Newbie recommendations?

[WineLoverPT]

I confess - I'm a bit of a port virgin.
I've done a little fooling around in my time, and a little of what the Americans might call "heavy petting", but I still regard myself, basically, as a Port virgin.
I've drunk quite a lot of "the cheap stuff" - I can get bottles in the supermarket for 3.50 euros, and I've enjoyed those at the end of a meal.
I've had quite a bit of LBV, most of which I've liked.
I've had some 10 year old ports.
I've had a bottle of Croft Platinum which I really didn't like - sickly sweet and lacking in very much flavour.
My local café serves São Pedro das Águias Tawny for a euro a (big) glass, and I often take one or two of them.
I had a Cruz '89 last week, which I enjoyed (it improved after a day or so in the decanter), but I've seen that this isn't really very highly rated.

And now I'm ready, I think, to step to the next level.

I'd like to experiment with some of "the good stuff", but, frankly, I don't want to spend an arm and a leg unless I'm fairly sure they're going to be bionic and make me breakfast with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice the next morning.
I've drunk, and continue to drink, a lot of red wine - ranging from 1 euro to 70 euros. My experience is that the 60 euro bottle is, to be sure, better than the 10 euro bottle, but not 6 times better, and that's where my conundrum lies. 20 euros seems to be, for me at least, at least at the moment, the optimal price/quality ratio - the extra 10 euros above that doesn't seem to get me 10 euros worth of extra quality. When I'm in the wine shops I wonder what the 1000 euro bottle tastes like, but I think I'm going to wonder that forever. I'm also wondering what the 100 euro bottle tastes like, but that may, in fact, come to pass one day - some time this year I'll have a birthday!

Having set the background, I can now get to the actual questions...
1) What do people think is an optimal price/quality ratio for a bottle of Port?
2) If I had, say, 500 euros (or pounds, they're similar these days, alas) to spend, and I was looking to get a "bit of a taste" for a broadish range of decent port (but not so broad that it isn't red), and preferably providing a hint as to what the really good stuff might taste like, what would you recommend? Given the context, I'm obviously looking for port to drink now.

I realise this might be a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question, but I am, as I said, a bit of a virgin, so any pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated.

[jdaw1]

Hello and welcome to .

Where are you? Do the prices in € mean that UK supermarket recommendations won’t help?

[DRT]

Where are you?

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Hello and welcome to

My experience is that the 60 euro bottle is, to be sure, better than the 10 euro bottle, but not 6 times better, and that's where my conundrum lies.

The same conundrum applies to Port. Some cheap ones are excellent and some expensive ones are distinctly average.

If you want to taste lots of different Ports you could spend your 500 Euro on a trip to Porto and spend a couple of days visiting the various lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia. Most of them are free to enter and will let you taste two or three of their Ports for free. You can usually pay a small fee for some of the better stuff. 500 Euro would buy you lots and lots of glasses of different Port.

Another option is to spend your 500 on a brief trip to London and join us at a tasting

[Alex Bridgeman]

Another option is to spend your 500 on a brief trip to London and join us at a tasting

As bizarre as it sounds, this really could be one of your best options. TAP and Easyjet both fly direct from Oporto to London, overnight accommodation in a Premier Inn or Travelodge (both adequate but in no way luxurious) can be bought for under £100 per night. Joining us for one of our offlines would give you the opportunity to taste anything between 6 and 20 different ports and then give you the best part of the following day to go shopping in the supermarkets before heading back home. From what I have seen, top mid-range port in the UK is cheaper than in Portugal although cheap and low mid-range port is cheaper in Portugal.

But on the assumption you want to do your homework before you join us in London, I would start with the following:

1) Figure out what style(s) of port you like. Try mid-range examples to establish this. You can already tick tawny (Sao Pedro das Aguias) and ruby (the LBVs) but what about white and pink?

2) Where is your sweet spot for tawny? Basic tawny or tawny with an indication of age (10, 20, 30 or 40 years). Most people seem to find the 20 year is a good balance between price and quality. Or do you prefer colheita ports - single harvest ports matured in barrel rather than in bottle? If so, how old? How recently bottled (recent = fresher, not recent = more complex but less fresh)?

3) What kind of ruby port do you prefer. You've already tried and not enjoyed Croft Indulgence, but what about Fonseca Bin 27 or Graham 6 Grapes? Both of these are premium rubies and are pretty good juice. What about the difference between filtered and unfiltered LBV? Can you get hold of any Crusted port - poor man's vintage? Mature Vintage Ports (like the Cruz 1989) is pretty expensive to buy in Portugal but you can buy 1994 Tesco Own Label for £15-20 per bottle and good bottles are very fine.

4) White ports now come with an indication of age, and these are very different in flavour profile from basic white port. Do you prefer the white with indication of age? If so, what age do you prefer? Or do you prefer a basic white, on the rocks with a twist of mint or diluted with tonic?

5) And you might be one of the people who like pink port. Try it before you judge. Personally, the only way I can drink (most) pink ports is to serve them very cold and diluted with a lot of soda water - then it's like a thirst quenching campari, but nicer.

Finally, can you get to the Quevedo winery in Sao Joao da Pesquiera? If so, try a visit there and work your way through their range - they are a small, family run producer who make excellent ports and would probably happily take you through their range so that you could experience the entire spectrum of good quality port, glass by glass. They also have the added advantage of charging sensible prices!

[djewesbury]

You could also taste the whole Quevedo range in their rather nice bar / lodge in Vila Nova de Gaia.

[WineLoverPT]

Thanks to everyone for the replies - both in public and in private.

I confess I was hoping not to get too serious about Port, but earlier this week a friend I was at university with and had not communicated with for 32 years visited me here in my Portuguese hovel.
What better time to crack open a bottle of Vintage Port!
Having not much choice at this time, I went with a Niepoort 2011 - I know - it's way too early, but I wanted to know what all the fuss was about (and to vindicate all the 2011 purchases I've made).
We had very small doses over a 48 hour period - from seconds after the decant to the last drop, licked from the glass (I'm not proud).
Frankly, I've never tasted anything quite like it, or, rather, them - it started with blackcurrant, went through "grape brandy" (the only way I can describe that tasting), then the fruit disappeared and there was an edge, then the fruit came back but this time blackberry, then something else.
Just amazing - I can't imagine what it will be like in 10, 15, 20, years - I only hope I'm around to taste it.

The upshot of all this is that I might be becoming somewhat more serious, and I'm really going to try to get to one of these amazing events you hold, albeit almost certainly in "leper" mode without a bottle of my own.
In the meantime I'm going to see if I can get some of those suggestions.