ThePortForum.com

I think Roy is right to be dismissive of the conspiracy element. We seem to have an epidemic of conspiracy theories at the moment, and it amazes me how people who otherwise appear quite intelligent, can become loyal supporters of theories that are ludicrously implausible. BUT WAIT...!! What dark and...

Perhaps that will be released in 2034 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Chip-Dry White!

In itself, an eminently missable event - why they foist that evil brew on unsuspecting tourists in their lodge is beyond me..

Tom

with 80-90% humidity, wouldn't you get mold if you had leaky bottles?

Yes, so I drink or re-cork them. In any event, a little bit of mould doesn't hurt!

Tom

but since I don't plan to sell the wine I only care that I know what it is. Indeed! I tag every bottle in my cellar using a small luggage tag that has been cut down to about 1" Every tag is numbered, which in turn is logged on the computer, together with the rack position of the bottle. If a b...

The 'official' advice regarding humidity is focused on the desire by some people to preserve labels at all costs, even at the expense of some evaporation. My cellar ranges from 80% to 90% humidity (currently 89%), and the degradation of labels is pretty much negligible. I have bought some bottles in...

Working out my logistics, I shall be flying into Schipol at 14.10, and my plan is to get a taxi to Christies warehouse (which is not far from the airport) and then carry on with my stash of 41 bottles to Utrecht in the cab. This presents the opportunity for us to open one of the Passadouro '97's to ...

I think we need to accept that the producers are in business to sell port, and that when making pronouncements for wide circulation, they are not going to proactively rubbish a year unless it was one of the few that were really dire. The use the word 'good' in a one line summary, when in truth the w...

Stevie,

I sent you a pm re. my Christies stash.

I'll bring a Delaforce unless anyone has a strong preference for something else.

Tom

I think we should encourage them - the 'Douro Insider' bit is very interesting, but the updates are getting later each month - it would be a great shame if it was abandoned. As to re-writing history; well there is little doubt that when the producers have it mind to declare a vintage, the weather ca...

I just agreed with Ronnie and you are welcome to join... Space is not the problem. I don't preferences for the Port, I assume you know best what Port would fit best in this tasting! Great - I'll double decant something, and then re-cork it for the flight. Will also need directions, and somewhere to...

OK, a little late on parade, but I'm up for this one (if there's space!)

Looking at the line-up, I could add a Croft, Delaforce or Ferriera to the proceedings.

- any preferences?

Tom

Roy,

Can you post a link to it?

Tom

Axel, The difficulty lies in finding enough material to make a proper study. Long forgotton tawnies turn up fairly frequently at auction, but you never see a set from the same cellar that have been laid down at intervals. They are usually isolated bottles nestling amid a motley assortment of other o...

Unless I am missing something, cold filtering and stabilising are essentially the same process. Wine (and whisky) tends to become cloudy when the temperature drops. When the temperature warms up again, some, but not all of the solid material dissolves again, so the wine remains a little cloudy. In t...

I emailed Niepoort to find out: Dear Mr Archer, We were very happy to hear that you are enjoying Niepoort 10 yr bottled so many years ago; as regards the quantity of fine sediment, we only give the wines a light fining and minimal filtration and the wines are never cold stabilized hence the slightly...

Have you already bought the '85?

I have a few if not.

Tom

Has any producer ever made a virtue of bottling wood ports without any filtration at all?

Yes. Niepoort.

I did wonder, given the driven cork, but a quick scan of my literature and their website reveals no claims to fame in that regard.

Tom

Bottle was bought at auction last February, together with a motley assortment of other ports from the 80's and early 90's. Was probably from a house clearance. I would agree that over-zealous filtration probably shortens and limits the ability to improve - this Niepoort had a noticeable amount of fi...

One of the great myths that the online community has been able to expose is the oft repeated mantra that wood ports do not improve after bottling. They most certainly do. The question that arises, however, is when is the optimum time to drink them? - they don't last forever. This 10yr has had 25 yea...

Bear in mind that I already have a set of silver plate decanter labels (complete with chains) numbered 1-18; which I am happy to loan if I am unable to attend a function. These were deployed at the '80 offline, but Alex devised a fiendish scheme whereby the person allocating the labels would not kno...

No, it's only marginally over the hill, and not really tertiary yet; but it now has more spirit than it can handle.

I'm thinking I should have tried leaving the top of the decanter for a while to allow a little evaporation - must try that next time I get a bottle with a similar problem.

Tom

Anybody travelling by road from the Netherlands to the UK in the next few weeks? Anyone who can collect 41 bottles of Q. Passadouro for me from Christies warehouse in Amsterdam (located about 8km on the city side of Schipol) is welcome to a share of the spoils (or some dosh..) If someone is getting ...

From the same case as the bottle sampled by Julian a while back. Although a fine golden colour in the glass, with a pleasant nose and a slightly peppery note on the palate, the wine was compromised by a fire that was severe at first decanting, less prominant after a few hours, but then refused to go...

Julian, Next time you're in Pinhao, drop into that little shop opposite the station that's never open when you want it to be (and has no name over the door) and buy a little bag of T corks (they might stock 375ml bottles too!) Keep the receipt; nay, frame it and put it on the wall; so all your frien...

Well, the varnish didn't go away; indeed, if you looked closely, it was possible to see an oil like film covering part of the surface of the wine, the next time I poured a glass. After a couple of days the wine began to deteriorate, and now, supping the last glass, it is quite fiery, although the va...