Tag Archives: van Zeller

Portweinmesse in Leverkusen

The port wine fair in Leverkusen, organized by Axel Probst and the World of Port was as usual very well organized with many good producers of port, showing their last vintage port as well as some older samples. The fair was held on November 24, 2023.

The Douro Boys

In addition to the fair there was also a master class with the Douro Boys. The Douro Boys is a cooperation between some of the best independent producers of Douro wines and Port. It was formed in 2003, mainly in order to promote the Douro table wines that was fairly new at the time. The Douro Boys includes Quinta do Vallado, Van Zellers & Co., Quinta do Vale Meão, Quinta do Crasto and Niepoort.

At the master class we tasted the Douro Boys Vintage port 2011 and 2017 as well as a bottle from one selected vintage port from each producer. The Douro Boys Vintage Port is a blend of wines from the five produces and are produced in a very limited quantity and only on Magnums. Only 250 magnums were made of the Douro Boys Vintage Port 2011 and only 350 magnums were made of the 2017 vintage port.

For tasting notes, see the wines tasted on November 23 and 24 here.

Copenhagen Port Wine Festival

Thank you Henrik Oldenburg for continuing the Port Wine Festival. We have only missed one of all these wonderful Festivals since the start in 1988. This year Cristiano van Zeller gave us a wonderful history of Port wine and red wines in Douro. The family has been in wine business since 1620 and his daughter is now the 15th generation in the business. In the tasting room we could taste around 50 different vintage ports, the oldest a Martinez from 1987 but also four vintages from the 1990s. As usual Portal was most generous with 6 vintage ports but both Borges and Quinta de Roriz were also very generous and let us taste 4 different vintage ports of excellent quality.

Fourteen dealers presented the already famous 2011 vintage for tasting. The vintage is very exciting and sound. It seems to be a long runner even if some houses continue to do a more modern style of vintage port. Many compare this with the famous 1963 vintage. Read what point your favorite house got from us in the Last tasted section to the right.

Copenhagen Port Wine Festival 2014

Now it is time to buy tickets for this years Port Wine Festival at Børsen in Copenhagen. The event will take place on November 3.

As usual it is Forlaget Smag and Henrik Oldenburg that is arranging the event and we already know that Christiano van Zeller will be present at the festival. With a history in Quinta do Noval Christiano is now part of some very interesting projects that produces Vintage Ports under the names of Quinta Vale D Maria and also VZ (van Zeller). See more on our info site for Lemos & van Zeller.

There will as usual be more representatives for port producers around during the festival.

Tickets are available at http://forlaget-smag.dk/ and you will also find more info about participating importers.