Tell us about your local Port tasting group

[Roy Hersh]

How often do you get together, what do you usually get to try, are they VP centric or more leaning towards Tawny/Colheitas? What else would you like to share?

[Richard Henderson]

As I have mentioned here before, I attend two blind tasting groups. One is a group that has met at the Fort Worth Club every Wednesday at lunch for about 40 years. I would say 50% of the desert wines provided by the weekly host ( we take turns) are ports.
The other group meets 1st and 3rd Fridays for lunch of each month at the CIty Club of Fort Worth in their stately wine room which is set inside of their cellar. That group is about 16 years old. Again, over 50% of the desert wines porvided by the hosts are ports.
The groups have large and old collections. We get old colheitas , some early 20th and late 19th century. Frequently we get 60's and 70's ports. We get a lot of fine LBV's and the occasional NV, but overall , the group is sophistcated and experienced.
One member once spent a nice afternoon with Mr. Symington in Oporto circa the 1970's. Several have visited Madeira.

[Marc J.]

Locally there is a group of us that conduct tastings twice a month (sometimes more often than that!) Typically we'll have a certain theme for the evening (SQVPs, LBVs, '80 VP, 90's VP ect.) and everybody has at least a couple of weeks to source a bottle (if they don't already own one that fits into the particular theme.) Between the Port tasting, the BBQ and fire pit a good time is usually had by all...

[Andy Velebil]

Locally there is a group of us that conduct tastings twice a month (sometimes more often than that!) Typically we'll have a certain theme for the evening (SQVPs, LBVs, '80 VP, 90's VP ect.) and everybody has at least a couple of weeks to source a bottle (if they don't already own one that fits into the particular theme.) Between the Port tasting, the BBQ and fire pit a good time is usually had by all...

Where's my invite

[Marc J.]

Andy,

Come on over!!! You always have an open invite. I'll PM you once the details of the next tasting are ironed out...

[Andy Velebil]

Andy,

Come on over!!! You always have an open invite. I'll PM you once the details of the next tasting are ironed out...

sounds good, can't wait

[Lamont Huxley]

At the moment my port tasting group consists of... me. The few people I know who also appreciate port are all living out west right now and so for the most part I drink my port solo, aside from my girlfriend occasionally having a glass or two.

If there are others in the NY/NJ area who would be interested in having an off-line I would definitely be in. Unfortunately I don't have a space where I can host at the moment but I would be glad to supply a bottle and travel if there's someone who could.

Anybody game?

[Andy Velebil]

At the moment my port tasting group consists of... me. The few people I know who also appreciate port are all living out west right now and so for the most part I drink my port solo, aside from my girlfriend occasionally having a glass or two.

If there are others in the NY/NJ area who would be interested in having an off-line I would definitely be in. Unfortunately I don't have a space where I can host at the moment but I would be glad to supply a bottle and travel if there's someone who could.

Anybody game?

Check out the offline section, I think there is an offline being organized for your area. We've got a number of posters out in the general area so hopefully you can find a time to all meet up and share some Port

[Peter W. Meek]

Just realized that I just posted something in another topic that would fit well here:

http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... 344#p66049

...unless a moderator just wants me to copy it here in place of this.

[Eric Menchen]

My local Port tasting group is whichever friends I invite over to taste a bunch of Port, which happens once or twice a year with a batch of bottles, from four to eight. They all appreciate Port, but I'm the dedicated (obsessed?) one to bring them together. Some tastings have been mixes of ruby and tawny, although the last was all VP. Their tastes vary, so I can't say they as a group prefer any particular style.

[Glenn E.]

I don't really have an organized local Port tasting group, per se, but rather a handful of Port drinking buddies who get together randomly to share a bottle. Or 20.

We're starting to do larger organized tastings about twice a year with maybe another 1-2 smaller organized tastings as well. There's usually a random bottle or pair of bottles to fill in on the "off" months. So I'm probably involved in some level of tasting - from totally casual to full-blown organization - about once a month. The size of the tastings ranges from just 2 of us to 15-16 for the largest.

The casual tastings seem to lean toward ruby Ports, but so far the organized tastings are pretty balanced between rubies and tawnies. Since I'm a tawny guy, I tend to prefer the tastings that involve tawnies a little more, but they're all fun. I do have to be careful with my dairy consumption for a week to 10 days before a big ruby tasting, though, or I can end up having a palate night.

[Roy Hersh]

So you've narrowed it down to dairy? I thought it was garlic, in the past.

[Glenn E.]

Yeah, for a while I thought it was garlic, but then I had an off palate when there was no garlic in sight.

It seems to be dairy, but not necessarily day-of-event dairy. It's probably some sort of lactose buildup, because if I cut back on dairy for a week or so before a tasting I seem to be fine. I don't have to avoid it entirely - just cut back from my usual 3-5 glasses of milk per day.