For The Love Of Port

My wife likes both port andd madeira, mostly with food like cheese or dessert.

My experience with my branch of the International Wine & Food Society is that most of the women either don't care for it or will drink a small amount with the course being served. The previous posts about the wines being too sweet for many women is the case I run into. However, I never alter my dinner event preparation based on this and always have a port, madeira, or sweet white with either the cheese or dessert course. God, I hate when people pair dry red wine with cheese!

All the best,
John

My wife prefers sweet wine to port which I am not that fond of but she loves it when I open a bottle of her birth year which produced some good port.

simon Lisle wrote:My wife prefers sweet wine to port which I am not that fond of but she loves it when I open a bottle of her birth year which produced some good port.

It's funny that you mention birth year Port Simon... I recently bought a Taylor 1977 for my wife's 30th birthday (recent circumstances have led us to put it back into the cellar for another 10 years, perhaps it will make a lovely 40th birthday gift.)

She didn't seem too impressed that the grapes that made up the Port that I had painstakingly sourced, bought while on a business trip and brought back through Canadian customs, were grown in the year of her birth. She didn't seem overly impressed that Taylor VPs are supposed to be marvelous, yet youthful, and that we would likely be opening up one of the better VPs for the price, of all time.

Nope. None of that impressed her at all. She simply hopes that the wine will not be "too old" and that she "will like it beyond one glass" when we finally do open 'er up.

Interesting the opinions different folks have on this stuff! :)

Todd

LadyR likes port more than most people I know and is a better skilled taster than most people I know.

Frederick Blais wrote: one thing is sure is that if you ask your wife if she'd like a bottle of Taylor or a new dress, ring or shoes. The answer is quite obvious.

That's quite obvious indeed: a magnum of 1970 Taylor's please!

Wow, now there is a lady I did not expect to participate here. Nice to have you join us Mrs. Roots!

You certainly have excellent taste in VP.

Lady Roots...great to see you here too. Hope all is well with you two.

Lady R! What a pleasant surprise and welcome.

Alex

My overall experience is that women are at least 50% responsible for port wine sales and just about half the takers when offered.

Funny, women have different taste buds than we do. Next time, surprise your guests with a bottle of port, and ask them what they taste without telling them what's in it. I bet you'll see a difference.

I know a small handful of women who like port, more than none of whom, but not all, can drink as much as a thirsty man.

Roy Hersh wrote:As she is to inherit my Port/Madeira collection someday,

I am available for adoption.

It has only been four months since this topic was last touched upon, but I have a feeling that we have more women posting here now and certainly FAR MORE have signed up in that time frame. Hopefully we can get the topic started again.

Ladies ... :hello:

For my part, I prefer madeira to port, though I am open to being converted should I happen upon the magical liquid that will do that. Following is a real life situation:

Last Friday at a local wine tasting I happened to bring in the 1968 D'Oliveiras Bual (thanks Roy for the suggestion!) for friends to try, the majority of whom have good palates. It was a smash hit with men and women alike. Last night I was out with friends and decided (after posting TN on the 1977 Royal Oporto, which I upgraded to a score in mid/upper 80s) to try a glass of 1985 Dow's (which incidentally had been open 10 days according to the proprietor). I have to say that it did not blow me away and in retrospect I felt perhaps that I had been unfair to the 1977 Royal Oporto which next to this Dow's was far and away better). This glass was also passed around to 2 gentlemen friends and one female friend. It was readily dismissed as not particularly interesting and everybody went back to the Merryvale 2003 Beckstoffer Vineyard X we had been quaffing. Everyone indicated they much preferred the 1968 Bual they had the week before, which they had a vivid memory of. Maybe 1985 Dow's just isn't the stuff to bowl anyone over, including those among you who are much more familiar with many many ports. Or maybe it is a great representation of what great port ought to be and these 4 individuals simply aren't "getting it". Maybe the 2 females are showing the assumed preference for madeira referred to in earlier postings, and maybe the 2 males are on the tails of the bellcurve in expected tastes of males and inclination to port.

Whichever the case, I will not stop at the 1985 Dow's but will trudge ahead and try a few others. It may be that I will never love port as much as I love madeira (incidentally, I am not a fan of "sweet" so much as a rich complex madeira), but I expect I will eventually come to have a finer appreciation of ports than I do now. After all, one does need to mix things up a bit for a change of pace. Furthermore, one's budget doesn't allow for regular vintage madeira drinking so there is a practical aspect to finding a worthy alternative.

Heather Hathwell wrote:
Whichever the case, I will not stop at the 1985 Dow's but will trudge ahead and try a few others. It may be that I will never love port as much as I love madeira (incidentally, I am not a fan of "sweet" so much as a rich complex madeira), but I expect I will eventually come to have a finer appreciation of ports than I do now. After all, one does need to mix things up a bit for a change of pace. Furthermore, one's budget doesn't allow for regular vintage madeira drinking so there is a practical aspect to finding a worthy alternative.

The 1985 Dow is a good Port but ten days open is too much ..assuming of course it wasn't opened OVER ten days which is usually the case with Port at most restaurants and bars.. it was probably "flat" tasting and one dimensional.. a "fresh" bottle would taste much different.

At any rate don't give up on Port until you try a few confirmed winners...

some suggestions within a normal human budget:
1970 Fonseca
1985 Graham
1980 Dow
1966 Fonseca
1963 Taylor

slightly hard to find and expensive yet blockbusters:
1948 Fonseca
1935 Cockburn
1955 Graham (or '48)
1927 Taylor

The 1985 Dow is a good Port but ten days open is too much

Precisely my thoughts but I am typically in the 92-94 point range for that particular Dow. Heather, your description is of a tired bottle that is in no way fresh, or indicative of the 1985.

That is my primary indictment of buying Port in a bar or restaurant unless you watch the bottle get opened and then it has had no time in decanter (restaurants only decant for sediment ... if they even use 'em). So in either type of venue, stick to Tawny styles of Port or wind up disappointed 95% of the time.

Most people probably just think to themselves, "well that really was pretty pitiful, if that was supposed to be a great one ... I guess I hate Port." And who can blame them?

This is not only endemic for Ports, but wines in general served by the uneducated staffs in restaurants across America. Of course there are 20% that do a good job of training their wait staff about their wine list ... but I wouldn't be surprised at all (having spent most of my adult life in the restaurant game) if the number of places that don't spend time in educating their employees, approached 80%.

Interesting article I found to add to this discussion.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... ort128.xml

Ahh the Marks & Spencer Pink Port. This is made by the Fladgate Partnership (Taylors/Fonseca). I've never tried it, but only seen a bottle of it. It really is a light pink color, the picture makes it look a little darker than i last remember it....I guess whatever works to get peopl to drink it :?

I have proabably studied port more in depth than my wife but we began collecting it together in 1989 after we had been married 6 years. She has never visited nor posted on a wine BB. She has kept up with Parker ratings etc and bought several of his books. We have a lot of 1983's as that is our anniversary year. She can open a bottle of port with the bcakside of a meat cleaver and has done so many times!

I personally love port, but I've heard many of my female friends state that they do not. Awhile back we hosted a dessert wine party and asked everyone to bring a bottle of dessert wine to share. We ended up with a very wide selection of ports. Many participants were surprised how much they liked them once they actually tried them, although most women had previously stated that they didn't like port.

I think that often it boils down to trying one glass (probably not a great port and not served correctly) and then they decide they don't like any port. Given the chance to try a good bottle in the right situation I think many women would be surprised.

Shannon W. wrote: I think that often it boils down to trying one glass (probably not a great port and not served correctly) and then they decide they don't like any port. .

I agree 100% with this statement, with both men and women. I've had many friends say they didn't like Port until i served them a decent one. They've all changed their minds and will gladly drink any Port I open for them. And a couple have started to buy some, but mostly lower to mid range stuff (filtered LBV's, 10 year tawnys, and basic ruby/tawnys)...at least for now.

Richard Henderson wrote:She can open a bottle of port with the bcakside of a meat cleaver and has done so many times!

Please, please, I want to see this done. Please put a video of it being done on YouTube: a public service to us all. Thank you.