How you realised Port was a bit special!

[Conky]

I've always liked Port. But I just used to drink Port! No idea what it was, pulled a face at expensive stuff. Then I had a brush with a Port that was very different to what I'd had before. Let me expand, this is copied from another site. so bear with me,

At this point you will have to indulge me. I love port. I was hooked as a young man, when one evening in the early 80's, I was requested to assist some senior Diplomatic Officers looking after Lord Derby and some minor member of the Royal Family at his home, Knowsley hall. Around 1am in the morning the Butler appeared with a bottle of whisky and a crusty old bottle of vintage port. The Butler explained that both bottles were incredibly rare and expensive, and once in a lifetime drinks. Lord Derby had asked that the Protection Officers be allowed to finish the bottles, as a thank you for their 24 hour a day vigilance. I have no idea what they were, I was told, but it was just not a priority in my life at the time, to remember. The 2 Colleagues who were much older and experienced than me, grabbed the half bottle of whisky and began to enjoy it. I was tossed the Port, as though as a punishment. It was a shabby old bottle with writing on it. It had a date on it that I think was 30's or 40's, and made me worried it would be well off. Also, as I now look back, surprisingly not decanted. I'd only tasted cheap Pub, or Christmas Port until that stage.
The bottle, which was just under half full. was remarkable. It had an explosion of fruits(dont ask me which) and a smooth fulsome body to it. It was that delicious, it forced me to sip it, and to let it stay on my tongue. The half full bottle, which I thought would be gone in a few large gulps, took an hour or so to drink. That was fine, because my colleagues were doing the same with their whisky. We had to stay there until being relieved at 4 in the morning, and most of that time passed admiring this bottle.
So after that, I always ended a special night out with a glass of port, and it wasn't long before I began buying the stuff for home consumption, on a very basic level. I realised that there was some great stuff out there, but life often got in the way. Whether its nostalgia, or the new uniqueness of that experience, I've never quite matched the wonderment of that bottle.

So although I could ask when did you first come across Port. Which would be interesting in itself. I would like to ask a slightly different question.

When did you fall in love with Port, and realise it was a lot deeper subject than you might have previously thought?

Alan

[KillerB]

I didn't have a specific incident, it was an accumulation of tastings, mostly in the company of Stevie, Ronnie and Maartje. It was the tasting at Berry Brothers and Rudd that got me hooked on Fonseca, and that was only two years ago.

Less than five years ago I was still alternating between Graham's and Taylor's LBVs, so it is a very recent transition for me.

[DRT]

I have been drinking port for around 15 years on and off. In the early years it was something I would ocassionally have a glass or two off at the end of a heavy night on the booze and was almost exclusively premium ruby stuff.

I was introduced to the different styles of port by my ex-father-in-law who knew a bit about it but didn't particularly drink much of it. This phase was my intro to LBVs and SQVPs which would be had 2 or 3 times per year on birthdays and Christmas. This phase of my portaholic development ended abruptly on the night that Frank Bruno challenged, and almost knocked out, Mike Tyson for the World Heavyweight Championship in 1992/93. After the fight, and far too many bottles of Becks, I consumed an entire bottle of Taylor LBV by myself. It was the worst hangover of my life and I blamed the port. As a result I did not drink port again for around 6 years.

I then went to Portugal on holiday for the first time in 1999 and weas tempted by all those lovely old bottles I found in the wine shops. I came home with about 6 bottles. These sat proudly in my wine rack for 2 to 3 years whilst I continued to abstain from drinking port.

Phase 3 was when I met Fred Blais on the Forum on http://www.thevintageportsite.com. I think that was in 2001/2. Fred gave me lots of info on real VP, how to store it etc and my interest and collection grew steadily for a year or so. By 2003 I had a collection of around 100 bottles of "real" port and decided to visit VNG for a weekend. That is where I had my spiritual experience and realised that this stuff was about a lot more than just having a nice glass of red stuff after dinner and lots of other drinks.

I progressed from enquirer to respondee on the previously mentioned Forum and then shortly afterwards joined FTLOP where I met some of you guys and Roy Hersh. Participating in the Forums on a daily basis for 4 years or so has made Port a fairly integral part of my life.

Other significant milestones are:

• My first ever Offline in Nov 2005 with the FTLOP crew where I had my first real experience of multiple classic VP's in one sitting
• Meeting Tom and Alex - the catalysts [nut in no way to blame for] for my out of control port purchasing mania
• The 2006 FTLOP Harvet Tour - a now legendery tour that will possibly never be topped, simply due to the dynamics of the group who attended and the enthusiasm they engendered in the hosts
• Meeting Andy, Stewart, Roy, Mario and some new guys in VNG last month - proving that the Port network to which I belong is now truely global

There are many people here and elsewhere to thank for my passion. But most of all thank the guy who thought "if I put some brandy in this dodgy red wine I wonder if it will last the journey over the Atlantic without going off?"

Derek

[uncle tom]

In 1957, when I was merely at the 'possible concept' stage, my father was asked by his then employer, Cossor (where he was employed to write instruction manuals for avionics equipment that pilots could make sense of, and also explain the company's products in words that the media and shareholders could understand..) - to assist at their hospitality tent at the Farnborough air show.

The bar was extensively stocked, and at the end of the show, many of the leftovers found themselves liberated to the safety of the boot of my father's car..

Some were then consumed in short order, but a large box of bottles lay undisturbed in the cupboard under the stairs for over 20 years.

In my late teens, I discovered this little hoard, and discreetly depleted it.

The Creme de Menthe and Benedictine did not set me on fire - but a bottle of 'old tawny' port - the brand I cannot remember - about two thirds full, golden in colour with noticeable fine sediment swirling at the base - impressed me considerably.

Needless to say, it did not remain two thirds full for long..!

Tom

[StevieCage]

I didn't have a specific incident, it was an accumulation of tastings, mostly in the company of Stevie, Ronnie and Maartje.

I never realised we were such pushers, but come to think of it - indeed we are!

For me it was spending an internship at UTAD in Vila Real, at the border of the Douro and having friends there who studied Enology or Agriculture who's family also owned vineyards...my love for Port, moscatel and dry reds was born!
As an aside, I lived in a student appartment there, sharing a room with a Spanish guy studying vetenary science. It was a long walk to the recycle bin, so empty bottles tended to accumulate in our room. The cleaning lady used to refer to us as "the Dutch Drinker (or Drunk) and his Spanish Accomplish"

[Rubby]

A couple of years ago I visited Lisbon for holidays. Before that I had enjoyed a (cheap) Port every now and then. It already was one of my favorite drinks, but I never gave it another thought.
When I'm on holidays, I like to taste as many different specialities and local food as I can, so Portugese wine and, ofcourse, Port were a necessity.

After reading a travel guide, I decided that the Solar do Vinho do Porto would be a nice place to visit, as it was on the route to the restaurant of the evening. Just to have a quick look and have one or two glasses of port.

There I had a glass of the Port that changed everything for me.
I just picked one of the menu, because I hadn't the slightest idea what I was doing.
I hardly knew the difference between Ruby and Tawny, just that I liked the latter more.

I picked the Romariz Colheita '63.
Why?
Because it was the oldest on the menu that you could order per glas.



Was this port?!

It wasn't like anything I tasted before!
Haven't had any experience with tasting notes, the only thing I could think of was 'a glass of liquid sultana's'
That was it. From then on Port was the favorite drink!

Back home I bought a book about Port and the Douro, spelled it from front to back. The rest is history.



Oh, that one glass of Romariz Colheita 1963 was ┚¬ 12.

[Sideways]

I can’t say I love Port with a passion, yet.

I do love (table) wine though, first succumbing to its charm in my college days when my local Unwins sold a white wine by the name of La Mancha for £1.99, a most agreeable price for a poor student living in the smoke. It was several years later before I discovered La Mancha was in fact not a grape variety. By the age of twenty five I was working in the Hotel/Restaurant business and found I had access to a wider range of wines. Books on wine became more and more interesting and a small but eclectic wine 'cellar' began to follow me around. Now, at the age of thirty eight, I find myself drinking Port more and more, mostly LBV. I have noticed that increasingly, an evening is not complete unless I have finished it with a glass of port.

[PortDude]

I became a Port lover the moment an "expert" took an hour or two to let me in on the basics of Port, explaining the differences between ruby and tawny/wood and bottle-aged Port. All of this backed by a massive tasting - a glass of each category. All in all, there must have been two dozen glasses on the table. I immediately fell in love with Vintage Port and 20-year-old tawnies. Since that day, I've had many tastings and bought a decent collection of Port wine. Most recently, I've opened a cask sample of the Quinta de Roriz 2005 Vintage (half-bottle) to share with a friend and after 1 hour it was empty (I like drinking Vintage Port young, although I admit that this one could age a little ).

Come to think of it, I could almost slap myself nowadays for an "incident" that happened back in 2000... I was offered a bottle of Calem 1997 Vintage Port and used it... for cooking! Well, the result was a fabulous sauce, but had I known better...

[Overtired and emotional]

After asking a few minutes ago, why is port pre eminent, I just stumbled on this thread which asks more or less, but not quite the same question. I trust other members will forgive my duplication.

My own moment came, probably around 1989, on tasting some Dow 63 and realising how lucky my recent speculative buy had been. The last bottle from that case was broached some two or three years ago. It remained good, but reminded me that all things have their time, and that this wine's time was passing.