Help - recommendations required for a tasting

[benread]

Gentlemen and Ladies of ThePortForum.com, your advice is required. On 15th August I have agreed to organise and fund a tasting for non-port drinkers at a leaving event. The format will require me to pre pour (probably from 2 bottles) and I am thinking of 3 or 4 different, but easily available ports designed to showcase the different styles of port. I was thinking of a 10 yo tawny (perhaps the Tesco or Sainsbury's own label), a ruby (Tesco have the Dows Masterblend at half price presently - £7.50!), a crusted (Grahams normally show very well but can be a bit pricey) and an LBV (preferably unfiltered, perhaps one of Quevedo's excellent LBVs as long as I can find them on sale somewhere currently to stick to my criteria! It would be cheating to supply some I already have.).

The question: any advice. I would like to open people to some of the less well know producers and styles! I am thinking of trying to do this for £100 all in at current retail prices to make it more of a challenge!

PS - for those who may regularly book it, my friend has the private room at the Bung Hole booked for this event, so if you had thought of a tasting that night, sorry! (Or feel free to come and assist me!)

[DRT]

Buying eight bottles of Port worth drinking for £100 will be a challenge, especially in summer with very few offers in the supermarkets. Six would be easily achievable.

When it comes to LBV I think you should go for a filtered. Given the price range (and likely sources) you are aiming to attract your guests to it will be very difficult to find an unfiltered LBV that fits the bill.

I think you should cheat a little and use a few bottles that you bought when on offer - perhaps some Sainsbury TTD 2003 or Malvedos 2001 (instead of the LBV)? That would leave you around £70 to spend on the other four bottles. If you go for the Master Blend you have £55 to spend on two bottles of aged tawny, which means you could go for a good one.

Or, if you buy the BOB tawny you might be able to squeeze in 4 halves of Croft LBV 04 for £16!

If needed I can supply the TTD03 and/or the CroftLBV04 at the prices noted above

[RAYC]

Last time I bought Sainsbury's 10yr, it was very solid indeed. Was last year though - don't know if they've since done a new bottling.

I agree with Derek - Sainsbury's TTD 2003 is an excellent choice. Since it will no doubt be back on offer at some point, you can count it as £15! (and have one you can have for that price if needed)

For supermarket LBVs, I'm very much enjoying the Sandeman 07 from waitrose. Croft 04 would be good, but I don't see them too regularly on the shelves these days...

Port Society ruby reserve from Tom? Or the new "MCC" blend from BBR might be nice if anyone is into their cricket (made by De La Rosa). Wouldn't go overboard on ruby reserves - better to have fewer but better ports in my opinion...

What about a couple Douro wines to broaden the spectrum (in case anyone does not like port)...? Niepoort "Drink Me" is good for £10, and the Waitrose Douro BoB (again, de la Rosa) is quite nice.

[PhilW]

Having done a couple of these for friends, a few extra thoughts for your consideration:
(i) Unless you're trying for the best of each category, don't go for the best in one and then the cheapest in another, just to match your target price point. For example, picking the nicest ruby around and then a cheap LBV would give people the wrong relative impression.
(ii) It is perhaps more important to be able to clearly demonstrate the styles and their differences than to maximise the experience with any particular bottle
(iii) A lot of people unfamiliar with port will prefer the tawny; depending on numbers and expected drinking quantity, you may want an extra bottle
(iv) I think it is a shame you don't have a VP in your list, though I would want a (reasonably) mature one for fair comparison with LBV etc, so would not go for the TtD2003 despite value, but would be more inclined to a G99, F96 or similar depending what you have available.
(vi) Given it is summer, I would throw in a white port as well, since it is a very different style, and relatively inexpensive

Possible low-cost line-up,
- Tawny: Warre Otima 10yr (£12.50 Asda)
- Ruby: Croft Extravagance (£6 Sainsbury)
- LBV: Croft '04 unfiltered LBV (£8 assuming previous purchase)
- VP: Fonseca '96 (£24 Winedirect and others)
Total £101 (for 2 bottles of each)

Preferred line-up, if budget can be increased a little:
- Tawny: Graham 10yr (£18.50 Tesco)
- Ruby: Dow Trademark finest reserve (£7 Sainsbury)
- LBV: Croft '04 unfiltered LBV (£8 assuming previous purchase)
- VP: Churchill '85 (£30 Bordeaux Vintners)
Total £127 (for 2 bottles of each)

(and I'd add a white!)

[uncle tom]

I could sort you:

3 x Taylor 10yr (50cL)

2 x Niepoort 2000 LBV (75cL)

2 x TPS FUR (75cL)

4 x Quevedo reserve tawny (37.5cL)

For £90.00 total

[jdaw1]

If you want placemats, and send clear instructions, they can be made.