Was just in Porto, spent a day over at the wineries hopping around, stopping in a few gift shops and having a pour. I’m a bourbon enthusiast and the port wines really lit my tastebuds up! The viscosity and finish is something that I always crave in a high quality aged spirit. Really enjoyed sipping Calem & Sandeman. Cheers!
I'm so glad you had a great trip. I'm working on a series of videos "Port for Bourbon drinkers". Like you noticed there are a lot of similarities between barrel aged spirits and barrel aged wines. Did you get a chance to taste any age-indicated white ports, like a 10 or 20 year white? I think those show the effects of barrel aging better than anything else out there. And thanks for taking the time to comment.
@@learnaboutportwine yes! We tried a Niepoort white 10 yr that I really enjoyed as well! This trip got me really excited to explore another category outside of bourbon.
I wish you did more tours of Port lodges. I've searched the Internet and people just take one bullshit cheap tour and say it's great. It's hard to find someone with experience with more than one so they can contrast them and also know something about port. One of your videos you explained that you should always go for the more expensive tasting and we totally agree based on our experience. My wife and I have visited 40 whisky distilleries and about 5 or 6 sherry bodegas and the entry level tourist focused tours are run by the last person to join the company that has just enough knowledge to be dangerous. The higher end tours are run by people who actually know and understand the product and the process. We've also found that we dislike tours by large conglomerates with legal departments and visitor centers run by the marketing department (Diageo, Gonzales Byass cough cough). So anyway, I know these videos take time, just know that some of us appreciate you making them and yearn for more. I'll be in Porto in October and unfortunately don't have time to go to all of them to come to a conclusion myself.
Thank you so much for the comment. I promise more are coming, just probably not in time to help your trip. When I started the channel I was really just recording stuff in case anyone was interested, I didn't really have a plan or focal point. that has grown in to a much more focused approach, especially since the tourism related videos do the best. One thing I'll be doing is going back and reviewing/rating all of the lodges based on somewhat objective criteria from the wine tourist perspective. With your whisky background make sure you try several different aged indicated white ports, starting at 10 years and moving up. Very affordable and dramatic examples of the magic of barrel aging. If you have questions prior to your trip just let me know.
We went to Taylor’s recently and while we didn’t visit other wine tours, we did find Taylor’s to be excellent with lots of information on history, process, and products within the company. Plus it was self paced with audio headsets which was great if you wanted to take your time. Also the tasting at the end was perfect in their rose courtyard with wandering peacocks. Great stuff!
The Taylors courtyard is a great place to enjoy a tasting. A lot of people don't like the audio tour aspect of Taylor's but I think it works well for people like us who are interested in as much information as possible. It might not be a great choice if you have people in your group who just aren't into wine, but there are plenty of options in Gaia. I'm glad the tour worked out well for you. I'll be starting a series where I review the various cellar tours and experiences. Thanks for watching and commenting!
What was the best port cellar you've taken? Is there something that could have made it better?
Was just in Porto, spent a day over at the wineries hopping around, stopping in a few gift shops and having a pour. I’m a bourbon enthusiast and the port wines really lit my tastebuds up! The viscosity and finish is something that I always crave in a high quality aged spirit. Really enjoyed sipping Calem & Sandeman. Cheers!
I'm so glad you had a great trip. I'm working on a series of videos "Port for Bourbon drinkers". Like you noticed there are a lot of similarities between barrel aged spirits and barrel aged wines. Did you get a chance to taste any age-indicated white ports, like a 10 or 20 year white? I think those show the effects of barrel aging better than anything else out there. And thanks for taking the time to comment.
@@learnaboutportwine yes! We tried a Niepoort white 10 yr that I really enjoyed as well! This trip got me really excited to explore another category outside of bourbon.
I wish you did more tours of Port lodges. I've searched the Internet and people just take one bullshit cheap tour and say it's great. It's hard to find someone with experience with more than one so they can contrast them and also know something about port. One of your videos you explained that you should always go for the more expensive tasting and we totally agree based on our experience. My wife and I have visited 40 whisky distilleries and about 5 or 6 sherry bodegas and the entry level tourist focused tours are run by the last person to join the company that has just enough knowledge to be dangerous. The higher end tours are run by people who actually know and understand the product and the process. We've also found that we dislike tours by large conglomerates with legal departments and visitor centers run by the marketing department (Diageo, Gonzales Byass cough cough).
So anyway, I know these videos take time, just know that some of us appreciate you making them and yearn for more. I'll be in Porto in October and unfortunately don't have time to go to all of them to come to a conclusion myself.
Thank you so much for the comment. I promise more are coming, just probably not in time to help your trip. When I started the channel I was really just recording stuff in case anyone was interested, I didn't really have a plan or focal point. that has grown in to a much more focused approach, especially since the tourism related videos do the best. One thing I'll be doing is going back and reviewing/rating all of the lodges based on somewhat objective criteria from the wine tourist perspective. With your whisky background make sure you try several different aged indicated white ports, starting at 10 years and moving up. Very affordable and dramatic examples of the magic of barrel aging. If you have questions prior to your trip just let me know.
We went to Taylor’s recently and while we didn’t visit other wine tours, we did find Taylor’s to be excellent with lots of information on history, process, and products within the company. Plus it was self paced with audio headsets which was great if you wanted to take your time. Also the tasting at the end was perfect in their rose courtyard with wandering peacocks. Great stuff!
The Taylors courtyard is a great place to enjoy a tasting. A lot of people don't like the audio tour aspect of Taylor's but I think it works well for people like us who are interested in as much information as possible. It might not be a great choice if you have people in your group who just aren't into wine, but there are plenty of options in Gaia. I'm glad the tour worked out well for you. I'll be starting a series where I review the various cellar tours and experiences. Thanks for watching and commenting!