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I drank it because it was the only bottle of port I had in the house. A shocking admission but there it is. My sister was a little morose following a dinner out on her birthday and I opened it to ginger her up a bit, and it worked a treat. I had it hanging around as it had a slightly raised cork and...

Yes Alex, we still love you and are reading avidly. Like Phil I am dying to hear how all these lovely old bottles turn out. I am hoping that the unidentified bottle which was last out of the box will turn out to be the last ever glass of the Dow '78 to be tasted. But how will you ever tell? That loo...

Opened and necked, still a bit left so I might be able to give a more considered view later. Good and dark, a touch of pink at the rim. Not much on the nose, a bit dusty, a bit plum skins with a sense of tightness. On the palate bitter fruit, plenty of tannin, a slightly hollow feel in the middle, t...

Vesuvio Not yet mentioned, probably as it is one of the more expensive 94s, but good value if compared to the Taylor and Fonseca. As your question is about ports for long term cellaring, I wouldn't recommend Martinez. Although it is a lovely port (I was lucky enough to buy a case cheap and drank qu...

Where indeed! In a different vintage in all probability. Smith Woodhouse springs to mind, but this has been creeping up in price over the last few years. I have heard good things of the Martinez too. Like you I am confused by the Graham, I am a bit doubtful of it but hope it will pull through. I als...

I've had the Graham, Taylor and Fonseca 85s in the past year and been a little disappointed with all of them. None of them were bad, I just felt slightly underwhelmed with them all in different ways. Could this be a sign the 85s are in a bad place right now? Or is the vintage in general in danger o...

A tidy looking bottle, bought about 2 years ago. A bit weak when first opened, simple and sweet with a watery centre but it has filled out over 6 hours of being opened. The tannins have come forward, plenty of fruit and sweetness. All kinds of interesting backnotes, something spicy, which is not unu...

LGTrotter wrote:C'mon JDAW! Get back to sleep and tell us what was in that box from behind the iron studded door...

Take the money! Open the box!

I want to go with Truss. Titter ye not.

As previously noted, for the same reason that good claret doesn't come with a screw cap.. Good claret doesn't come with a screw cap because makers of good claret think that their customers wouldn’t want that. And if their customers do want that, it should be allowed. (There might be rules as well—b...

In trying to explain what port to buy and the various categories to novices I often run into the sand, being met with the blank stare of the confused. This may be because I lack clarity, or because the variations are confusing. I would not like to put myself on either side of this debate because I b...

I need guidance on the result of the county championship. Without wishing to sound too much like a sore loser I wonder what others feel about the captains of Yorkshire and Middlesex getting together to manufacture a result at Lords. While I can understand what motivated them to try to produce a resu...

Alex M wrote:6 x Vesuvio 1994. Purchased on BBX for £260 IB. I fear I paid slightly over the 'going rate' but when reviewing my cellar inventory I paid £225 for 6 in 2010.

That sounds like a really good price and it is not too much to pay retail for such a lovely port.

C'mon JDAW! Get back to sleep and tell us what was in that box from behind the iron studded door...

For those missing the N31 from their collection and able to get a large purchase past the other half... https://www.farrvintners.com/wine.php?wine=23605 All gone now. Darn, just when I had saved up enough to buy a thimbleful of it. Anyone prepared to own up to this? Or do we think they might have b...

The pictures are great, but I'd really love to see a video of JDAW zooming on a skateboard. I'm assuming it would bring to mind various James Bond car chases, dashing expertly through narrow streets. Here is a link to JDAW late running late to a tasting. With apologies for the dreadful aspect ratio.

I must say this thread has inspired me to go and have a look at what other ports he has stored up north. He thinks he has around 20-30 other bottles (some in cases and others stand alone) and that there might be some real gems in there. Please do let us know what you find. I love a bit of vicarious...

¿Skateboard?

This is going to be the best thing since Daniel did the page by page Montague Egg story. Can't wait for the next instalment.

A lovely bottle of port, it is one of the best years from an excellent producer. If it has been stored sensibly it should be drinking well now and won't come to any harm over the next ten years or so. There are tasting notes on this port in the tasting note section of this forum. It is probably appr...

I think longer in wood compromises the aging potential of Port when it is bottled. There are very few examples of tawny/Colheita ports that go on developing significantly over a period of decades once consigned to glass. Yes, some age gracefully and perhaps mellow a little over time, but they do no...

This thread, and the LBVs worth cellaring thread, brought to mind this YouTube video Wine and Spirits Magazine Presents João Nicolau de Almeida interviewing Dirk Niepoort , particularly from about 10:30 mins in. That is a fascinating interview. Thank you for the link. If I have understood the point...

On the LBV thread Tom has made a point which is one I have often thought about and commented on. Why would exta time in the pipe compromise the wine's capacity to age? My suspicion is that it doesn't, that a combination of wood age and bottle age tends to produce very enduring wines, such as the Nie...

I have no scientific evidence to back this up but it must at least be possible that the existence of the sediment in the same vessel as the wine has an influence on how it develops over time. VP is bottled with lots of solids suspended in the liquid that stay trapped in the same container (and occa...

Oh you folks are all so coy. What's the point of having a good story and not telling it? That's what stories are for. Maybe save them for telling directly to an audience in the ancient oral tradition. I suppose the internet should get the bowdlerised version .

It should be, but it has also had 3 additional years dropping sediment into the lees so will not have the same amount of solid matter suspended in the liquid when bottled as VP would. There are two issues here. Removing sediment that has physically dropped during those three years is not a major is...