A BBQ and a Quevedo Rose Port story

[Andy Velebil]

Originally posted on and given the recent talk of a Rose offline thought it would be fitting to share here, if that is ok.

Allow me to set the scene first. Yesterday (sunday) I had 12 very close friends over to my house for my annual "thank you" BBQ. Most of them are not serious wine drinkers, but they do enjoy a decent glass of wine from time to time. Two of them do collect wine on a very small scale and have small cellars. Since it was pushing 100 degrees here we were inside until it cooled off in the evening. I opened a dozen bottles of wine from my cellar, a mix of bubbles, whites, and reds of various varietals and from various regions and of course Vintage Port.

As people arrived they were greeted by a Niepoort Dry White Port and tonic with lemon. A refreshing way to start the warm afternoon off with and everyone liked it, even one person who rarely drinks was all over this. After a couple of hours, a some bubbly and white wine later, I decided it was time to open the Quevedo Rose Port. At first people made comments like "It's pink, is it different," I then very briefly explained what it was and how it was made. I at first gave people a small glass of it by itself, just so they knew what they were drinking. Immediately it was a big hit, people loved it. Then I did some experiments with mixing it with other things, such as champagne, tonic water, and soda water. By and large the favorite was about a 40/60% mix of Rose and Soda, with the Rose and Tonic coming in a very distance second. Here is where things got interesting....

After my little trials, 8 out of the 12 people at the tasting continued to ask for more of the Rose by itself. It was the only bottle that did not last more than 20 minutes after being opened. It was gone in a blink of an eye! Even after it was gone people kept asking me if there was any more. Sadly that was my only bottle of it.

This was by and large the favorite bottle of the evening for almost all. As I mentioned in the other threads, this may not be aimed at the serious Port collector, but my little experiment with novice wine drinkers (and they rarely drink Port unless I open it for them) shows the potential Rose Port has in attracting new people to our favorite nectar.

[Alex Bridgeman]

That is a very interesting story. Thanks for sharing it.

[Andy Velebil]

Alex,

Interesting to say the least for sure. It's hard to convey what transpired on paper, but I was utterly shocked at how they loved this. When this was opened every other bottle that was already opened was put aside and all their attention went to the Rose until it was gone. Even after it was gone and people had some other wines, they continued to ask for more of the Rose.

I always figured this would be a nitch market for a small group of Port novices. I was totally unprepared at how many of them would actually love this style of Port. Even all the older and younger Ports (VP's, tawny's, Colheita's, LBV's) I've opened for them have never had this positive of a response. So if this is a good representative sample, then Rose has great potential for new Port drinkers.

[DRT]

Andy,

What other wines and ports did you serve on the night?

I ask because it would be interesting to know the contrast between what most here would consider to be "real port" that was put into the shade by Pink stuff by this group of newbies.

Derek

[Andy Velebil]

It was a mix of things from Dry white Port and tonic with lemon, Champagne, California white's (Chards and Sauv Blanc), California Reds (Cabernet and zins - both young and old), and some younger VP's from "first and second tier" houses. So the wines were not cheapy store stuff, but not a 1963 Nacional either.

The Port that most of them have had in the past has mainly been when I've served it to them. And those Ports have ranged from 30+ year old VP's to 70+ year old Colheita's and almost all the types and many ages in between. So while they've had very nice Ports in the past, and quite liked them, I've never seen any of them show such excitement over ANY Port before.

Like I've said before, Rose' may not be on our drinking radar most of the time, but I can tell you this was a BIG hit my guests....and they are exactly the demographics that Rose' are aimed at.

The hard part, as Roy has stated, is getting importers/distributors to bring them into a country and market them to retail stores. This is a product that will probably require all of us to do our part in helping spread the word. Which after seeing first hand how popular it was, I now have no problem doing.

(**I should note, the Rose was served well chilled. I don't think I made that clear in the original post)

[Alex Bridgeman]

I've promised to organise a port tasting for the team at work later in the year. Given your story, I might well add a rose port into the selection.

Oscar - are you exporting your Rose port to the UK at the moment?

[marc j.]

Very surprising! I can't say that I've tried it, but judging by the reaction at your BBQ it seems that Rose Port is filling a "cross over" niche market between traditional table wines and traditional Ports - very interesting. Time to give it a whirl....

Marc

[Andy Velebil]

I've promised to organise a port tasting for the team at work later in the year. Given your story, I might well add a rose port into the selection.

Alex,
Please do let me know if you do this, I am most curious to see the results.

[Axel P]

Alex, if you need single bottles I can help out. I am importing some into Germany.

Axel

[oscar quevedo]

Oscar - are you exporting your Rose port to the UK at the moment?

No Alex, the king-market of Port Wine is not easy to impress! It is a big challenge, and I think we will reach other markets first than UK. But eventually we will do!

[RonnieRoots]

The hard part, as Roy has stated, is getting importers/distributors to bring them into a country and market them to retail stores. This is a product that will probably require all of us to do our part in helping spread the word. Which after seeing first hand how popular it was, I now have no problem doing.

It may not be such a big problem as you think. The Croft Pink was introduced on the Dutch market last year and was an instant hit.

[Andy Velebil]

The hard part, as Roy has stated, is getting importers/distributors to bring them into a country and market them to retail stores. This is a product that will probably require all of us to do our part in helping spread the word. Which after seeing first hand how popular it was, I now have no problem doing.

It may not be such a big problem as you think. The Croft Pink was introduced on the Dutch market last year and was an instant hit.

Ronnie,
Thats great news. It's not gotten much publicity here in the States and Croft's Pink still isn't easy to find. But that may have something to do with the poor economy too. But I did grab one recently for only $14 that I plan to use with the same group of friends in the near future. I'm curious to see if they like this one as much as the Quevedo Rose.

But as Oscar mentioned it's getting them INTO the country in the first place that's the hard part. Seems they tend to sell fairly well in some parts once there.

[mosesbotbol]

Croft Pink is around $14 in Boston as well.

[john greenwold]

Interested to read comments about Oscar Quevedo's Rose Port. Following a tasting of his impressive Ports in London, I ordered 50 cases to sell through my shop http://www.wine-boutique.co.uk . They should arrive this week (hopefully around the 10th December) and will be available for despatch as part of a mixed case of six bottles for delivery before Christmas.
Unfortunately I neither tasted the Rose in London nor had read the Forum's reaction to this wine at the time of ordering and felt it may be a little left-field. I didn't order any. However, if demand exists and we are able to sell through the wines we have ordered in a reasonable time, I will be reordering just as soon as I can.
If anyone reading this is interested in buying this wine in the UK (probably around £13.00 a bottle), let me know.
John Greenwold
winefantastic

[DRT]

Is this allowed here? I don't see anything wrong with it but can't remember what we have done with posts like this in the past.

Interested to read comments about Oscar Quevedo's Rose Port. Following a tasting of his impressive Ports in London, I ordered 50 cases to sell through my shop http://www.wine-boutique.co.uk . They should arrive this week (hopefully around the 10th December) and will be available for despatch as part of a mixed case of six bottles for delivery before Christmas.
Unfortunately I neither tasted the Rose in London nor had read the Forum's reaction to this wine at the time of ordering and felt it may be a little left-field. I didn't order any. However, if demand exists and we are able to sell through the wines we have ordered in a reasonable time, I will be reordering just as soon as I can.
If anyone reading this is interested in buying this wine in the UK (probably around £13.00 a bottle), let me know.
John Greenwold
winefantastic

[JacobH]

Is this allowed here? I don't see anything wrong with it but can't remember what we have done with posts like this in the past.

I think there is a fairly explicit invitation at the bottom of every page:

We want to buy unusual ports, and usual ports at unusually good prices, in quantities small or large sell to us.

But presumably the decision is for the Admin...

Anyway, welcome John, to . Perhaps you could tell us a bit more about yourself in the Introduction Forum. We also have fairly frequent tastings in London if you'd be interested in attending.

[KillerB]

As far as I'm concerned this is a useful addition to the thread. John is only telling us about one Port in a thread about it, he's not hawking.

Welcome aboard John.

[DRT]

John,

Apologies for the above post. I created it in a rush this morning and meant to ask Admin the question by Private Message rather than putting you on public trial

Anyway, the answer came back as I expected so hopefully no harm done.

Welcome to

It is good to see that our good friend Oscar may have a UK distributor.

Derek

[Alex Bridgeman]

I, for one, would be delighted to see retailers posting (or continuing to post) details of the ports which they offer for sale. I could have used a couple of bottles of Oscar's Rose port in September when I did my last Introductory Port Tasting.

[john greenwold]

Hello Forum

never used or visited a Forum such as this before and didn't understand the "rules" - implied or otherwise. Apologies to those who disapprove of commercial exploitation of it.
I understand better now but permit me one last "hawking" comment before I revert to purely opinion stuff. We may be a Distributor for Quevedo Ports in the UK, we might be ordering some Rose shortly and you could concievably find us by Googling "Quevedo Port UK". If our prices are too rich for you and you want some quantity, email us. We are actually a wholesaler and the retail thing is a minor 1%-of-turnover hobby!

Right, that's it. Thank you for indulging me.

Now, Oscar Quevedo came over to visit this week and we had a great time exploring the Ports. As explained earlier, I hadn't tasted the Rose, nor was I aware of the style even. But we loved it and will be buying some.
We had a great dinner with some Port-loving friends and our chef laid on an immense cheese board including, controversially, a whole Stilton filled with Ruby. We drank 1992 Colheita with a Chocolate Ganache. It was fantastic and all the wines shone. The White Port in particular won some friends.
For me, however, the star of the show is the "basic" Ruby. In terms of price/quality, it is so far ahead of the equivalent big brands as to be almost unrecognisable as a direct competitor. I recommend it.