For The Love Of Port

It looks like we are gaining traction!

Roy Hersh - humble organizer and donator of a case of Port
Stewart Todd - I wouldn't miss it for the world
Andy Velebil - 93 bottles ... I'm there
Glenn Elliott - finally, I will be subjected to more than a half dozen bottles at once
Eric Ifune - You can count on me!
Eric Menchen ? - Deciding between skiing and a great weekend of Port.
David Spriggs - Duh!
Moses Botbol - If Andy is going, I have to be there too, to represent the E. Coast
Kris Henderson - I live close and love Port
Sean Corrigan - committment-phobic, but probable unless ... I decide to watch the Super Bowl
Mark J. - looking forward to seeing you again
Christopher G. - don't worry ... all meals will have Douro wines to accompany the food
Heather Hathwell - Can ship wine here ahead of time.
Dan & Shannon - FTLOP version of the Honeymooner's
Jay Powers - Have Port, will travel!

Pencil me in too please. Really depends when etc. and whether it is likely I can bring worthy bottles. I have zip in the cellar, save for some 1934 Colheitas from Niepoort. And coming up with 3 to transport by plane seems a major undertaking. I'd rather not drive.

Heather..quit making excuses...you need to come.

Christopher...It would be great if you could make it. I'll bring some Douro wines along just for you.

Not sure if this matters, but Feb 1 is Superbowl.

Dan and I are up for it! We could make any weekend work.

My team is from Oakland and since they have about -23% chance of making the playoffs, no less the Super Bowl ... the decision is simple ... football OR great Port with other FTLOPers? Er, let me think about this. Ok, I'm down.

Hey, where are all of our Canadian brethren? They can't even use the NFL as an excuse! Guys, you really should consider flying in for this one! Can you "smuggling opPORTunity" ... ?

O.k., I want to change my vote then, first for the week before the Super Bowl, second for Super Bowl weekend. I could care less about the Super Bowl, but it usually is a good day to be in the mountains.

Eric Menchen wrote:I could care less about the Super Bowl, but it usually is a good day to be in the mountains.

The Super Bowl weekend has traditionally be a ski weekend for me.
-Dave-

Roy Hersh wrote:My team is from Oakland and since they have about -23% chance of making the playoffs, no less the Super Bowl ... the decision is simple ... football OR great Port with other FTLOPers? Er, let me think about this. Ok, I'm down.

Hey, where are all of our Canadian brethren? They can't even use the NFL as an excuse! Guys, you really should consider flying in for this one! Can you "smuggling opPORTunity" ... ?

The last time I crossed the border , I ended up visiting Sean's porcelain god
So I'll take it one offline at a time ( Montreal being the next ) .

I'm in, and can bring something or equivilent in cash. The first date would be tough, but probably the other three would work for me!

Jay

In the current election, the far bottom wing has seemingly sewn up the date for our get together. Please realize that it may cause you to miss the Super Bowl this year. The good news is: there will be another one next year and you can always TIVO the commercials.

In fact, the lead seems insurmountable ... so in order to move things forward, let's just plan on the last weekend in January for our Port party!

For those that want to fly in early, we will probably do a Friday night, smaller venue ... unless we have a lot more sign ups and oh, by the way, I will be announcing this in the FTLOP newsletter. So, there is a chance that we'll have some new folks sign up for the Forum, just so they can participate in this tasting. Maybe I'm crazy? Actually, that is a given. :help: After dinner, it will be time for PORT. Shocking, yes, I know! So Friday night, an early dinner, followed by Port until your cab arrives to bring you back to your hotel room. Those having to ask for their room numbers at the front desk, will have to forego the Sunday event.

Saturday, you'll have a chance to sleep in, get to visit Seattle, check out local wineries or wine shops (we have a ton of Colheitas in our market, the largest selection in the USA ... although pricing is only fair) The Pike Place Market or whatever you choose to check out. If folks want me to schedule a group visit to a local winery in the early afternoon, that can be arranged. We'll reconvene probably around 6-7 p.m. and have dinner and then start our Port-ness in earnest.

Now some of you may want to watch the football game on Sunday and fly out early in the a.m. And in fact, that is exactly why we'll save the best and oldest bottles for last. We'll meet up for a late morning brunch which should satisfy even the most ardent of appetites. Then the party will start and should end around dinner time ... er, yeah right. Seriously, you can figure your flights out of here for after dinner or a red eye later in the evening ... it is totally up to you. After all, most will have to be ready for work on Monday morning.

The airport is Seatac (Seattle-Tacoma) International Airport. From the West Coast you may want to look at Alaska Airlines which has frequent flights in and out of here. From the East Coast: UAL/Delta/Continental/American they are all here, so is Jet Blue but very limited.


After I am done with the upcoming newsletter, I'll work on:

* finding good rates at a centrally located hotel
* a place where we can all eat and bring in bottles (preferrably with zero corkage)
* logistics for arranging wine shipments. In January, if you want to overnight or 2nd day air ship your bottles to me, I'll store them in my cellar, so you won't have to travel with 'em.
* figuring out the best way to transport the group to and from events

More news as it unfolds!

I'm assuming any and all table wines are welcome in addition to the Ports.

Actually, no!

Table wines are to be limited to those from the Douro ... and worst case scenario, from other Portuguese regions, but I would really like to keep this focused on Port and Douro wines. Is that ok with everybody?

Roy Hersh wrote:Table wines are to be limited to those from the Douro ... and worst case scenario, from other Portuguese regions, but I would really like to keep this focused on Port and Douro wines. Is that ok with everybody?

Sounds good to me but I wonder if we could work in some Madeira? Any idea on what the theme's will be (for Port and table wines)? The majority of my collection is relatively young so the more time I have to source a bottle for anything older, the better.

Kris Henderson wrote: Sounds good to me but I wonder if we could work in some Madeira? Any idea on what the theme's will be (for Port and table wines)? The majority of my collection is relatively young so the more time I have to source a bottle for anything older, the better.

It would be great to see you again Kris. By the way, you are one of my favorites on Cellar Tracker!
I would love to see some Madeira... just a few to keep it interesting.
-Dave-

Roy Hersh wrote:Actually, no!

Table wines are to be limited to those from the Douro ... and worst case scenario, from other Portuguese regions, but I would really like to keep this focused on Port and Douro wines. Is that ok with everybody?

Sounds good to me.

I do like the idea of a little Madeira, just a few bottles maybe. Not on Sunday, the big day, but maybe the fri or sat before???

Is it true I heard someone is going to open a double mag of Taylor 77?

Moses Botbol wrote:Is it true I heard someone is going to open a double mag of Taylor 77?

Moses
I heard the same thing so it must be true :devil:

Yes, Mr. C. keeps bragging about that. I think it would be a most generous move and good for the highlight reel, as most people have never seen a double mag and those that have, probably have only seen them ... never tasted one. I know I haven't ... at least not of Port.


Kris,

This is not the time to be opening young bottles. Not that you need something from the 1920's but with all the great old Colheita we have around town, how about some of those? It doesn't have to be vintage. We'll want to have a nice mix.

For my donation, in addition to many a Port, I can find a bottle of interesting Madeira to add, maybe two. Anyone else?

I can bring a bottle or two in addition to some Port.

Oh boy, things are shaping up quite nicely already...I can't wait!