Any port drinkers?
 

Someone recently gave me a bottle of Penfolds 1915 Grandfather port. I've never really thought about drinking port, but I am thoroughly enjoying it. Do you enjoy port? I'd welcome any suggestions on different ports to try.

Penfolds Grandfather port is indeed quite nice (also circa AUD 100 per bottle); even better is Greatgrandfather port but at triple the price. Ports have a huge range of flavours and quality, and Australian ports are significantly different from Portugese ports. There is little correlation between price and quality (more expensive port can be worse than a cheaper one). Currently out of fashion so pricing is good, esp. for mid-range products (10-20 year range). Quite stunning price/performance is the Seppeltfield Para port (has the same subtlety as Grandfather port but at $20/bottle, so 20% of the price -- obviously not as good, but quite enjoyable). Also good are Penfold Bluestone. Bad (to my taste) is Galway Pipe (too sweet and syrupy and lacking depth).

If you are serious about port, try a good (any vintage) Fonseca; it will open your eyes as to what is possible (as well as drain your pocket book).

I love Port, and among the best trips I ever took was to Porto a few years ago. I visited the Taylor Fladgate facility in the city, then visited the vineyards about a three-hour drive outside at stunning location on the steep walls of the Douro River valley. The experience and hospitality were great.

In addition to the older or vintage ports, like number_6 mentions, the Taylor 20-year tawny is my favorite everyday port. (They serve it on Qatar Airways, which is always a treat.)

For a birthday I received a bottle of Taylor Fladgate 40 year. Quite different to the 20, which I also enjoy after dinner on the weekend, almost liquor like.
Stunning price and not something that I would buy for myself.

the penfolds grandfather 1915 is a proper noun. the wine is much less old. due to the penfolds name, it is quite expensive and in my opinion not a great value. in recent years, a number of the port makers have dropped the port name and call them fortified. a lot of them are made using a solera, like in sherry.

my favorites include buller, campbells, chambers and yalumba. there are muscats, tawny's muscat, muscadelle, tokay, and mixed bag. in the usa, they tend to be around $15 or less for a half bottle for the lesser of the offerings, which are spectacular. most come from rutherglen, victoria.

in regard to vintage ports, the newest vintage is usually hyped beyond comprehension. and priced beyond comprehension. really takes 20-30 years to smooth out. one can usually find 20-30 year old ports for less than the fresh vintage. the big name in port is TAYLOR. usually the others are very close in taste, and about half the price. Croft,Dow, graham,smith-woodhouse,fonseca come to mind.

tawny port is aged in an oxidized condition, and will survive a month or so after open. vintage port will start going downhill within a day or two of opening.

i have been to both vertical and single vintage tastings. in the verticals, the aging is most noticeable, and useful. in the single vintage tastings, the differences are minuscule,and favorites are by individual taste.

warning: if you go to a port tasting, plan to spend the night. stuff goes down like campaign, out of bigger glasses, and has almost twice the alcohol.

Apart from classic Stilton, what would the FT Port afficionados recommend as savoury bites with this noble drink?

See also this thread

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/dinin...sert-wine.html

I also learned to love port on a trip to Portugal. Mr. Harlot and I visited several port houses at Villa Nova de Gaia. What a wonderful experience!

We really love the Kopke 20 year. It's very nice. We also were recently introduced to Dona Matilde, 1991 Colheita. It's also a very enjoyable port.

I also like LBVs. Quinta de la Rosa makes a good LBV as does Quinta do Infantado.

I'm still learning to like a vintage port.

I struggle a bit with the bigger port houses because they are not Portuguese owned. They're often multinational conglomerates or British owned. Calem was Portuguese-owned until recently but I think they sold out. Quinta de la Rosa is a family-owned quinta up the Douro. I like to buy their port (and wine) when I can, but usually I have to ask for it to be special ordered in. Fortunately my local grocery store can do that.

As for what goes with it - we went to a port tasting at our local wine store and they paired port with good quality chocolate. Port and chocolate nearly always go very well together. We have also had port with vanilla ice cream. That is enjoyable as well. It's also good with a chocolate fondue.

If you end up with a bottle of tawny port that you don't finish timely, it's still very useful for cooking.

(And, I mentioned it before so I won't harp on it, but really, if it doesn't come from Portugal, it shouldn't be called port! :D )

Chocolate desserts go very well. I also enjoy creme brulee with some ports.

I'm generally a VP kind of guy. Lots of bargains (IMO) on the secondary market for well aged VP if you stay away from the hyped bottles.

My wife got me a pair of port tongs for my birthday one year. It's a lot of fun to tong a bottle of port when you have a dinner party.

http://www.wine-tastings-guide.com/i...ngs-bottle.jpg

I remember once, my friend's wife came home and saw the bottle with the severed top and she remarked, "you couldn't find a better way of getting the wine out?" :eek:

:D

I only have Port when flying in International Business Class so it's become this rare treat for me. Unfortunately, I do not know much about it so I can't reccommend any to you, but I really enjoy it when I have it.

At a wine tasting last year, we were served a nice tawny port paired with a chocolate that was made with tamari-roasted almonds and sea salt. My wife still talks about the experience in almost religious terms.

These experiences are not hard - nor, compared to the costs of other religious
experiences, expensive to duplicate.

You should go out and enjoy yourselves. You can get a respectable Port for
20-30 USD a bottle, and you only need to drink a couple ounces; it keeps
pretty well. I don't know how much tamari almond chocolate costs, but it's
likely under 5. As my colleague here says, life is good. And I add, if you make
it so.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm going to try a few of these.
Pardon my ignorance but could you elaborate on what vertical and single tastings are?

I assume that by "vertical," slawecki means a tasting of multiple ages or vintages for a single brand. For example, at Taylor Flagdate, you can taste the 40-, 30-, 20-, and 10-year tawnys in succession. This, of course, accentuates the differences due to the age since the formula is the same otherwise. You could also do this by tasting a series of vintages, which would be even better if you could pick out the especially memorable ones.

I assume that "single" means tasting a number of brands that are the same age or vintage, for example tasting the 1977 vintage of a number of different producers at the same time to understand the differences in brand.

I see, thanks for the explanation.:)

My favorite Ports are the largely unknown dry or extra dry whites. Contrary to all the other types, dry whites are not dessert wines; they are to be enjoyed cold, before a meal, with an appetizer (specially seafood appetizers), or any time you would have a cocktail.
It's a pity that they are so hard to find outside Portugal.

vertical tasting from a single grower: say all dow, or all taylor, or all fonseca from as many as possible of: 70,77,80,82,83,85,87,91,92,94, and then maybe an '05 just to see what an unaged is like. if lucky, one can find half a dozen or so of the old ones.

horizontal tasting: as many houses as possible of a given declared vintage. did a lot of 70's and 77's. somewhere around '95-'00, vintage port fell into disfavor, as did the british pound, and the british economy. port got real cheap, and a lot of 70 & 77 came on the market. i bought 2 cases of '77. still have about 4 bottles left.

I agree completely. We did exactly this on Thanksgiving, with the same port and chocolate we had at the wine tasting. Relatively inexpensive and a big hit with the in-laws.

Port is quite versatile as it has strong flavours. Classic pairing is with dried fruits (apricots, dates, figs, even pears and apples), nuts such as walnut and almond -- these bring out some of the elements of the wine -- and of course the classic chocolate deserts. Also quite good with rich game meats such as duck and venison, a perhaps less expected pairing.

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Tour: BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.61 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Duck and venison? I wouldn't have thought of that. Would you advocate drinking port as a "normal" wine with dinner, or are you thinking of small sips with small plates, like duck- or venison-based appetizers?

Yes, port can be drunk as a dinner wine, even as the main course. Of course only some ports are good enough to be able to be drunk that way, some are too "raisiny" but that is more a flaw than a port characteristic imho. Of course the classic duck wine is Banyul (which is somewhat port-like). The richer the food, the better the wine and the meal. Of course this style of dining is to be indulged in rarely (once or twice a year) if you value your liver.

The history of Port wine is linked to Britain, so the fact that some wineries are British owned is just tradition, rather than a sell-out. (just clarifying).
But as far as I know, Calem is Portuguese owned at the moment, by a company called Sogevino or something like that. And Sandeman is back to Portuguese hands after the Sogrape Group - known for Mateus Rose - bought it from Seagram's.

Does anyone know the Bishop of Norwich?

I've always thought it would be fun to go to Portugal and visit some port wineries and try a wide variety of ports.

In your educated opinions, where would be a good starting place to plan such a trip? Where in Portugal, which wineries, etc.?

Many thanks for your help.

You are presuming that wineries exist and welcome visitors :) It is a lot different from US wine operations, and your best bet is something like the following (at a cost of up to EUR 1000 for the day tour): http://www.cellartours.com/portugal/...xury-port.html

Port is still secretive and not readily accessible to the public unless you are "in the club".

Until a few years ago, I would agree with you. But recently more and more wineries in the Douro Valley are open for visitors, have tasting rooms, give tours and have harvest parties/feasts. Not to mention the Instituto do Vinho do Porto in the town of Peso da Regua.

I've been to Quinta Nova once during harvest time in 2006, and I went to "work" in the field for a couple of hours, accompanied by the managers of the winery. After that, we ate lunch at the Manor House (also a hotel) and visited the wine-making facilities and the cellars. Great stuff.

I was at the Douro Valley again last year and the hotel concierge (Aqua Pura) told me that it was a growing business for the region and suggested a tour at Sandeman and at Ramos Pinto, but we chose to go to a couple of wineries close by.

Actually, yes. In fact, I believe that he is an awfully nice fellow, but....

I love a glass of port when the temperatures drop and the sky starts to spit sleet and snow. Hopefully that takes place on a Saturday night and I can curl up with a good book in front of the fireplace. I don't have any favorite brands, so I guess you could say I favor any port in a storm. :p

Back in the 70's, Frank Zappa had a non-hit with a song titled "WPLJ" for White Port and Lemon Juice. I tried it, but Frank, it was not a good mix. :td:

I like Cockburns and Taylors but prefer ruby over tawny. I did try a port in Australia that was like a toffee colour and tasted amazing!

I drink my favorite port with Gorgonzola cheese mixed with a small amount of fig infused balsamic vinegar...YUM!

I've still got one bottle (#843) left of an Australian tawny bottled and blended by Hugh Cuthbertson of the Talavera Wine company for the Australian Wine Club and ANSETT's 50th Anniversary. It's said to have some 50-year old nucleus material as its base and I recall from the bottles consumed in decad past that it made for a pleasant drink on a cold, snowy Canadian winters night. I think we members of the Golden Wing Club could order a mini-case of three bottles back in 1986. Wow 24 years ago, a quarter century!