ThePortForum.com

Hello everyone! I am new to the forum, but not as new to port wines. I've been lurking as a guest for a few weeks now since I discovered the forum, and have decided to just jump straight in!

My first experience with port was a few years ago during the late nights in my undergraduate library, writing papers with friends. Every night at 02:30 we'd celebrate "Port O'Clock" by opening a bottle of whatever we had found the previous week, and passing it until it was finished. Whether or not it improved our writing skills, I can't say for sure... I've had a decent amount of exposure to the Port World since, thanks both to my graduate college's extensive port cellar and my honeymoon to Portugal last year.

Now that I'm in Pennsylvania (a horribly puritanical state when it comes to alcohol regulations, especially considering their monopoly on liquor sales), I've been finding it difficult to locate good sources and interested drinkers. I'm excited to learn as much as I can from the forum's many knowledgeable members, and hopefully discover the secret of where you all find such wonderful tipples for your own cellars!

Welcome Slateshalehead, I hope you manage to find a source of good Port at sensible prices while in Pennsylvania.

Where were you an undergraduate?

Thanks for the welcome, AHB! My undergraduate was at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA with a visiting scholarship at Mansfield College, Oxford (where Port O'clock happened). When I was there they were just starting to build up an extensive cellar

That's very interesting to know. I had no idea that any of the Oxford colleges were building cellars up — most seem to be reducing or selling off their cellars.

AHB wrote: ↑19:16 Sat 29 Aug 2020 That's very interesting to know. I had no idea that any of the Oxford colleges were building cellars up — most seem to be reducing or selling off their cellars.

Most of Oxford's cellars are transitioning to focus on the conference market, to the point that one college's butler refused to sell me a bottle because I wasn't a conference guest. Mansfield never had a huge cellar buildup as a younger college, so they're trying to build up a bit now.