Vintage Charts

[Portman]

Great answers, thanks everyone.

Another observation I've noticed here. It seems like a lot of you are extremely patient with your ports, giving the vintage ports something like 30 years to mature, whereas previously I had been shooting for 20 as a rule of thumb.

Is it the case that most of you wait for a longer time? I personally like them with the integration and smoothness that time delivers, but I also sometimes like them grapey and fresh.

And as a larger point, to buy a young vintage and cellar it for 30 years, what an exercise in delayed gratification! It makes the 10 year wait for Bordeaux pedestrian!

[g-man]

It just means you don't buy enough port =)

I've stocked my cellars at 50% > 90s
40% >70s
and 10% < 70s

Which hopefully equates to my drink the ready stuff now while the younger stuff sits =) I do need to pick up more < 70s tho.

[uncle tom]

Is it the case that most of you wait for a longer time?

The average age of the bottles I casually quaff at home has been getting a little older - I see little point in tackling bottles that are not fully mature, when I have plenty of oldies on hand.

So far this year, the average age of the vintage ports I have drunk at home has been just under 35yrs; and although I will stray a little to each side, the great majority of the bottles I open at home will range between 1960 and 1983.

Tom

[Glenn E.]

I personally prefer to wait until a good Port has at least 30 years of age before even bothering, but that's because to me they need at least 40 and often 50 years to really reach their peak. In another 5 years you'll have a prime example of why 20 years is insufficent for good Port - at that time the 1994s will have reached "maturity" according to that rule of thumb, and my guess is that they'll be nowhere near ready. (Possibly a bad example, because I suspect they're not going to be anywhere near maturity at 30 years either.)

However, I have also discovered that I enjoy very young Vintage Ports also. The kind that make Derek weep. For this purpose, the 2003s are starting to get a bit too old as some of them seem like they may be starting to close down to me. (Not much... just starting.)

Any Vintage Port in between just seems off to me. Luckily it's not too hard for me to wait, because I generally prefer tawnies anyway. Those can be picked up any time and consumed immediately.

[uncle tom]

Those can be picked up any time and consumed immediately.

Yes, but even they usually benefit from a decade or so in bottle..

Tom

[Alex Bridgeman]

Great answers, thanks everyone.

Another observation I've noticed here. It seems like a lot of you are extremely patient with your ports, giving the vintage ports something like 30 years to mature, whereas previously I had been shooting for 20 as a rule of thumb.

Is it the case that most of you wait for a longer time? I personally like them with the integration and smoothness that time delivers, but I also sometimes like them grapey and fresh.

And as a larger point, to buy a young vintage and cellar it for 30 years, what an exercise in delayed gratification! It makes the 10 year wait for Bordeaux pedestrian!

It's a really personal thing, how you prefer your port. My preference is for either really young (like Glenn, I think the 2003s are now past this point) or with some maturity. I quite enjoy the 1994s and have a suspicion which will be tested later in the year that the 1991s are now opening up for drinking but most of the bottles I open at home come from the '70s and '80s. However, I can't wait that long for them so it really is a case of trying to stock a cellar that reflects my drinking habits.

[Glenn E.]

Those can be picked up any time and consumed immediately.

Yes, but even they usually benefit from a decade or so in bottle..

A theory I will be testing this weekend when I open my 1963 Romariz Colheita which was bottled in 1997.

[DRT]

My PC is bust so I cannot combine these with the previous lists but will do so later...

ALS Vintage Ratings.jpg (414.96 KiB) Viewed 3010 times

[KillerB]

Whay would anybody mark out of seven? Tell you what I'll do all of mine out of 13, that'll confuse the hell out of you. I'll also make it logarithmic to base 17.

[uncle tom]

Whay would anybody mark out of seven?

Why not - a little more precise than marks out of five, and less fussy than marks out of ten..

Fascinating to read through

Thanks Derek

Tom

[jdaw1]

Whay would anybody mark out of seven?.

What proportion of the week should one be willing to drink it?