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Has anyone made or seen a more extensive comparison of house style by degree of sweetness? That Graham is sweet and Dow dry I know but it would be very interesting if anyone has more comprehensive information and/or measurements about the major houses and how they compare in terms of sweetness.

Hi jdaw Their name is written Butler, Nephew (& Co) on the bottles I have seen. The full story quoted from http://www.vintageport.se: This House was founded by John Nash in Burmester, Nash & Co in 1730. In 1789 they dissolved partnership and James Butler was taken as partner and the firm bec...

What is + and - in the list? Is that indicating that these years are better than the others in each 8-group? For example, would 1970+ be better than 1963?

I suppose I believe that a swill of port lifts any odour that's sitting in the decanter. I have no basis for this and am quite happy to accept that I am merely being ritualistic. I have been under the believe that plain water would to the job if necessary. It would be a bit difficult to pop another...

I come as a humble acolyte (albeit one whose ranking has passed into the minor vintages for the first time!) with this question. You are buying a case or two, or three, of Port for General Use. Something with decent cellar age, ready to drink but also with some future ahead of it. Nothing too stell...

Most of the time I decant without rinsing into a clean dry decanter, but always smell the decanter first, for any trace of mustiness. That is what I do. This advice makes sense, but I have never understood the need for rinsing with port. If you have a clean decanter, is there any real reason for ri...

This is a great thread with a lot of good recommendations. I presume all are still relevant but if anyone has any updates or additional recommendations I would appreciate that as we are visiting London in December. I am particularly interested in places with a good selection of Vintage port availabl...

Thank you for the information. I had the 1992 once ten years ago and it was good, but I would rather buy a 1977 or a 1980 which I believe to be much better. And lower price as well! The 1977 I had a month ago and the 1980 I had a couple of weeks ago and they are both fabulous ports. It is very aston...

DRT, may I ask what is so special with Taylor 1992? Taylor is of cause (almost) always a good port but is there anything special with 1992?

Sounds like you are having a good time. I am not surprised. I'd love to hear more about your trip and what not to miss when in Porto and Douro

Which Quintas offer the best accommodation in Douro? Which is you personal favorite? What is the best way to get there from Porto? Is it possible by train/bus or do you need to rent a car? When at the quinta, do you need your own car to visit other quintas in the same area or is it close enough to w...

I use baking soda with excellent result. I take a tee spoon or perhaps a little bit more (5-10 ml) of baking soda in the decanter and then fill it up with hot water and leave it for the night. After 5-10 hours all the red deposits have been lifted from the glass - like magic! I am actually surprised...

My rule of thumb is pop and pour with wines that old, just with a decant to get out the sediment, don't want to miss a wine that's not going to last long. On the other hand, don't be in a rush as it may take an hour or two to come around. Tough to say with older wines as they can be so variable, so...

I did try the steam method to pull the cork today. I had a bottle of red wine and the cork was completely jammed. When I tried to pull it the normal way, the only thing that happened was that the screw pulled a bit of cork in the middle of the cork, but around the glass it was completely fixed. Then...

The current rules for VP being bottled between the second and third year after harvest wasn't established until after WW2, in the late 1940's. hye do you have a source for that? would love to know I also thought that vintage "bottled after about 2 years", was established late 1940's. Howe...

Current regulation says that vintage port must be bottled no earlier than 1 July the 2nd year after harvest and no later than 30 July the 3rd year after the harvest, i.e. approximately after 1.5-2.5 years. Is this correct? I thought the rules had changed so that VP can be bottled as soon as it has ...

Nowadays there are very clear rules for when vintage port, colheita and other port should be bottled. Current regulation says that vintage port must be bottled no earlier than 1 July the 2nd year after harvest and no later than 30 July the 3rd year after the harvest, i.e. approximately after 1.5-2.5...

I have tasted Harrod's 1982 VP that was sourced from Royal Oporto. It was quite good actually, which I did not expect as all the Royal Oporto 1982 I have tried was not very good and 75% has actually been defect.

There are huge numbers of buyer's own brands of vintage port in the UK, both current and historic. Current can be found at most of the supermarkets and many of the wine merchants. Tanner's have released a Skeffington under their own label this year. Historic BoBs I have drunk or owned include the f...

Interesting. That was during the period when Croft was owned by United Distillers. At the same time Sandeman was owned by Seagram. United Distillers and Seagram subsequently became part of what is now Deagio. Sandeman then bacame part of Sogrape, who own Ferriera, who own Constantino. There is ther...

To try to get a definite answer I wrote to a friend at the at the Port wine institute. After consulting the IVDP archives they wrote:

We have established it has a selo that was put on many years after 1929. We have established that it uses a typeface that wasn't available until 1957, at which point Constantino labels presumably used a version of the 'handwritten' label archived by Phil here . We have established that after 1963is...

It looks that we have established that this bottle is not authentic, and that there are several things that are not correct on this one. If is good to be able to spot a faulty bottle and I have learned several new things during this discussion. If the bottle g-man saw in the US was similar, perhaps ...

Fake alert!
Hello everyone! Please take care if you are interested in buying the Constantino 1927. The seal is from the 1990's and is not a seal for Constantino 1927.

I did google Coravin and it was quite interesting to see. For newer corks I would think that it reseals perfectly. However, when the cork is 40 years plus it is not that elastic anymore and I would definitely not try to sip a glass and put the bottle back. The risk for air to be sucked in by the und...