Author Archives: Stefan

The Big Fortified Tasting in London 2023

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The Big Fortified Tasting, London

The Big Fortified Tasting in London is a great event with all kinds of fortified wines at the same place, not only port. As usual we focused on the Port wines and in addition to the general tasting, with more than 30 Vintage Ports, several old tawnies and Colheitas, we also visited Real Companhia Velha’s Master Class “History in a Glass”, with Pedro Silva Reis, President of Real Companhia Velha, and Tiago Silva Reis, Business Development Manager at Real Companhia Velha.

They guided us through seven colheitas and tawnys of diffenrent ages. Starting with Royal Oporto Colheita 2012, followed by the Colheita 2004, 1980, 1977, Carvalhas Colheita 1976, Royal Oporto Very Very old Tawny 1927 and finally Quinta das Carvalhas Very Very Old Tawny 1867. It is always a pleasure to taste these old wines and a tasting like this for sure gives you the history of port and a great understanding of the ageing potential of port wine.

Sherry Festival

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On April 26 it is again time for the annual Sherry Festival in Copenhagen. If you love Port Wine you probably also like Sherry, and to there is no better chance to learn more and find your favourite than in this Sherry Festival.

The Festival is hosted by Henrik Oldenburg at ”Sceneriet” on “Det ny Teater”, Copenhagen.

Tickets are available at www.forlaget-smag.dk

Wine tasting at H. J. Hansen

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Earlier this month we had the opportunity to visit H. J. Hansens Horeca On Tour in Copenhagen. The tasting was well organized and we must especially mention Delas Hermitage Domaine des Tourettes and Deutz Amour de Deutz Blanc de Blancs 2011.

Amour de Deutz 2011

We also had the pleasure of testing a range of six different Nyetimbre, from Classic to their “1086” Prestige cuvee 2010. On the Port wine section Graham’s and Vesuvio was present and we tried their new Six grapes special Vila Velha Edition. It is much better than their normal Six Grapes and better than you would expect from a Ruby Reserve.

Riedel was also present at the event and we were invited to try their new glasses, the Riedel Veloce. Some of you have already been on a glass tasting but it was the first time for us. It is quite astonishing that different grapes smell so different depending what glass you use. That good glasses makes big difference we did know, but we were still positively surprised.

Port Wine Festival in Copenhagen

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At the Port wine festival in Copenhagen last November we visited both the port wine fair and a separate master class. The master class was focused on tawny port and led by Miguel Braga from Quinta do Mourao.

Miguel Braga

He led us through the 10-20-30-40- and 50 years old white, as well as “60” and “90” that is not official categories. The two last ones are not official categories but nevertheless both old and excellent! The “90” is actually 1927 white Colheita and was 95 years rather than 90. In addition we also had a chance to sample their new 50 year old tawny. All wines were very well made and we must say that Miguel Braga and Quinta do Mourao makes very good mature colheita and tawny and is one of the best producers for white port. They produce wine under the brands S. Leonardo and Rio Bom.

In the open tasting we focused on Vintage Ports and got the chance to taste some Ports we had never tasted before.

Quinta da Trovisca 2017

Portweinmesse in Leverkusen

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The annual Portweinmesse in Leverkusen, November 2022, included two master class events. The first led by Carlos Alves from Sogevinus explaining how to blend old Tawny Port. Included in the tasting was a sample of the relatively new category 50 year old tawny port.

The second master class was led by George Sandeman, who currently is the Chancellor of the Confraria do Vinho do Porto. We had the rare opportunity to be able to taste the Confraria Vintage Ports. The Confraria Vintage Ports are only made the best vintages and is a blend of the member houses Vintage Ports. During the Master Class we tasted the following Confraria Vintage Ports: 1982, 1994, 2000, 2003, 2011 and 2017.

George Sandeman

Confraria Vintage Ports

The Port Wine Messe focus on providing the opportunity to taste the last declared vintage, this time 2020, but also includes several older vintage ports and special category ports. In general 2020 is a quite good year. It is not classic, but in general it is better than the two previous vintages, 2018 and 2019. Tasting notes of Vintage 2020 that we have tasted so far are available on our Vintage 2020 page.

Theis Bordeaux tasting in Copenhagen

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Theis Bordeaux tasting in Copenhagen was this year truly massive. The number of cru classified wines at the fair was significantly larger this year compared to last time. An astonishing amount of good high class chateaux and some nice Champagne, Port and other wines. 

Bordeaux 2021 will most likely not be remembered as one of the greater vintages of the century. 2021 is rather medium quality. It is lighter in colour and lighter and fresher in taste than the last few years. Probably most of the wines will also mature quicker since they lack a bit of structure and body.

For Port lovers it was interesting to see that Niepoort presented some of their Ports but also some of their other wines.

Niepoort has recently changed suppliers in Denmark, and is know imported by Theis Vine. Stefano Marello, Export Director at Niepoort Vinhos says that the change of distributors was made to support the sales of Niepoort’s growing portfolio of white and red wines and in order to get access to the best restaurants in Denmark, such as Geranium and Alchemist. 

As for many other Port wine companies the table wines have been growing in sales over the last couple of decades. Actually, for Niepoort, the table wine sales are bigger in both volume and value compared to Port wine.

Bordeaux 2021 – Theis Vine Prestigesmagning, Copenhagen, Denmark

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On September 8, 2022, Theis Vine will arrange a Bordeaux tasting at the Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark. The main focus for the tasting is the great chateaux of Bordeaux, with both samples from the last vintage, 2021, as well as beads of older vintages directly from the producers’ own cellars. Furthermore, a selection of some other wines from the rest of the world are also available.

We will surely be visiting this tasting and you can expect our review of the event in September.

Tickets are available at www.theis-vine.dk

In addition, for all port wine lovers, we can reveal that Theis Vine will present their new partnership with Niepoort.

Portweinmesse in Leverkusen

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The event started with an amazing Master Class with Sandeman’s Director of Oenology, Luis de Sottomayor. We were guided through a selection of six wines spanning six decades. We tasted 2018, 2011, 2000, 1997, 1977 and 1966. All wines were in very good condition but 1977 and 1966 was outstanding.

At the open tasting at the Portweinmesse we were offered more than 100 different vintage ports and a some tawnys. The fair is usually focused on the last vintage, but as the fair was canceled last year, the last three vintages, 2019, 2018 and 2017, all displayed about 25-30 vintages each. Of the three, 2017 is the best vintage.