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Last Thursday the AEVP organised a Port Festival in London, which included a dozen or so producers showing their 2024 Vintage Ports. Below are the tasting notes for the Ports I have not already reported on. Most are available in the UK, but if anyone wants to know where they can be bought, let me kn...

Now that Blackett have produced more than one vintage Port, we should have an abbreviation for them.

The obvious abbreviation is Bl, but is this too easily confused with the existing BI? If so, should we use Bk, which is currently under no threat of being confused with any other producer?

Poças 2015 White Colheita, bottled 2025. This has become a staple of our summer. There is no time better to drink a glass of this wine than after a hard afternoon working in the garden in temperatures of 27-28C. It is full of fruit, has enough sugar to be satisfying yet enough acidity to be balanced...

It is one of those wines made to a price point so it can be sold at a discounted price by a supermarket in the run up to Christmas (and remaindered just after Christmas). There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it, but neither is there anything special about it. It’s a good wine to recommend to people...

Thank you Phil!

jdaw1 wrote: ↑21:32 Thu 18 Jun 2026
uncle tom wrote: ↑16:00 Thu 18 Jun 2026a Dow 1896 with excellent provenance.
Please share that with others.

Perhaps Dow should be the theme of a future Old Port dinner...

Simple maths says that 1813 + 155 = 1968 as the earliest bottling date so we're looking at a wine bottled in the period 1968-1978.

And just in case you didn’t know, this isn’t quite exclusive to The Port Forum but we are the single biggest buyer in the UK of Quinta do Noval olive oil.

IMG_8877.jpeg It has actually happened! The long delayed delivery of Noval Olive Oil has taken place. 24 cases of olive oil are now at my house, just in time to miss our last tasting which took place on Wednesday. People who have ordered are welcome to collect by appointment or to request I bring t...

The list on the first post has just been updated with the producers who are showing their wines at King’s Cross this morning.

Good news! After many weeks of delay, due to reasons I've not been told, the Olive Oil will be delivered on Friday. (But we've been here before. I'll believe it when it arrives.) If that's the case, once I have a pallet of olive oil in my house I will start bringing bottles into London when circumst...

NigelM wrote: ↑20:52 Tue 16 Jun 2026 Julian, do you have another room for the 43 onwards people?

We can apply for a licence to close the road and have a street party for the younger wines. We can call it the Sandeman Jubilee Event.

CPR 1 wrote: ↑20:45 Tue 16 Jun 2026 Can I add the 1943 then for some additional context?

That would be fabulous! Thank you.

Apologies, but circumstances now mean I won’t be available to attend on 10th November.

cem wrote: ↑15:42 Tue 16 Jun 2026 Challenge accepted. I''ll play if you'll play! I can also contribute a Mag of 1955 and a bottle of 1945.

I can’t play the size game, but I’m happy to play the “bring another vintage” game.

If you bring the 1945, that gives some context for the 1946!

Glenn E. wrote: ↑16:51 Tue 16 Jun 2026
Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑21:07 Sun 14 Jun 2026 I’ve just realised I’m in danger of being knocked out!
I feel like there should be a default rule #0 for all tastings:

0. The organizer gets a seat.

The organiser gets to set all the rules, at any time…

Alex, exciting as this is, would it be a good idea to set a final date after which no further changes to the attendees list can be made? Or you may end up with someone being 'offed' the week or even the day before the event I think for the Taylor tasting the cut-off was 3 weeks before the tasting. ...

OK. I've now elected to bring a bottle of 1920, my only bottle of 1927 looks a bit pale so I don't want to bring that vintage.

Sorry Harry...

NigelM wrote: ↑14:20 Mon 15 Jun 2026 I was contemplating buying a 1920 to get on the list, but that wouldn't seem right, so I am going to bow out gracefully and stay at home and wash my hair.

All I can say is that if I had a choice of spending money buying 1920 Port or shampoo, I know which I would be buying...

I’ve just realised I’m in danger of being knocked out! Right, so there’s two new rules being implemented as of now. If you get knocked out, there is nothing to stop you from coming back with an older bottle which gets you back around the table. But if you do, you have to bring not just your “winnin...

I propose another rule: “AHB is dictator”. His acolytes are vaguely aware that the dictator likes old, that the dictator likes large, that the dictator likes tappit hen more than tregnum, that the dictator likes good fill levels, and that the dictator likes time to write his tasting notes. Another ...

I’ve just realised I’m in danger of being knocked out! Right, so there’s two new rules being implemented as of now. If you get knocked out, there is nothing to stop you from coming back with an older bottle which gets you back around the table. But if you do, you have to bring not just your “winnin...

I’ve just realised I’m in danger of being knocked out! Right, so there’s two new rules being implemented as of now. If you get knocked out, there is nothing to stop you from coming back with an older bottle which gets you back around the table. But if you do, you have to bring not just your “winning...

CPR 1 wrote: ↑16:08 Sun 14 Jun 2026if we include the 2007 I would like to suggest we also include the 2011

That’s a great call. Dow 2011 was an absolute rock star 10-12 years ago. I haven’t opened one in the last decade and would be really interested to see how it’s developing.

NigelM wrote: ↑11:41 Sun 14 Jun 2026 I can offer S55

You're on the list...at least for now...

And, just in case others are also considering options, I've booked myself into the Cross Keys Hotel in Saffron Walden.

That was a fascinating tasting, such a change in style around 1980 with the older wines having been made in a more delicate and elegant style and the younger wines more extracted and with more fruit and less subtlety. While I agree 1970 and 1926 were splendid wines, I also really liked 1997. I took ...

First post updated with the proper arrangements for the night. As usual, all bottles will be opened with tongs and we will use our best efforts and our fading sight to identify what we open and - in most, but not all, cases - drink.

I've now had the chance to look through my cellar list in detail and also to give some thought about shippers we haven't tasted recently in London. With both of those things in mind, I've decided to make Sandeman the theme of this year's old Port dinner. Our last London tasting of Sandeman was 15 ye...

Tuesday 10th November works for me. I’m in.

jdaw1 wrote: ↑19:33 Fri 12 Jun 2026 Believed fixed: please re-check the placemats. (Suits OK? If you prefer could be ‘Zeddemore’, ‘Venkman’, ‘Stantz’, and ‘Spengler’.)

Looks good to me. Are they A3?

@Christopher - are you printing or do you need someone else to print?

6 bottles of Poças 2015 White Colheita (bottled 2025) arrived at the house yesterday, courtesy of House of Townend.

One appears to be rapidly evaporating this sunny afternoon.

There is a draft of the placemats , images of which have been added to the first post . As ever, somebody please check. I plan to serve the Qv14 closure samples blind, from Sandeman 20YO bottles so I suggest that the "DUMPY", "STRAIGHT" be removed from the circles. Oscar is brin...

How many dozen do you need?

A parcel arrived safely this morning, the contents of which will be stood in the cellar to settle and be decanted on Wednesday morning before I depart for London.

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What a splendid way to celebrate our 20th anniversary.

What a young man I was when we first started out on this journey together. Huzzah to us all!

Apologies to the guys in the US, but the 2015 White Colheita has now landed in the UK and is available @ £28.99 from House of Townend with free delivery for orders over £120. 6 cases of 6 bottles were brought into the UK on the last shipment and were landed today. 5 cases remain after Mrs B placed h...

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Do these work for you Zak?

@Alex: do you light top-down or bottom-up? I was taught to light bottom-up. Paper under thin kindling under larger kindling under proper wood. Never a firelighter! My grandmother would be very upset if I had to resort to one of those. It’s also entirely satisfying that all of the wood we burn is so...

akzy wrote: ↑07:38 Wed 03 Jun 2026 Could you post a clear top down and side view here of them? I have some ideas that I want to test...

I’ll try to remember to do so when back home this afternoon.

What are the port tongs metal? Is it some iron derivative? Steel, cast iron, etc. I’m guessing probably either iron or a mild steel. They often need to be bent or hammered back into shape after a lot of use since they’re soft enough, when red hot, for the circle at the end of them to be forced open...

jdaw1 wrote: ↑21:07 Tue 02 Jun 2026 @Alex: do you light top-down or bottom-up?

For tong purposes, do lava stones help or hurt?

I’ve never had lava stones as part of my heater, so can’t say for sure but would guess these would help if they are glowing hot.

Perhaps nearly 6 months late, but I think it's now time for some more pointless statistics. On 31 December 2025, my cellar comprised of the following (with 2012 figures in brackets) Port 86% (91%) - unchanged on last year Bordeaux 4% (3%) - up from 3% last year South Africa 2% (0.5%) - same as last ...

Óscar would like:
Starter — superfood salad
Main — rump of lamb
Dessert — tbd

Alex:
No starter
Alex & Martin to share a Cote de Boeuf cooked medium rare.
Alex also skinny fries and creamed sweetcorn
Dessert tbd

It's a well known frustration that while induction hobs look beautiful and sleek in a kitchen, they don't heat Port tongs. For that you need a gas burner or an open fire. Someone experiencing this frustration recently asked me how I manage to use tongs without a hob on which to heat them. Normally I...

W60, BBR bottled. A wonderful mature brick red colour, 50% opaque. A little hollow on the nose, not showing much but there is a little faint sweet raisined fruit. Lovely texture on the palate with the elegance expected of Warre. The mature, spiced fruit blossoms on the palate. The fruit is a little ...

W60, light brick red colour, very pale, 20% opaque. A little bruised fruit on the nose. Sweet but with very little fruit initially on the palate. A little more fruit arrives on the mid-palate but the wine is very evolved. Nice aftertaste, gentle redcurrant jelly with a bit of aniseed. 89/100.

T60, bottled by Grants of St James. Pale rose colour, 20% opaque. Sweet redcurrant nose. Very little fruit on entry but develops on the mid-palate. Lovely aftertaste full of dried fruit, which fades to a certain level before persisting. 89/100.

Sb60, gentle rose gold colour, pale at 10% opaque. A little malt vinegar on the nose. Sweet but also with a huge bitterness. Some nice balsamic vinegar on the finish but really a glass of not a lot. 83/100.

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