ThePortForum.com

Biddenden is the next village along from Tenterden which is where Chapel Down is so it's obviously a good spot for vines. A nice day out would be to visit both with lunch in the excellent Chapel Down restaurant (book ages in advance at the weekend) and a return trip from Tenderden on the preserved K...

But mostly I am just a romantic. I love the idea of old field blends, of co-fermentation of the field blends and a great Port being produced through the skill and artisanship of the grape growers and winemaker. Sadly, I also accept that while this approach worked 175 years ago, it's probably not go...

That's interesting. Would it not produce a similar result over time via natural selection since badly placed varietals would die off (or be dug out) with their spaces to be filled cuttings or layerings from their happier neighbours?

Unfiltered LBV. I was worried this would be too mature but still darkly coloured and opaque; fading a little to purple-red. Intense concentration on the nose: some cherries perhaps with distant sugar and some flowers, too. In the mouth, not terribly expressive on first tasting. Still quite a lot of ...

Those who have championed varietal plantings are reluctant to admit that their strategy is wrong, but most of them have extended the number of varieties being planted in recent years, which hints at a tacit admission that the 'new order' wasn't perfect. I am not greatly convinced by the argument th...

As consumers I love the fact we have a choice; I'm just not sure my palate is as good as that of the winemaker who can taste a difference! I’m interested in your views as a chemist! :wink: One aspect of modern winemaking that I struggle to understand is the jettisoning of science for a load of subj...

Warning: this is a real oddity! Back in 2011, Oscar provided some of us with some single-varietal samples of the Quevedo 2009 vintage port. We tried to set up an offline to try them and do some blending but I seem to remember it never got off the ground and so it was just Rob and I who had a go foll...

I saw your adverts for this on Twitter and was very impressed with the selection (and the price!). My main problem is working out a bottle of Port that costs c.£31 to add to the order...

Interesting. I wonder if it will be like the UK spirit market which really exploded once they removed the minimum production requirements.

I think “Barros Boavista” has a nicer ring to it!

Thanks! (Although I'm afraid that that is making me tend towards thinking of it as a buzzword rather than anything substantive....)

I wonder if the first reason given (i.e. to ensure proper aging) was the main motivation when it was enacted since, in those days, I don’t think the regulations were as strict on characterising Port by age before it was sold (especially since few shippers were producing the wine themselves and were ...

Co-fermenting never did stop. Subsided some when block planting gained fashion. My understanding is some producers are going back to co-fermenting more often than in the recent past. My opinion...I think producers have learned that either extreme (block planting and field blends) aren't the sole an...

I don't think I've seen Alicante Bouschet referred to in the context of Port before, although reading about it, I can understand why they would use it. Wikipedia refers to its thick skins and comments that "the intense red color was also helpful for stretching the wine during prohibition, as it coul...

I think of Churchill as one of those Ports that is always around. We usually have some dry white in the fridge; I always have a glass at Bar Douro; and they seem to be present at any public tasting. I'm actually drinking some right now- a ruby in a 20cl bottle which has somehow completely matured so...

uncle tom wrote: ↑

19:30 Mon 06 Jul 2020

The most times any VP has been drunk at home is eight, with three candidates.

I am very envious as to your diversity. My “most drunk” wine is the Croft 2005 LBV of which I have opened 15 bottles since about 2008 (+ 10 halves of the 2004 LBV).

I’d forgotten about this thread. I have just been updating my Port Records Notebook. It now lists 708 notes for 666 ( :twisted:) Ports. On the basis that a glass of Port is about a fifth of the viable contents of a Port bottle, the 10 shippers I have drunk the most of in terms of volume are: 1. Tayl...

That really is crazy, but then I get the impression that some wines, particularly the Dow’s SdR are being marketed firmly at the investors rather than the drinkers (who understand en primeur releases but not secondary auctions)....

What do you do when your birth year for Port is as bad, and subsequently expensive to get, as 1993? This is something that has kept me worried for a while. Fortunately AHB told me of a suitable alternative, Tokaji. Enter today's wine for a celebration. I’d never thought of 1993 Port as “expensive”:...

I’ve been struggling but failing to buy a bottle of the Graham’s № 5 White Port (the one with the fancy bottle) locally so I have bitten the bullet and bought it online at full price (£21). I hope it is worth it!

That’s a rather nice site. I hope they manage to tread the tightrope between adding enough to make it comprehensive without filling it out with a load of nonsense invented recipes.

Amazon UK is also selling the Taylor LBV at £10 and also the Graham’s Crusted (year unclear) at £15.

I am sure they are filtered since Taylor’s invented the cheap-ish, filtered “no-decant” LBV. If TPF were ever going to change, I am sure it would either be put out under another label or marked in some other way so as to make it obvious.

The 2015 Bioma was absolutely fantastic when I tried it on release: I rated it right up there with the very best Vintage Ports I have tried. I am studiously attempting to avoid any of my Biomas, though, since I think they will have fantastic longevity.

Perhaps a couple of elastic bands and some sort of medically-approved filter on the pointy end of the funnels would allow you to turn them into designer PPE face masks? A big market just waiting to be tapped! They have a small sediment filters attached. Do you think I can get those medically approv...