For The Love Of Port

I had the pleasure of conducting my first educational Port tasting last week with the staff of Brimmer & Hilltap, a Seattle gastro-pub owned by my dear friend Jen Doak.

Very few of the staff knew anything about Port, so I put together a good bit of information on the history and vinification, and we had a great introductory lineup.

Rocha Extra Dry White Port (tasted both chilled and as a Port & Tonic)

Quinta do Infantado Tawny Port
Niepoort Tawny Port
Warre's Otima 10 Year Old Tawny Port
1995 Rocha Colhieta Port

Quinta do Infantado Ruby Port
Niepoort Ruby Port
Warre's Warrior Reserve Port
1985 Gould Campbell Vintage Port

It was fun to taste through the full range of introductory Port with them!

A very nice introductory tasting indeed. I did a similar line-up a few years ago for some newbies.

Nice!

Awesome!

Excellent! Looks like fun.

But tell us what your audience thought of port. Since these guys were new to the topic it would be really interesting to learn what they thought and how keen they are to sell port to customers.

And the GC85 was a real treat for new port drinkers. What a great way for them to start!

It was very interesting. I spent a good bit of time talking about the History or Port and especially the different Port styles. Most people were amazed (and sometimes confused) by all the different styles.

Generally, the crowd enjoyed the basic Tawny from Niepoort and the basic ruby from Infantado on the low end. They loved the Colheita and the Gould Campbell on the upper end of the spectrum.

It was so much fun to see them taste through the flights and hear their reactions to what they liked (or didn't). I think they were generally surprised by the elegance of the GC, especially since their frame of reference prior to the tasting was either knowing very little about Port in general and/or thinking all Port tastes like basic ruby port.

They are going to stock a basic ruby and basic tawny at the minimum as a starting point. I doubt that I'll ever see a VP on their list, as I don't think they turn the Port inventory over enough to warrant that.

I think my next step is to see if Mike, the chef, might think about doing some Port pairings to go with the dessert menu.