For The Love Of Port

Below are details of the Feb. 26, 2016 tasting:

Topic: 1985 Vintage Port - 30-year horizontal retrospective.
Location: Columbia Yacht Club in Chicago (the large blue ship at the end of Randolph Street)
Date: February 26 (Friday)
Format: Tasting first, beginning at 6:30 pm. Dinner afterward at the club, starting at roughly 8:00 or 8:30. Bring some wine for dinner. Spouses/significant others no doing the tasting can still attend dinner afterwards.
Limited to 20 people, so that one bottle can stretch for tasting purposes.

To RSVP, please respond to this thread with the number of guests and the name of the bottle(s) that you plan to bring.

To track John Danza's original event post with attendee list, please click on the following link: http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... 58#p127059


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Original Post that started this thread

I'm quite new in to port (started in the last 3 months) but I've dedicated many hours a week to exploring this wine through personal tastings and readings. I'm younger, 27, and none of my friends can afford, nor truly value, a good glass of port. I have been buying at a somewhat rapid pace to build up a cellar. Mostly online with some bottles from costco. I can share the cellar list; let me know.

I'm interested in finding other people in the Chicagoland area who would be interested in a tasting in the next few months and/or just to meet up at a restaurant or somewhere like that to discuss port. I live in Naperville, but have a car and can travel anywhere within a hour or so of me. I would even be up for the idea of hosting a tasting at my home (However, would need to discuss with my wife first).

If there is enough of us, it might be worthwhile to start a Chicago-area thread in this forum. Things like good sales at local shops, upcoming tastings, events, etc. could be discussed.

Looking fwd to your thoughts

No worries. I've moved it to the Offline Planning section where people looking to meet up offline are more likely to see it.

I'm in the Chicago area and would be interested in doing something.

Bryan H. wrote:I'm in the Chicago area and would be interested in doing something.

Hey Bryan, I'm Alex. Grew up in Orland Park, now I'm in Naperville. Do you know of any other port lovers in our area?

I'm meeting someone at the Highland Park Binnys late Friday morning. Are there any good shops in that area or in Winnetka?

At the end of 2013, I took part in a great Port tasting in Chicago that had lots of Port aficionados doing a 1955 Vintage Port horizontal. I can only hope that some of them are reading this thread.

And some of us will travel for a tasting. But while I'd love to get together locally for even a comparative tasting of reserves and LBVs, the bar needs to be a little higher to warrant a plane ticket, etc.

Roy Hersh wrote:At the end of 2013, I took part in a great Port tasting in Chicago that had lots of Port aficionados doing a 1955 Vintage Port horizontal. I can only hope that some of them are reading this thread.

I hope so, too!

Eric Menchen wrote:And some of us will travel for a tasting. But while I'd love to get together locally for even a comparative tasting of reserves and LBVs, the bar needs to be a little higher to warrant a plane ticket, etc.

That's good to know. If anything transpires, the FTLOP general census will be in the know. The more the merrier!

Roy Hersh wrote:At the end of 2013, I took part in a great Port tasting in Chicago that had lots of Port aficionados doing a 1955 Vintage Port horizontal. I can only hope that some of them are reading this thread.

What a great tasting that was too that you conducted Roy. I put a photo below of the lineup from that night.

I would be up for a tasting like this. I definitely know a few folks that would be willing to participate. It should be kept to a certain maximum number of people (15?) in order to allow one bottle to comfortably distribute to everyone for the tasting portion of the evening. I seem to recall that this was the number of people that were at the 1955 tasting Roy mentioned.

As for location, I would be happy to coordinate this with the Columbia Yacht Club in the city. I'm a member there and the GM is a great wine lover and loves when we do this kind of thing there. It can easily be coordinated as a tasting followed by a dinner brought up to us in the Board Room (sounds more formal than it is, believe me). It's a casual club, so no stuffiness about dress.

Let's see if we can get a date locked.

I am sure that Jamie and Linda would also love to participate, as they are in Chitown.

There is another Brian that lives in the area who used to participate here often and just emailed me this week, that lives there too. --- (edit) I just sent him a link to this thread!

John, that was a ton of fun. Even with the heavy snow at the end of that weekend, it was great to be in Chicago again. I returned this past June again, but was with my wife and daughter on a family vacation, so not much wine outside of one night at El Ideas and my anniversary, alone with my wife at Alinea.

But a Port or Madeira event that (as Eric mentioned) is worth paying for a plane ticket and hotel, etc) is compelling would get me to fly ... anywhere in No. America. I love snow and cold, so a winter event would not preclude me. Bring it on!

Let me check with the yacht club and see about some date choices to toss out to everyone in the February/March timeframe. Here's what I'm thinking as to a format for the evening, but everyone please chime in if you see it happening differently.

1. We max the evening at 16 people, so that one bottle can go across everyone.
2. Topic is somewhat simple: bring a really nice bottle that everyone would find interesting.
3. The evening starts with the tasting, followed by dinner with a few selected wines afterwards.

Roy, I'll ping Jamie to let him know about the thread. If you can ping any other FTLOP members that are in the Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana area, that would be great.

Again, chime in with thoughts.

Sounds great, John and thanks for considering organizing.

I can't help what was planned long ago, so I know I am away from Feb. 22-28. and in March from 18-27. Sorry about that.

As for #2: Topic is somewhat simple: bring a really nice bottle that everyone would find interesting.

As Eric mentioned, for those of us that would seriously consider flying in, paying for airfare and hotel, "a really nice bottle" ... would likely need to have slightly more stringent parameters. One person might feel that a 1997 XYZ LBV from a little know producer might fit the bill. While others might think, a 1955 Fonseca would. So, how to arrive at some common ground would be the challenge you'd face, as organizer / arbiter of what would be interesting enough for not only locals, but other guests from other areas that would be willing to travel.

Also, you will likely have to consider whether to give preferential treatment to those who are local, or conversely, to those bringing the best Ports.

From here I'll shut up and leave this in your very capable hands!

Roy Hersh wrote:As for #2: Topic is somewhat simple: bring a really nice bottle that everyone would find interesting.

As Eric mentioned, for those of us that would seriously consider flying in, paying for airfare and hotel, "a really nice bottle" ... would likely need to have slightly more stringent parameters. One person might feel that a 1997 XYZ LBV from a little know producer might fit the bill. While others might think, a 1955 Fonseca would. So, how to arrive at some common ground would be the challenge you'd face, as organizer / arbiter of what would be interesting enough for not only locals, but other guests from other areas that would be willing to travel.

Also, you will likely have to consider whether to give preferential treatment to those who are local, or conversely, to those bringing the best Ports.

I think it might be best, for this particular event, to go back to Alex's original post for guidance:

A dschus wrote: I'm quite new in to port (started in the last 3 months) but I've dedicated many hours a week to exploring this wine through personal tastings and readings. I'm younger, 27, and none of my friends can afford, nor truly value, a good glass of port. I have been buying at a somewhat rapid pace to build up a cellar. Mostly online with some bottles from costco. I can share the cellar list; let me know.

I'm interested in finding other people in the Chicagoland area who would be interested in a tasting in the next few months and/or just to meet up at a restaurant or somewhere like that to discuss port.

I'm thinking that for this get-together, we should keep it more in line with where Alex was going originally. I think this is the local aficionados getting together to meet for the first time or renew friendships, and share some interesting bottles for everyone to learn from. As much as I agree that it would be fun to get a group of members together for a major event, this doesn't seem to be that opportunity without the probability of excluding Alex and his friends.

That totally makes sense and I did lose sight of that first post by Alex, having not read it again since it was posted. Thanks, John!

Wow! Great to see people are willing to travel for a tasting; glad I happened upon this wonderful community.

My original idea was focused on just getting to know people in the Chicagoland area who enjoy Port in a lower key setting. If there is a desire for a larger event that involves traveling for some, then by all means that should happen. I apologize for not being clear from the get-go.


The Columbia Yacht Club sounds like a great venue. To allow for people to plan, perhaps February or March would work best. I will absolutely advertise the event here and wherever else is a good place to spread the word. John: I look forward to coordinating with you.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Hi, sorry I missed this earlier, and then when Roy emailed me I had just gone away for a week. Anyway, I'm certainly up for whatever. It would be fun to meet all of you. Let me know what I need to do and what to bring, and I'll be there. Thanks for the heads up, Roy.

Brian C. wrote:Hi, sorry I missed this earlier, and then when Roy emailed me I had just gone away for a week. Anyway, I'm certainly up for whatever. It would be fun to meet all of you. Let me know what I need to do and what to bring, and I'll be there. Thanks for the heads up, Roy.

Excellent, Brian. John and I are working on potential Feb. and March dates for a tasting. We will be sure to let you and everyone else know about potential dates and a tasting theme. Happy New Year and enjoy!

Hi Everyone!

I've been communicating with Alex back channel to try to work out some details about date potential on this offline, and options on topic. I think we have some stuff worked out, and we have some date options for attendees to weigh in on. Here we go:

Topic: 1985 Vintage Port - 30-year horizontal retrospective.
Location: Columbia Yacht Club in Chicago (the large blue ship at the end of Randolph Street)
Date: February 26 (Friday)
Format: Arrive around 6:00 or so. Tasting first, beginning at 6:30 pm. Dinner afterward at the club, starting at roughly 8:30 or so, depending on how the tasting runs. Bring some wine for dinner. Spouses/significant others not doing the tasting can still attend dinner afterwards.
Limited to 16 people for the tasting, so that one bottle can stretch for tasting purposes.

I'll keep track of the attendees here on this post, along with the wines. Thanks much!

Attendees and wine

John Danza - Gould Campbell
David Li - Grahams
Jan Danza- Fonseca
Ryan Smith - Ferreira
Alex Schusler -Dow
Dagmara Schusler - Royal Oporto
Kurt Wieneke - Kopke
Scott Beilke - Taylor
Donna Brighton - Smith Woodhouse

I am interested.
I need double check, but I think I should have a bottle of 85 graham's.

If you want me to make placemats for this event, just ask and it will be done.

At a minimum you’ll need to send me a date, a list of Ports, a list of people, a location (?), and some facts about organisation such as whether you’ll pre-pour. You should also be willing to check that it has been done correctly — errors sneak in when folks don’t look carefully.