For The Love Of Port

9/8/2017 rated 90 points: AP 01-16; Frederick Wildman, $43/750 ml; Village Corner in Ann Arbor. 9.5 percent and probably meant to be Halbtrocken, approximately, or less. Straw on the lightish side, not at all spritzing. Spontaneous yeastiness, seemingly lees-exposed and a product of reductive wine-m...

This wine was NOT decanted but was allowed to air extensively as reported.

$24/750 ml at Village Corner, Ann Arbor; 19.5 pabv, Vintus, Pleasantville, NY. Originally opened about 8.26 by removing long cork (I'd forgotten my Coravin) Very early 0.5 mm fading in the LeTaster, with the rest of the color dense. At halfway through the bottle over some days open no evidence yet o...

You weren't to know that this is all in the context of a diagnosis of a really bad cancer, and the real observation, not question, is the dynamic dealing with this part of my life, as all else, peacefully and mindfully. All this is why, that me, the non-investor, will continue to explore these same ...

Yeah, my stock of 77 Grahams was always seeming to slip into a new 'dumbness'. I think it was more a question of high bottle variation. Probably 35 percent of the case were writeoffs. But I paid $25 less discount per bottle for them. Yikes... My '77 Grahams totally rock and very consistent. From wh...

None at all, unless I live to be about 99. With my short life expectancy I'll continue to buy the very incredibly fairly-priced supply from the secondary/auction markets and drink them over the next 2 years or whatever. Why would I bypass the 97s and earlier ports now being sold at distress prices ...

In Germany, the problem was complex, but was the result of well-meaning but incompatible actions in the Federal and business spheres last half of last century. A decades-long demand for inexpensive mildly sweet (' lieblich' ) wine led to 'rationalization' of production in the direction of volume, su...

1970--because it's the only one I've tasted on multiple occasions. The oldest I've ever tasted is the '66--, even prior to purchasing the '70s [at Rare Wine Company for $50 a bottle]. but drank it at a terrible time with no advance opening.

As a general rule, I don't order Port at restaurants unless (1) they have something that I have never tried or (2) they have something that I don't already have in my "cellar". This doesn't happen very often. Oh ... and never Vintage Port for the same reasons already mentioned, here. I on...

None at all, unless I live to be about 99. With my short life expectancy I'll continue to buy the very incredibly fairly-priced supply from the secondary/auction markets and drink them over the next 2 years or whatever. Why would I bypass the 97s and earlier ports now being sold at distress prices f...

See the "Bergrettung ("mountain rescue') movement among smaller and, especially, younger, energetic, and passionate new winemakers along the Mosel River in Germany especially. Is this model in any way applicable to the Douro? These folks really supprot one another, albeit as competitors, w...

Chemo has made me very port-shy (can't stand the pain of high alcohol on raw mucous membranes) but the wine I just posted, the 2003 LBV from Warres (Traditional), was gentle enough to wash a baby in. or am I getting my commercials mixed up here?

8/7/2017 rated 93 points: 2003 Warre Porto Late Bottled Vintage, Kroger, $31/750 ml; Kroger Troy, OH via Heidelberg wholesale wines. 20 percent alcohol bv. New bottle; Cork-finished. Moved via Coravin to a small decanter, and allowed to air for about an hour. Has tears of reluctant Tudor 'Kirchenfen...

7/18/2017 rated 95 points: 1992 d'Arenberg Riesling The Noble (McClaren Vale). Discovered in the cellar; hadn't been added to inventory; think that this was one of two half-bottles from a wine store on Alaska Avenue in Washington, DC, where I got a lot of wonderful stuff and a lot of OTH stuff, too,...

So I assume my investments will make 8%. Sometimes they do better, sometimes worse, but that figure has been working pretty well for me. (It is below the CAGR of the S&P 500 for the last 40, 60, 80 years when dividends are reinvested.) Taking Glenn's $85 bottle of 1985 VP, you would have to pai...

At first I thought you were asking what a Szamorodni was. Perhaps I should let folks in on that who might not know. Most Tokaji Aszus are mixtures of different pickings, some high botrytis, some low. However, a Szamorodni ('as it comes' [from the vineyard]) is an entire vineyard picking, with noble ...

7/9/2017 rated 95 points: I purchased bottles of this after watching for some to appear on the US market for over a year, based on my experience when in Hungary and as a sipping companion to Barbara and I on our Viking river cruise through Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Germany, and the Netherlands. $9...

6/24/2017 rated 94 points: 2014 Weingut Reinhold Haart Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese (Germany, Mosel,) AP 13 (AP 14 is the rare Auction Wine, if it ever gets into the United States). Village Corner, Ann Arbor; Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, San Marcos, CA. (Also available from Vieux...

Château Coutet 2008, Sauternes-Barsac (Bordeaux); 14 pabv; Constellation Wines, Madera. $20/375 ml from Dorothy Lane Market, Washington Commons, Centerville, OH. 0 00002 02000 6. At our wedding on October 8, 2005 Barbara and I heard the Song of Solomon read, Ch. 1: 'Kiss me with the kisses of your m...

6/16/2017 rated 91 points: 2003 Roberto Anselmi Garganega I Capitelli Veneto (white, dessert); $6 (sic) at JJB. This has been a solidly pleasurable Italian sweetie for many years. Is it over the hill? The people stuff. With Stephanie and Jackie; starting with Key West lightly boiled shell-at-table s...