Wine Advocate scores 2007 vintage ports

[RonnieRoots]

Those with a subscription to Robert Parker's Wine Advocate can now read a report on the 2007 Vintage Ports online. Jay Miller tasted the ports. I've never paid much attention to Parker's ratings of the ports, and I don't think I'll change my point of view now. Although Miller doesn't seem to do a very bad job, I did raise my eyebrows more than once. Especially when he writes "this wine will evolve for 6-8 years", something that he seems to think fit for the majority of the wines. His top dog of the vintage: Taylor Vargellas VV (98 points). Lowest scorers are Pintas and Magelhaes (Silval), both with 82 points.

[uncle tom]

this wine will evolve for 6-8 years

Says it all, really...

Tom

[Andy Velebil]

Yes, some interesting scores for sure...not to mention some of his drinking windows. But there are some he didn't review, like Sandeman, or they haven't shown up on line yet which is strange.

[Andy Velebil]

I had the Pintas last June and even a quick tasting of this I gave it 88-89 points. So I have no idea where he came up with 82 points for this one. Here is his note on it

The 2007 Wine & Soul Vintage Port is narrow and compact on the palate and way outclassed by all of its peers. It is a decent beverage but hardly worthy of the name Vintage Port.

WOW, pretty harsh IMO.

[DRT]

I had the Pintas last June and even a quick tasting of this I gave it 88-89 points. So I have no idea where he came up with 82 points for this one. Here is his note on it

The 2007 Wine & Soul Vintage Port is narrow and compact on the palate and way outclassed by all of its peers. It is a decent beverage but hardly worthy of the name Vintage Port.

WOW, pretty harsh IMO.

Not to mention being absolute b*ll*cks!

I had this at the New Douro tasting in London in Nov 09 with JDAW, AHB and Christopher and cannot remember anyone being anything but complimentary about it. So much so that Julian and I charmed its producer into giving us a bottle to drink with dinner that evening

[WS1]

Hi there,

I am very happy to hear that J. Miller has not being very appreciative of 2007 Vintage ports. This does mean there are no further negative price implications to fear. Of course its is sad that he does not see the quality in those. As far as I remember I had the Pintas on Axels "Tour de Horicont" of 2007 vintage Ports. This was rather good. Also i did not find Magelhaes that bad. It tasted a bit difficult in the beginning on the palate, unround and a bit of a kind of cellar touch that made the Port on the first glance not very appealing. But this Port really has density and depth when I revisited the Port a second time when I went through my favourites. Also I found Calem and Sandeman (in the light that they are not entirely focussed on Vintage port) supriseingly very good (beyond my expectations). My favourites were Noval, Niepoort Pisca, Niepoort, Graham and Warre. I was very disappointed of Croft, Taylor and Fonseca

It was good to see Oscar presenting his Vintage Port. Thank god that you had the Oscar night the day before in London to ensure he appeared really fresh and awake for this event.

regards

WS1

[Glenn E.]

I haven't had the Pintas, but I have had the Magalhaes and I gave it 93-96 points as a cask sample. No way it is deserving of an 82 rating.

6-8 years? Give me a break. Most of the 2007 Ports will barely start to mature in the next 6-8 years... a couple of them will last 60-80.

[g-man]

It's Jay Miller, he probably had a mouth full of smoked salmon and cream cheese when he was tasting these.

He also scores them non blind so is easily impressed by labels.

[Andy Velebil]

He also scores them non blind so is easily impressed by labels.

Well not according to him,
http://www.erobertparker.com/members/wi ... cle507.asp

The wines for this tasting were tasted under single-blind conditions at the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto (IVDP) in Oporto on January 22, 2010. These were all finished wines from bottle. A total of 59 wines were presented.

[Michael M.]

There is so much

[Alex Bridgeman]

The wines for this tasting were tasted under single-blind conditions at the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto (IVDP) in Oporto on January 22, 2010. These were all finished wines from bottle. A total of 59 wines were presented.

That sounds like an extensive snapshot tasting. Tough thing to do, to work through 59 new release ports in a single sitting!

[g-man]

Apparently the dow 07 got a perfect score

[RonnieRoots]

Apparently the dow 07 got a perfect score

From WS, not WA.

[Glenn E.]

Apparently the dow 07 got a perfect score

From WS, not WA.

Yup, that was James Suckling, not Parker/Miller.

Given my limited experience with very young Vintage Port, I cannot understand how anyone can give a brand new VP a score of 100. What, it's never going to get better? It's all downhill from here?

And don't try to feed me the line about how they're judging where they think it's headed... at that young of an age, NO ONE can tell with certainty where a Vintage Port is headed. Maybe in very broad general terms, but not with sufficient accuracy to give it 100 points.

That said, I did like the '07 Dow. Not the best of the vintage IMO, nor even the best of the Symington's labels, but still an outstanding Port.

[Glenn E.]

In reading back through this thread I noticed this little nugget:

The wines for this tasting were tasted under single-blind conditions at the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto (IVDP) in Oporto on January 22, 2010. These were all finished wines from bottle. A total of 59 wines were presented.

Emphasis mine. Oh really, finished bottles on January 22, 2010? Given that I was tasting cask samples as late as May, most freshly bottled, I seriously doubt that.

[DRT]

In reading back through this thread I noticed this little nugget:

The wines for this tasting were tasted under single-blind conditions at the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto (IVDP) in Oporto on January 22, 2010. These were all finished wines from bottle. A total of 59 wines were presented.

Emphasis mine. Oh really, finished bottles on January 22, 2010? Given that I was tasting cask samples as late as May, most freshly bottled, I seriously doubt that.

I don't think any of the samples submitted to the IVDP would have been approved by 22 January so it just isn't possible that he tasted 59 finished wines. Schoolboy error.

[Glenn E.]

I don't think any of the samples submitted to the IVDP would have been approved by 22 January so it just isn't possible that he tasted 59 finished wines. Schoolboy error.

I suppose it is possible that they were final (or submitted) blends and that the nomenclature is unfamiliar to him so he called them finished wines, but if you're going to claim to be enough of an expert to be rating nearly an entire vintage of Port I really think you should know the difference and be clear about it.

[Andy Velebil]

Since he tasted them just a couple months ago, not in 2009, then most if not all would have been finished bottles. Most have been approved and on the store shelves since late last summer / early fall. So the odds of him tasting cask samples in 2010 are pretty small. Unless of course a producer did a late bottling (closer to the end of the second year) and had not yet done a commercial bottling run.

[Glenn E.]

Since he tasted them just a couple months ago, not in 2009

Gah! My blunder. Arrgh, I hate that.

My apologies to Mr. Miller.

[DRT]

Since he tasted them just a couple months ago, not in 2009

Gah! My blunder. Arrgh, I hate that.

My apologies to Mr. Miller.

Oops! Ditto

[Andy Velebil]

No worries guys, it happens to all of us. But it was funny as I read the replies a couple of times knowing I had to be missing something, then I figured out. I wasn't the one missing something for once