Newsletter, September 2017

Transcription

1 Newsletter, September 2017 Dear friends After a wet and cold summer in Denmark, a new season has started. The first tasting took place recently at our new location, restaurant UBN (Urban) in the center of Odense, and so far, the facilities match our expectations and demand for high quality. Another improvement is our investment in a lot more tasting glasses, which means that we have the possibility for all participant to compare port from 12 glasses simultaneously. In this Newsletter, you can read more about the first tastings and the upcoming ones. You can also read about two visits in Portugal; in June, where some members were part of the Confraria event, and a trip to Porto and the Douro in the beginning of October. Confraria in June Some members of our Club visited Porto in June around São João, where the annual ceremony of the Confraria do Vinho do Porto took place. Two members of the Club were enthroned as Cavaleiros: the former board member Peter Skov and member Ivan Madsen, who is one of the organizers of the Port Fair in Roskilde. Two new Cavaleiros, Peter & Ivan Per Stenaa and Bjarne Mouridsen from the board were present in both Ceremony and Dinner and furthermore they participated in the Regatta. Bjarne Mouridsen was invited on board the Ferreira boat, but unfortunately the sail broke after a few minutes.

2 Per, Axel & Bjarne at Dalva A couple of port houses were visited during the sunny days in Porto. First a visit to Dalva, where Elsa Couto hosted a great tasting of Tawny and Golden Whites together with a group from England and our old friend Axel Probst from Germany. At Ramos Pinto Ana Rosas hosted a very interesting tasting around the piano of new vintages, Tawny and old samples of Colheitas. Garrafeira tasting crew

3 The group of Vikings had a wonderful Lunch with Álvaro van Zeller and Carlos Flores as well. They enjoyed São João with a beautiful view from the Gaia side and finally Peter Skov hosted an outstanding tasting of the full range of Garrafeiras from Niepoort. Among the participants were Roy Hersh and Mario Ferreira from For The Love of Port, George Sandeman, Elsa Couto, Pedro Pintao, Oscar Quevedo, Carlos Flores, and Alvaro van Zeller and - off course - Dirk Niepoort. Dalva tasting Our first tasting this autumn took place on the 20 th of September with focus on Dalva. We were honored with the presence of Isabel Abreu Lima, who came the long way from Portugal to participate and comment on wines. We had a wonderful evening with Isabel, who replaced Elsa Couto. Unfortunately, Elsa was occupied arranging the 130 years anniversary of Porto Cruz, why she had to cancel her trip to Denmark. Isabel Abreu Lima, Dalva tasting, Odense 2017 Dalva has a great reputation when it comes to wood aged port and especially their Golden Whites; a brand that counts White Colheitas from 1952, 1963, 1971, & 1989.

4 The wines we tasted were: Dry White 10 & 40 years Colheita 2004, 2000, &1982 White Colheita 2007 Golden White Colheita1989, 1971 & 1963 Vintage 1994 After the tasting the participants scored all wines with the following Top 5: Vintage Golden White 1971 (94,1) 2. Golden White 1963 (92,9) 3. Colheita 1982 (91,7) 4. Colheita 1990 (91,0) 5. White Colheita 2007 (90,5) The next tasting will take place on the 25 th of October. After tasting one single house (Dalva), we will this time taste one single year: the 40 years old Vintage Vintage 1977 is Classis Vintage. In his book Port and the Douro Richard Mayson describes it as a Vintage with ripe, concentrated wines at the outset, many developing faster than expected. In Potwein Axel Probst writes that it is a very good, but uneven year. We are looking forward to taste a broad selection of the declared wines to see which ones are already mature and ready to drink and which ones still has years to go. New Tawny-brands It is a tradition that our last tasting before Christmas focus on Tawny & Colheita. This year is no exception and the theme will be, what we call new or small houses - but of course houses with excellent wood aged Ports. The tasting will present 8 port houses: Quinta Santa Eufemia, Quinta das Lamelas, Blackett, Bulas, DR, Butler Nephew, Viera de Sousa & Quinta da Devesa. The tasting is

5 semi-blind in two flights: first the 20 Years Old and then the 30 years Old (Sousa with 40 Years Old, since they do not produce 30 Years Old). Finally, all members also look forward to another tradition, namely The Vintage Port Club Traditionally & Extended Very Nasty Before Christmas Quiz with a lot of hard questions around Port. And believe us, the questions are more than nasty! Visit to Porto and the Douro in October Some members of the board - chairman Erik Pedersen is among them - will visit Porto and the Douro in the beginning of October, more precisely from Sunday the 1 st of October to Wednesday the 4 th of October. The aim is as always to visit good friends among the port people and to get the latest updates - especially news about the recent harvest. Among other things, a visit to Porto Cruz is arranged, where they hopefully will see Isabel Abreu Lima, who just visited the Club for the Dalva tasting. Visits to Taylor s and Cockburn s new lodge are planned too. Visiting Crasto 2011

6 Up the Douro, a visit to always hospitable Quinta do Crasto is arranged as well as a closer look at Alvaro van Zellers new project near Pocinho. Børsen Port Wine Festival There is a growing interest in Port in Denmark. Because of that we now have several Port Festivals spread around the country: Copenhagen, Roskilde, Aarhus, Aabenraa, and Odense. The oldest one, Henrik Oldenburg s Port Festival at Børsen (the old stock exchange) in Copenhagen, takes place the 6 th of November. As usual members of the Club will be present at the festival to taste a lot of interesting port, and meet importers, friends and connections from the producers in Portugal. Among others Carlos Flores from Andresen, Jorge Rosas from Ramos Pinto, Gustavo Devesas from Symington s and Dirk Niepoort will be guests this year. Dirk at Børsen Dirk will host a special tasting of still wine and ports with the theme Tradition & Innovation. As usual the Club has a chair at this tasting. This year Per Stenaa from the board will represent the Club, and Bjarne Mouridsen is participating as journalist. News from Portugal World of Wine is the name of a big investment from the Fladgate Partnership, which will bring changes to Vila Nova de Gaia. World of Wine will be a modern wine center with a Museum, several shops and restaurants, exhibitions and a school educations center.

7 World of Wine, 2020 Fladgate Partnership will invest 100 million Euro in the project. The rebuilding of some of the old warehouses just below The Yeatman will begin in 2018 and the World of Wine is scheduled to open in Facebook and Newsletter Did you know that you can become a member of the Facebook Group of The Vintage Port Club? Just apply and we will be very happy to welcome you. And if you have anyone in your Company, whom you think will benefit from reading this Newsletter, just send name and address to info@vintageport.dk. Best regards from the Board PS There are only two years until we can celebrate our 30 years Anniversary! More to that subject later.