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Thread renamed from “Ground has been broken” to “Port Vintages, Second Edition” by jdaw1, 22:30 Mon 20 Dec 2021. I slightly regret using Times New Roman for the bulk of the text, and am considering using, for the second edition, Minion Pro. Objections? Suggestions of better (serious suggestions pls...

Ground has been broken. As attentive readers of these pages might already know, the book Port Vintages was self-published in 2018. There have been requests, here and elsewhere, for more copies to be available, ideally in the form of a second edition incorporating the additional information that has...

Sandeman 20 y/o = £30.39 per bottle when ordered from Amazon via a “subscribe and save”, which seems like a good deal. The subscription can be cancelled upon receipt of the first order.

Yes please.

Cr03 - 1 case of 12.

My thanks to George for organising this tasting, and to the TPFers in attendance for making the tasting so enjoyable. My thanks also to the two TPFers who donated bottles, even though they could not attend, and to the excellent staff at the B&F. My summary was that many of the Ports were much mo...

One of the ‘redder’ wines of the tasting – nice and clear rim. Nose muted at first, though I found it opened up nicely as the evening progressed (red fruits, lessening heat). By the end of the night, this was a particularly agreeable wine, if a little straightforward on the way down.

Light/mid red. I thought that the nose on this one stayed quite muted throughout the evening (and was perhaps a little vegetal, too). On the palate this wine improved throughout the tasting, and I thought that a redcurrant frangipane grip built markedly towards the end.

Red/orange rim – quite pale. Not much going on on the nose at the beginning, nor at the end of the evening. Unfortunately, I thought that the palate and the aftertaste didn’t have much going on, either, and that they stayed rather hot/acidic for the whole tasting.

Probably the second darkest wine of the tasting (Dow #1). The nose was excellent – cherry jam and mint (though possibly a “younger” nose than I’d have expected for a 41 year old wine). Nice and rich on the palate (would certainly have guessed a Graham's if the tasting were blind), and very well bala...

Also a dark red wine (though a little lighter than the Dow and the Gould Campbell) – barely pale at the rim. I thought the nose was muted but that the palate and the aftertaste, both of black cherry/almonds, were pleasant.

Pale red, slightly red/orange rim. The nose seemed a little subdued for my liking. The palate picked up a bit, with red cherries and maybe some orange blossom. I found the rather smooth aftertaste to be over too quickly, though.

Mid red, reddish rim. Very muted on the nose. My notes indicated that it didn’t open up as the tasting progressed. It wasn’t as rich on the palate as I was hoping for – and the palate was a mixed bag overall. Almost no grip. I would really have liked to have tried this with a longer decant time.

Very dark red indeed – the picture on the review of the evening as a whole doesn’t do the depth of colour justice. Huge amounts of youthful fruit remain, and I thought that this was too dominant given the age of the bottle. I wonder what this will be like in a few decades, once the fruit has integra...

Tending towards brown, rather than orange, at the rim. I found the nose to be muted (with a slight paperyness to it?). The palate was hot and the dominant flavour like those little red boxes of raisins (with the associated box-like flavour). I was not a fan.

Mid to dark red. The nose was particularly enjoyable – almondy first, red fruit second. Palate was very fine, more almonds with dark cherries, which long continued on the aftertaste.

Dark to mid red – clear rim. The nose really stood out, and was very fresh and lively (I suspect the accompanying wines amplified this observation). Nice and rich on the palate, with raspberries and fresh red fruit flavours predominating. A slight, if somewhat short, aftertaste of macerated red cher...

Brown/orange rim. The most bizarre nose ever – I thought that I was drinking from a glass formerly occupied by an Espresso Martini! Clearly faulty, though having said that, this Port would’ve been an interesting start to a Saturday…

Dark to mid red. I thought it was a little hot on the nose, but the solid palate of red fruit really and medium length aftertaste won through (if a little drier than I was expecting). P3.

Dark to mid red. Nose muted. Not much going on on the palate, either. I was left wondering if this wine will it ever come out of its long slump?

With my thanks to George, this wine was very much enjoyed on 21.10.21. Fantastically dark and viscous wine. Purple/red rim – with long purple legs in the glass. Huge levels of fruit on the nose, dominated by black cherries and blackcurrants, with very little heat. The palate was very rich, balanced ...

The bottle.

Burmester decanted at 0845. Unfortunately, the cork failed on extraction. Lots of fine sediment in the filter. A little closed on the nose, but a wonderful colour nonetheless. Hopefully it opens up in time!

Yes please. I only have W77 and W75 “normal” bottlings, though.

The main for yours truly will be the special order rib-eye, cooked rare, with chips and green beans (and if Béarnaise sauce is available, I would say yes please). If Welsh Rabbit is also available (I think it is an off-menu order), please could I have that as a savoury? Thanks.