ThePortForum.com

Any more food orders? I have to submit our food order tomorrow..

winesecretary wrote: ↑20:20 Sat 02 Mar 2024 That sounds absolutely cracking.

It was amazing. It would have:
(a) held it’s own at the “Possibly the best colheita tasting ever” dinner in June 2023 and;
(b) been a better glass of wine than the amazing 1912 Niepoort that I had this evening. And that was spectacular!

IMG_6354.jpeg 1950 Burmester Colheita, bottling date not known but from the appearance of the label and sello believed to be in the early 1970s. €32 for a 50ml pour from Garrafeira Nacional Santa Justa. Reddish-brown in colour, about 30% opaque. Rich nose, mixing butterscotch and balsamic, nicely s...

IMG_6488.jpeg 1958 Borges, by the glass from the Garrafeira Nacional Mercado Ribeira, €45 for a 50ml sample. Rich golden orange colour, 30% opaque. A lovely nose of bitter-sweet orange oil. Slightly thickened texture on the palate; rich, bitter orange oil giving an impressive density of fruit on th...

IMG_6493.jpeg 1900 Niepoort, bottled 1971. By the glass from Garrafeira Nacional Santa Justa vinotec machine. A wonderful dark chestnut brown colour. A huge nose, intense and concentrated, immensely expressive. Smelling the glass just creates a response of “wow!” Layer after layer of scent coming o...

IMG_6455.jpeg Barros 1960, by the glass from the Garrafeira Nacional Conceição Vinotec machine for €26 for 50ml. Warm golden colour, 20% opaque. Dry and sour on the nose, not attractive. More pleasant on the palate with some honey flavour showing through, but dry in tone so little of the expected h...

Villa Oeiras Superior, 15 Years “ouro”, Carcavelhos. Pop and pour. More Arinto grape in this blend than in the younger blends. Rich golden colour, 10% opaque. A little oak on the nose (new Portuguese oak 225l barrels used on the younger wines, moved to used oak as the wines mature) blended in with b...

Carcavelhos. Aged for an average of 7 years in a mixture of Portuguese and French oak. Pale peach colour. A lovely nose of peach and apricot, sweet and honeyed. Sweet, light and gentle on the palate - a touch of honey, lots of floral perfume. The wine has enough acidity to be balanced. Honey and lim...

NV Conde de Oeiras, Meio Doce, Carcavelos - the first bottling of this wine; a blend from the vintages 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2004. Bottled in 2009. Decanted to allow the wine to develop. Wonderful orange and tangerine nose with a hint of oak underneath. RS of around 110g. Sweet but well balance...

1995 Quinta dos Pesos by Howard’s Folly. 1995 was an outstanding vintage in Carcavelos, outperforming 1994 as the wines mature. Bottled 2023, possibly refreshed a little before bottling to make a more consistent style along with the 1991, helped by selection of the wine in barrel. 25% of the grapes ...

NV Quinta do Barão No.1, Carcavelos. Made in the 1920-30s. Number 1 is the driest style of the wine from Quinta do Barão, a quinta which ceased production in the late 1980s. Dark orange colour, 30% opaque. Râncio nose. A little sweeter on the palate than the 1906 d’Algoa. Generous bitterness, medium...

NV Quinta de Cima, Carcavelos. A fair amount of sediment, despite the fact the wine was decanted. Believed to be from the first half of the 1990s, but exact date(s) not known. Deep orange with a touch of green on the rim; 50% opaque. Some oxidised orange on the nose. Quite thick on the palate, sweet...

1989 Quinta da Ribeira da Caparide, Carcavelos. Light and elegant appearance, looks a little turbid with some fine sediment in suspension. 20% opaque. Sharp and bright on the nose, something a little odd? Balanced on the palate, light and elegant and made in a drier style. Stunning persistent finish...

Quinta da Correira 2012, an outstanding year in Carcavelos, giving better balance than 2011. The is the first tasting of the not-yet-released 2012 vintage, which will be bottled in 50cl format. The Correira vineyards are located a little further from the sea than most Carcavelos. The wines are trodd...

NV Quinta da Bela Vista 80 years plus, Carcavelos. 10g residual sugar. The first bottle was defective with an unpleasant nose so a second bottle was opened and poured. The wine was bottled in 1991 from 3000 litres (16,200 bottles) of family stocks of the producers who ceased making wine in the 1950s...

1906 Quinta d’Algoa, Carcavelos. From the look of the label this was probably bottled in the 1920s-30s. Decanted 2 hours. A warm olive-brown colour with a green rim. The nose shows a little VA, reminiscent of Madeira or cask aged Port. Alongside the VA is a perfumed, honeyed nose. Astonishingly dry ...

IMG_6353.jpeg Graham 1957: Dark ginger in colour, 20% opaque. Spice and dust on the nose with some dried ginger root. Sweet on the palate, no fruit but full of butterscotch and ginger. The acidity provides the backbone. Long, lingering humbug aftertaste. Although there is no fruit, this is a very p...

Vermouth. Does anyone drink Vermouth neat? If Buckie counts do QC British wine, Thunderbird, or Scotsmac also count. Perhaps not - too far off the spirit of the thread? I had a neat Vermouth the other day - a white wine (actually Sherry) base with lots of orange and rosemary, poured over ice and se...

Food for me please:
- no starter
- Crab, king prawn, tomato, garlic linquine - WITH NO CHILLI

I might have the pear crumble for dessert...

Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑10:21 Fri 23 Feb 2024 Damn those rules! I had chosen the two wines I was bringing but one falls outside the rules.

Hmm…

Aha! I have just re-read the rules and I am fully compliant. I shall be bringing two bottles of fortified wines.

I believe cellar mould is a form of penicillin and is essentially the same mould as you find on the skin of a white rinded soft cheese (like Camembert or Brie). It’s harmless and can be seen in some well reputed cellars to a spectacular degree. I don’t worry about cellar mould on my bottles or corks...

Damn those rules! I had chosen the two wines I was bringing but one falls outside the rules.

Hmm…

But São João is on June 23rd and some of us might not be in the UK.

What about week commencing 27 May?

I’m not crying or gnashing my teeth, but as I remarked earlier, my diary is rammed in April and May.

I can’t make any date in the week commencing 29 April.

Sadly, this was really badly corked. Such a pity.