Vintage Port Shop Blog
Port Cocktails: A White Port Summer
Posted 17 July 2018
by Dia Grigoriou
White port was invented by the Taylor's brand many years ago (first blended in 1934!) and it seems to be THE summer drink of the Portuguese.
If you have sat in the banks of the Douro river on a hot summer's day and have not enjoyed a white port with tonic you haven't really experienced the refreshing side of port wine!
White Port can be enjoyed chilled on its own, as an aperitif, or with a twist of lemon accompanied by roasted almonds, olives or dry biscuits. But our favourite options are cocktails, when white port is the main component blended with different ingredients to form fascinating and refreshing flavour combinations.
That all sounds great and really tempting but what is White Port?
2016 Vintage Port- Initial Impressions on taste and quality
Posted 21 May 2018
by Vintage Wine and Port
Richard Mayson, the renowned wine writer of the classic "Port and the Douro" and an eminent authority on Vintage Port has recently released his first impressions of the 2016 vintage ports. Richard tasted the 2016 ports on two occasions, firstly at The Big Fortified Tasting on 9th May 2018 and secondly on the joint presentation that The Fladgate Partnership , Quinta Do noval and The Symington Family Estates gave on the 17th May 2018 in London. He reluctantly graded these, as he prefers to try the samples 3 or 4 times, but this year …
2016 Vintage Port Declaration
Posted 23 April 2018
by Vintage Wine and Port
Vintage Port declarations are traditionally made on St George's Day. We are pleased to announce that all the major port houses have declared the 2016 Vintage. This is the first general declaration since the outstanding 2011 vintage.
The keynotes of the 2016 vintage are purity, refinement and structure. The ports are characteristically elegant and poised and underpinned by firm, superbly integrated tannins of exceptional quality. Yields at the 2016 harvest were low and demand will exceed supply.
Vintage Wine and Port are now working with port houses to secure a good allocation which we will offer en-primeur to previous customers in mid-May. We will then release a wider offer to the general public at the end of May. We have so far secured ports from Taylors, Fonseca, Croft, Grahams, Grahams’s Stone Terraces, Smith Woodhouse, Cockburns. Dow, Vesuvio, Vesuvio Capella, Noval, Noval Nacional, Burmester, Calem, Kopke, Barros, Niepoort, Warres and we will have added to this list when the offer is released.
Symington Family Declares 2016 Vintage Port
Posted 10 April 2018
by Dia Grigoriou
The Symington family has declared 2016 as a vintage of exceptional quality. The company behind the production of the quality port brands Graham's, Dow's, Warre's, Cockburn's and Quinta do Vesuvio has announced the declaration of all the aforementioned houses, the first to include all their port brands since the outstanding 2011 vintage.
A spokesman for the company said the 2015/ 16 winter was wetter than average, which provided a “vital counterbalance” to the hot Douro summer. It noted that some started picking during the hot September …
Vintage Port -The Chalk Mark
Posted 9 March 2018
by Dia Grigoriou
As we sell quite a lot of vintage port, one of the things we are often asked about is as to why is there a blob of white paint on the Port bottle.
Vintage Port did not legally have to be labelled for sale until it became law with the 1977 Port vintage, so there was often no label to see which way up the bottle was (the vintage and name of the Port would be on the capsule and the cork). Therefore, if the bottle was left one one side the sediment will all collect on one side. Sometimes it is a neat blob of white paint on a vintage Port bottle, other times it is a real splash – and it seems to vary from Port house to Port House and, no doubt, depends who was working in the cellar on particular day.