For The Love Of Port

I don't see too many folks in the Washington DC metro area (Northern VA, Maryland) that are members of the forum, but of those that are, is there any interest in trying to organize a small offline? I'd be happy to volunteer my services or my house, but from the looks of things, I'm not exactly central to most folks from DC or Maryland. Still...

I just scoured through localwinevents.com and there's nothing in this area as far as tastings or learning opportunities scheduled aside from a Fladgate/Fonseca/Delaforce Port Dinner at Antrim 1844 on Feb 23 for $125. Antrim 1844 is about 30 or 40 miles NE of Frederick. As it is, Frederick is about an hour and a half north of my place, so not sure that's realistic for me.

If there's any interest, would love to hear from you!

Mike.

Been about six months since I posted this. Wondering if any of the new folks to the forum since then are in the general area.

Any interest?

Mike.

Sounds like a fine idea to me (would've six months ago,
too, but I'm afraid I overlooked this post then).
-drb

It's encouraging to see even one response!

Not sure where you are in DC, Dave, but I was thinking something along the lines of a cookout at my place later in July or early August. Really just looking to do something laid-back and meet some of the folks in the area, and of course share some good port!

Mike.

sounds like the beginnings of a plan. we're on Capitol Hill and would be happy to host as well (though our herd of cats may be an issue for someone with allergies) should that be more convenient. it'd be nice if we could round up a few more folks.
-drb

I sent an email to some friends of mine and I have at least two other couples interested in coming by for a Port cookout at my place. August 5 was bandied about as a convenient date for them.

I've actually been hoarding some 2000 LBV's (8 of 'em) to try and get some friends into Port (and as an educational thing for myself, since I haven't tried all the main houses yet), so I might use the occasion to pop them all open and do some educating before we eat. Leave the VP enjoyment for after we eat... Since they're not Port folks, I'm going to have them bring a bottle each of Portugese table wine to share with the food.

Us Port people can take care of wowing them with the good stuff.

I believe the snowball has started down the mountain...

Mike.

What started as an offline request, it seems, has indeed turned into a port introduction for some friends of mine in the form of a cookout at my house. Members of the board are more than welcome to join us, just PM me and I'll get you directions.

I'm going to start the afternoon at around 2pm with an attempt at a White Port Sangria. Then before we eat we'll go through a selection of 7 LBV's from 2000, and throw in a '97 Noval LBV. This will serve as an introduction to many of the Port houses that are available in my area.

After that, we've got some grillin' with some ribs, chicken kebabs and other cookout yummies around 6pm. We'll serve that with Portugese wine that will be brought by my port-lacking friends.

After dinner, there's an intro to Tawnies with Delaforce' Curious & Ancient, then we'll move into a 1977 Barbosa colheita, and then I've got a 1980 Warre VP to top it off. All the Port listed so far is coming from my cellar.

If anyone here wishes to come along, please feel free to bring a surprise bottle of Port!

Mike.

Thanks for the invitation Mike. Right now I have a 30 yr cousin party planned but for me going to DC one a year could be a possibility I guess. I don't have a car but I'm sure many buses are going down that way from Montreal.

I've drink the Noval LBV 97 last week and it was perfect for my taste. Ripe, balanced with silky tannins to top it off!

You're more than welcome Frederick!

Just a quick final note to any of you in the area that if you are (still) interested in attending, PM me and I'll hook you up with directions.

Mike.

Well, the offline went off with few hitches. The food (if I may say so myself...) was delicious, even if the ribs were on a half hour too long, and the company was great. Special thanks to Dave Boyer who came by with a '00 Martinez LBV he picked up in Canada. It was great meeting you, Dave, and hopefully we can do another offline in the future!

While I didn't take too many notes (had too much to do, really, and by the time we were doing the LBV tasting I'd already had one or two more glasses of sangria than I'd planned ) I did kind of rate each LBV to kind of give me an indication of which houses and styles I liked.

I'll put something more cohesive together tomorrow, but off the top of my head I'd say that a couple of the LBV's weren't showing as well as expected, but were nonetheless indicative of the respective house. I was kind of hoping Fonseca or Taylor weren't ones I'd like since they are usually the most expensive, and while I wasn't too fussy on the Taylor, I found I liked the Fonseca the best, with the Noval a close second. Damn.

We had some nice wine with dinner from Portugal, which I would recommend - again, I'll post the bottles and a photo of the lineup in the next day or so.

If you have friends that are into wine or just getting into wine and are curious about Port, I would highly recommend doing a similar kind of tasting...go out and buy (or have them bring) a full spread of LBV's from a given year (2000 seems readily available), and throw in some specialized ports. I, personally, learned a lot about these wines, and how they fit my palate, and I know the folks who came that weren't Port lovers left with a newfound appreciation. With the exception of Dave, I've known all of the folks that came for several years, and I was pleasantly shocked by how enthusiastic they all were to learn and stick with the program for the evening. Lots of good questions - which I hope I answered adequately - and some great banter. I don't know of any format for the price where you can sample most of the major port houses. You just can't beat it.

They particularly enjoyed the '77 Barbosa (bottled in '86) which was delicious, and nothing could beat the '80 Warre. A few fell in love with the Delaforce 20 year tawny, but the best part was how everyone had their own favourite from the LBV lineup!

Overall, a great night, and definitely worth the work. And boy, did I have a buzz when I went to bed! I don't think my downstairs roommate did any dishes before he went to bed, so I'm at a loss when I woke up as to how the bowls got cleaned out. I could have sworn there was still leftovers in them when I went to bed...

Mike.

Mike:
I wish I had been paying attention earlier this year and tried to invite myself to your event! Reading back to your original post I see I missed an event closer to me as well. I should be very interested in learning about other such tastings in the DC area (preferably the MD side) if you know of any.

Perhaps I'll organize my own such event in the future. It sounds like I missed a fun time.

Cheers,
Ralph