ThePortForum.com

Thanks Fred - that's the 'warts and all' vintage report!

So if 2007 turns into a washout, they're not likely to declare 2006 instead - except that from the positive tilt on the Jancis report, we can probably expect a full set of SQ's.

Tom

Check out this chart:

http://www.wineonline.ie/cellar/charts.htm

The fact that it's an Irish site is surely coincidental..

Tom

Read a vintage report and you will find notes about the rainfall and temperature of the winter, spring, and summer of the year in question. The timing of budburst and flowering is also often noted, along with the range of pests and diseases that afflicted the vines. But after reading through the rep...

Singha

But only when in warmer climes...

Tom

There Isn't an English word for Véraison But in Portugal I believe it's known as pintor I'm not sure if the timing gives any solid clue as to the quality of the vintage, but it seems to give the first clear indication as to whether it will be an early or late harvest. If all the bunches of grapes c...

The only vintages I can find for Sandeman Vau are '96,'97,'99 & '00 - but nothing since.

Are Sandeman releasing these late - or has the concept flopped?

Tom

The forecast remains sunny and a little warmer (up from 22 to 26C) this weekend - but another cold front may hit the region on Tuesday. It looks as though the southerly jet stream that is pulling the weather systems south and giving England a drenching this summer is also drawing cooler and less set...

While young vintage port looks badly overpriced, some older wines look surprisingly cheap. Of course this depends on your take on value appreciation over time. Storage is not free, nor is capital tie-up. How much you assign to these factors is a bit subjective. However, if you assume that the wine w...

Just looked up the inflation figures... From 1957, when the 55's were released, to 2005 when the 03's were released, multiply by 16.15 - So nineteen shillings (£0.95) becomes £15.34 From 1972 to 2005, multiply by 8.84 So £2.30 becomes £20.32 The market was in the doldrums in '55, so low prices were ...

A rather lame article founded on a vested interest's press release... Yes, there have been some sharp rises in the price of top Bordeaux, but only in the dizzy heights of the 'too expensive to drink' sector. Globally, the world is awash with wine, and the increasing use of technology that takes some...

We are getting to the point where climatic factors have an increasing impact on this year's vintage. The immediate five day forecast for northern Portugal looks reasonably benign, with a little rain and plenty of sun - but relatively cool for this time of year. Anyone know how the season has progres...

smiling and nodding You were! - glad you worked out what happened to it - did no-one think to look at the capsule before it was opened? I have plenty more if you want another for September.. I wish I'd joined you for the crawl afterwards - I managed to miss the last train by seconds, and had to ind...

I think you would struggle to get the best trade prices for purchases of less than ten cases, and uneconomic to bring back quantities that customs would agree were 'for personal consumption only'. So a proper trading basis - trading name & VAT registration - would seem necessary. That would mean...

Just did a little trawl of the IVDP site, looking at the market data for 2006 Converting litres to bottles, and euros to pounds, I calculated that the average price realised for sales of vintage port to the UK was just £9.20/bottle. OK, there's duty to pay (£1.78/bottle), and I assume that these are...

Scoring a succession of wines in fast order needs discipline and a spitoon - this was too much of a boozy night out (for me, anyway.. :D ) One or two wines had not been decanted long enough - the Niepoort '77 in particular. Of the others, the most remarkable were the Cruz '89, which I would rank a 6...

Croft 1950 or 58 The old Croft had very faint branding on the cork, but one of the few details I was confident of was that the third digit was a 5 and not a 6 - so I remain convinced this was the '50 or '58, as I would not expect the '55 to be so pale. Pleasant but fading, with classic Croft signat...

Have just decanted my unknown '55 - and the cork has revealed all. It is in fact a.... ...well, I'll let you guess first! Tom PS: Will try to make it to Covent garden by 7.00, but I have a 40ft container from China arriving this afternoon, and I'm short of crew to unload.. ..perfect timing :evil:

Far too many! - over 700 bottles including the Morgans - but this is not typical... The sort of bargains you might pick up from the supermarkets are more likely to be damaged stock - a case gets dropped in the warehouse, one bottle breaks, and all the labels get drenched... I've no doubt that the sm...

The space in the cellar under my house is not overly plentiful, and the possibility of constructing a pupose built cellar at my Cambridge factory (where I have plentiful land) - keeps teasing me.. ..however, my needs alone would not justify the cost of the project. I'd be interested to know what peo...

When did Crasto first produce and market their own SQ's?

The earliest record I have is '94, but I suspect they pre-date that..

Tom

Can you guess who makes the most money out of all of this? Yes, you got it, it's the Distributor Yet none of the producers/shippers makes a serious attempt to cut out the middle man and trade directly with the consumer, (other than overcharging visiting tourists.. :evil: ) It must be quite tough fo...

It does now look likely that '07 will only have to be an average year to get a general declaration, which raises the risk of a weak vintage being declared. That said, there is a big question mark over the ability of the western economies to avoid a major downturn before declaration time in '09. It i...

You and the UK crew send me a few bottles of port which are "to young" every week

OK - and for each bottle we send, you send one back that's too old.

- Deal?

Tom

I've been working my way slowly through a Rebello Valente '70 decanted last Saturday lunchtime - overall a 5-4 wine, fragrant - but a little too spiritous. It was signficantly better after 2 days than at 24 hours, and remained on the same plateau on Tuesday. Last night it was beginning to show signs...

Nothing unusual in having half a dozen enabled as mods, but moderation must be done in moderation...

Tom