruby
1 Reserve Ruby
1 10 yr Tawny
1 20 yr Tawny
1 Colheita
1 LBV
1 young VP
1 old VP preferably of same house

to start, what would you guys think would make good representations of the above?
and if i had to add 2 more bottles what other two should i add?

[JacobH]

It would be fun to do this with just one house to see how clear the house style is down the range. If you're sticking with 8 bottles, I might try to find an aged LBV instead of the basic Ruby (the later might be quite hard to get, in any case) since that would be an interesting comparison with the aged Vintage. And if you have space you could always add a 30/40 year old tawny and then have one young colheita and one old one to compare with the tawnies.

[Alex Bridgeman]

And there's white port, lagrima and pink to add to the spectrum.

[JacobH]

And there's white port, lagrima and pink to add to the spectrum.

Looking through the IVDP regulations, at least 23 different types of Port can be made: 1) Vintage, 2) LBV, 3) Crusted, 4) Ruby Reserve, 5) Ruby, 6) Colheita, 7) 40 YO Tawny, 8) 30 YO Tawny, 9) 20 YO Tawny, 10) 10 YO Tawny, 11) Reserve Tawny, 12) Tawny, 13) White Colheita, 14) 40 YO White, 15) 30 YO White, 16) 20 YO White, 17) 10 YO White, 18) White Reserve, 19) White, 20) Lagrima, 21) Leve Seco, 22) Rosé and 23) Garrafeira. I suppose you would at least have to add SQVP and traditional LBV as ‟unofficial” Port categories to get to 25!

I wonder which shipper makes the fullest range? I think Niepoort makes 17*, if some of their Rubies / Tawnies are counted as ‟basic” and not reserve. I think Ramos Pinto might do 17, too**, since it is pretty strong on the whites, making the Lagrima, Reserve, Leve Seco and Rosé, all of which are pretty unusual, but I haven’t seen them make any Crusteds or Aged Whites.

[* Excluding the 40 YO Tawny, White Colheita, 20-40 YO White, Lagrima, Leve Seco and Rosé]
[** Excluding the Crusted, 40 YO Tawny, White Colheita, 10-40 YO Whites, and Garrafeira]