ThePortForum.com

The UK has a number of ongoing challenges however (i) poor wine making - an undiscriminating 'leisure audience' means 'vineyard experiences' too often trump the need for good wine making. Doing a tour at say Chapel Down is interesting but the wines are mainly shocking, the still ones especially sho...

Adrian Bridge and David Guimaraens provided an update on the 2022 harvest from Quinta da Roeda earlier today, 21st September 2022. This is extremely interesting. Thank you. Not really a vintage 2022 point but I am surprised about that TFP has no plans for aging white Ports. I wonder if they either ...

That's what's being reported, although I'm surprised Charles' ones don't simply continue. Once the transition periods for the DoE and QEII expire, we'll be down to a single one for the first time in decades, unless Charles grants the right to issue them to William (and maybe Camilla, too?). I presum...

There have been reports of quite bad storms in Portugal which have blown in across the Atlantic. I’m not sure how much it has been raining in the Douro since the harvest got underway but storms might make what sounds like a difficult year even worse...

For example, the Sussex PDO makes no sense to me: there is no sensible break in geography between Sussex and Kent and they have allowed such a wide range of styles of wine to be made that it provides little benefit to the consumer. I haven't heard of this actually. Might be tricky for a few like Ny...

After Port and other fortified wines, I think English (and Welsh) wines are my main interest. This was started by a visit many years ago to a vineyard about 3 miles from where we live — Stanlake. At the time they made a couple of sparkling wines, a pure Bacchus and a few blends based on Muller Thur...

I’d be interested, too, if there is space.

(An option C could be tawnies that have spent 50 years in the bottle ).

I thought it might be nice to have a place to have a discussion about the changing English wine industry. Having moved to Kent 6½ years ago, I am amazed at how many new vineyards are popping up: there are at least 7 which welcome visitors within ½ hour of us and many more a bit further away. Along w...

Whisky tubes also keep the bottle labels very fresh - I sometimes wonder whether a wine rack made from cardboard tubes, glued together, would function better than the traditional open design. That’s an interesting question. Might have problems with strength, though? Particularly with uneven loading...

Thanks Phil. My research prior to posing the question was poor. So to reinforce that poor level of research, I pose another question. Is there any evidence of the new King liking Port or what his tipple is? Jdaw will obviously be writing to see he if he would join us at the Boot and Flogger in the ...

That’s very interesting. Thank you for posting. Looking at the cost, the average BBR tasting seems to be £145 or £155. The odd one is a bit cheaper and a few are more expensive, such as this one. For my money, that £50 difference puts it into the category where I would just discount it outright as b...

I asked Churchill’s on twitter about their start date and they said this, which essentially repeats Miguel: “At Churchill’s the starting date for this year’s harvest is similar to 2017. We have faced severe drought during our 2021-2022 viticultural year, meaning that the vineyards are under an inten...

That’s a shame. £195 feels a touch aggressive for my tastes for this sort of tasting but perhaps that’s what these things costs these days?

MigSU wrote: ↑23:32 Wed 31 Aug 2022 I report that I starded harvesting yesterday

How does that compare to recent years?

Churchill’s say they have started at Quinta da Gricha so I presume we are in full swing in the Douro now.

Croft has reported on social media they have started the harvest at Quinta da Roêda today.

That’s interesting. Their website says: After 150 years dedicated to the production of Port Wines, Quinta Santa Eufemia, that was founded in 1864 by Bernardo Rodrigues de Carvalho, initiated a new step with the market of a new brand EIRADOS. Why this name? EIRADOS is one of the oldest vineyards from...

Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑19:01 Sat 27 Aug 2022 Somewhere to avoid might be empty.Port.glass

That’s in Utah which, I think, is one of the states with the lowest alcohol consumption and most restrictive laws!

**Deep breath.** Sayeth Niepoort: ‘Nat Cool is naturally “cool and funky”. It represents an innovative concept initiated by Niepoort in 2020, in which various producers came together to create light and easy-to-drink wines.’ **Exhale** What this means in practice is a young, basic ruby in a 1 litre ...

Bar Douro’s wine box included a bottle the 2019 “Explicit” white by Jorge Rosa Santos & Filhos. This comes from Portalegre in the North East of Alentejo. It’s not an area I’ve ever visited but looks quite nice on the map: there’s a big national park on the Spanish border with some attractive-loo...

I’m quite interested that they managed to get away with this from a regulatory perspective since I don’t think there is any question of this being a “free” sample as we have seen the past...

Glenn E. wrote: ↑18:28 Wed 17 Aug 2022

none quite as radically as Quinta do Noval

Besides Vesuvio, of course, who if memory serves have only missed 2 vintages since 1989.

Since the claim seems to be based on the run from 2011, aren’t there quite a few others? Quevedo, for example. And maybe Niepoort, too?

bring.magnum.port would be very viable here if travelling between Portugal and France by car, being located the side of the road alongside a river, just away from the main route near the northern-most point of the Spanish/French border. A similar theme: bring.pint.port gives us the fairway, just be...

(Even I don’t drink Port at 8.45am on a Sunday morning...). Plenty of folk do, even if they don't realise it, at least for Anglicans. A friend of mine used to tell me that those very early communion services should be seen as a late night activity rather than an early morning one! PS: I appreciate ...

(PS. That photo was from last night. Even I don’t drink Port at 8.45am on a Sunday morning...).

Snap!

I was wondering about a bottle of young VP but then the Bar Douro wine club has just delivered a bottle of Niepoort “Trudy” Ruby so I think I might move on to that.