Old wines? I love them. And some of the best old wines are fortified wines: Madeira, Vintage Port, Tawny Port and VORS Sherry. This is a 60 year old single-vintage…
A superb, affordable Port from Grahams
Now this is pretty smart. It may only be an LBV, with a T-top rather than driven cork. But it’s actually a really good Port, and worth thinking about as…
Video: mechanical/robotic foot treading for Port
In this short film, Paul Symington describes the way his company have pioneered the use of mechanical foottreaders (also known as robotic lagares) for Port production. It’s not straighforward: Port…
Video: the spectacular Quinta dos Malvedos in the Douro, Portugal
A film from my recent Douro visit. It’s Graham’s spectacular Quinta dos Malvedos, shot the day before harvest began. For more on Malvedos, take a look at the superb Graham’s…
Some traditional Portuguese food and Graham 1980
I’m in sunny Porto, heading off to the Douro today where vintage 2011 is just starting. So, snatching a few minutes on free wifi (all hotels should offer this) in…
We should be drinking more Port!
End of a long day, completed with a glass of Port. We should drink more Port – it often gets forgotten, or relegated to the end of a long evening…
Fonseca 1970, Delamain 1914, Vin de Constance 1988 and other treats
Had a very enjoyable dinner last night at the offices of Mentzendorff, a major high-end UK agency house. It was more fun than work, but I took some notes on the…
Dinner at Francis and Bronwens with Huet, Laval, Niepoort and Donald
I normally try to keep this blog of the moment, but I’ve been busy of late, and I have lots to include. So I need to mention, after the fact,…
Port: why the Symingtons didn’t declare in 2009
Following up from my write-up of the 2009 Vintage Port declaration, Paul Symington contacted me to explain why the Symingtons didn’t make a widespread declaration of the 2009s, which I’m…