For The Love Of Port

Roy Hersh wrote:Bienvenidos e bom dia abraco,

How are you Goncalo? It was my pleasure to meet you too, although it was more than once. Thanks for the kind words, but there are a lot of people here who know a lot about Port wine. We call it: "Collective Port Wisdom."

I am struggling to finish the next newsletter but it should be out shortly. Your brother has put together this month's guest corner article and I am excited to help him be published for the first time. A great article too!

Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate all of your very informed posts too. Please tell your father that a wine shop owner was contacting me today (his name is John and I forwarded the email to Gustavo) but this guy is looking to purchase some Port tongs and I always tell them to contact your shop!

Melhores cumprimentos!

Roy

Hello Roy,

thank you very much, and I´ll like to make you a question, in your opinion how much time can a LBV unfiltered and filtered age in bottle ?

Best regards,

Micky Jensen wrote:Haha,

Thanks guys! :)

Well, I didnt come here alone, as it was actually one of the other guys who told me about this site. But I think I was the first that signed up on the forum here, but I will twist their arms this evening, as I am lucky enough to be spendin g New years with them, so we can indulge in port while the girls do.. whatever girls do when men get into the port

I will most likely sign up as a subscriber within the following month as well, seeing the praise the newsletter is getting, and just because i am so overwhelmed at the collected information here.

Speaking of Vinologia, I am ashamed not to recall the guys name, who was in charge of most of our tastings there, as it was just on a whim. But I will try and find out. He was the one who surprised us with the "Dalva Golden White 1952 white Colheita", when we were having our 40+ Tawny tasting. I was so stunned, that I brought a bottle with me home, though I havent opened it yet..

And I have no doubt that I will have an even greater urge to spend all my *cough* hard-earned *cough* cash on Port after being here a while. I mean.. yesterday I was actually checking out flight prices for Seattle for the Galla-event, though I am afraid its a bit to close to this expensive Christmas month, even though it actually was a lot less expensive to fly there than I thought

Hello Micky,

Thank you for your visit, and next time we hope that we can give you to taste, the next Golden White and a new Over 40y old.

Hi all,

Recent joiner here. I've been drinking wine seriously since some time in the '80s and drinking ports seriously only this century. My "regular" port has been Warre's Nimrod (now, sadly, no longer produced, although I have nearly four cases left in my cellar). The best ports that I've had a chance to try were all '66 (Graham's and some others) although some '83s and '60s were close. VPs seem to me to only get interesting when they develop some of the nutty and slightly astringent characteristics of the tawnys. YMMV

I just finished building a house which included (finally) a good place for wines. Here's a view of the cellar:
[color=#0000FF]http://home.comcast.net/ ... PG[/color]
If anyone wants to "browse" my collection I have it cataloged on CellarTracker.com under the username pwm.

I'm retired. I have a zillion hobbies; I suspect that I like the process of outfitting myself almost better than the hobbies themselves. The main one is reading; I read anything -- cereal boxes if nothing better is available, but I like SF/Fantasy, mystery/action/suspense, mathematics, science, napoleanic war history/fiction, puzzles, wine, and atlases. At a guess, I have over 15,000 books in my library (24' x 26' x two-story). I spend at least six hours a day reading.

Very nice cellar Peter, and welcome. Just what is in the plenum box?

Eric Menchen wrote:Very nice cellar Peter, and welcome. Just what is in the plenum box?

The cellar:
If every shelf and every rack were full, it would hold a little better than 2000 bottles. I have a little over 900 bottles currently (although we went through 11 bottles last night while playing cards, so there's a few less). It has temp/humidity control, with a pretty neat humidity regulator: chilled water is run over a spinning ball; when it is too humid, moisture condenses out on the ball; when it is too dry, water evaporates from it. You regulate the humidity by controlling the temperature of the water.

The box:
Right now, just air. It's there to keep the heat from the laptop from drying and cracking the tabletop (a slab of redwood burl). It originally came with 6 bottles of 2001 Dievole Plenum Quartus Toscana IGT (Italian/Portuguese collaboration, 50/50 Sangiovese/Touriga Franca). I took the most bottles from the case, so I got to keep it.

Every so often the Dievole people choose a foreign winemaker/varietal to partner up with (1999 Tertious was Spain); I don't recall what the first two were). I think the 2001 Quartus was the most recent, so maybe they quit the project. I've been holding onto the Quartus for a while now, but I just noticed that the community on CellarTracker thinks it should be drunk now, so I guess I'd better get started.

Peter W. Meek wrote:The box: Right now, just air.

Well then it is appropriately labeled.

Peter,

Welcome aboard and we're glad you've chosen to join us here at !

Nice cellar for sure. By the way, how far away from Jackson, MI are you? I am out that way every Christmas time.

Looking forward to having you join our discussions. Enjoy that Nimrod while it lasts.


Roy

Roy Hersh wrote: By the way, how far away from Jackson, MI are you?

We are about 45 minutes east; most of it a straight shot on the expressway.

Hi Peter,

Do you have a group of Port enthusiasts in your area that would be interested in getting together, each bringing one good bottle to share one night for a fun and educational evening?

Hi Peter,

Sorry for not getting a proper greeting to you here in this thread. Work was been quite busy for me lately, and with trying to get ready to head to Portugal next week at the same time, my on-line time has been a bit limited as of late.

So welcome to glad to have another Port lover join us here on the forum. Nice cellar BTW, but you better be worried, this group is know to get people to increase their Port buying in no time at all I hope you enjoy your stay here and I hope you'll chose to chime in frequently.

Roy Hersh wrote:Hi Peter,

Do you have a group of Port enthusiasts in your area that would be interested in getting together, each bringing one good bottle to share one night for a fun and educational evening?

Andy Velebil wrote:Hi Peter,

So welcome to glad to have another Port lover join us here on the forum. Nice cellar BTW, but you better be worried, this group is know to get people to increase their Port buying in no time at all I hope you enjoy your stay here and I hope you'll chose to chime in frequently.

Roy,

In a way, we do. A few of the regulars at a local Italian restaurant http://www.paesanosannarbor.com are interested in port. We have a standing order with the owner to be on the lookout for interesting bottles of port from the distributors he buys from. When he sees one, he gets it and one of us will buy it and put it behind the bar with a bit of masking tape on it. When any of us feel like it, we ask for a glass of the Port Group's current bottle. When it's gone, we wait until Mike Roddy finds us another.

For a get-together type group, I'd be the wet-blanket: week after week, I'd arrive with my usual bottle of Warre's Nimrod. Can't help it; I just love that wine. BTW, we have discovered that the Graham's 20 really opens up and develops some character after being opened and recorked for about a week. Maybe I should buy Paesano's a nice stoppered port decanter (Waterford or Lalique maybe?) to keep the G20 in.

Andy,

Re cellar: thanks.

Actually, I'd love to be buying more port. Part of the trouble is that I'm used to buying wine as I taste it. Paesano's has fairly competitive prices for take-out wine, so I buy most of my wine for home consumption through Paesano's. I have a wine with dinner or at a wine tasting, like it, and order 6 or 12 bottles. Not really a practical way to buy exotic port, where there may have only been one bottle offered by a particular distributor.

I need to learn to take advantge of newly relaxed laws on interstate shipping of wine. I can see that there are a lot of ports available via the internet. Now all I need is to learn which people on FTLoP have similar tastes to mine, and learn which internet sellers can be trusted, and start trying some different ports.

Peter W. Meek wrote: a nice stoppered port decanter...

Speaking of which: what is the proper shape for a stoppered port decanter?
Here's a selection of shapes: http://www.crystal-co.com/waterford-cry ... nters.html

What shape should I be looking for?

Peter W. Meek wrote:What shape should I be looking for?

One you like.

Seriously, all that really matters in a decanter is that it provide a good amount of surface area for the wine to mix with air. After that, it's up to you to determine what will look best on your table or in your cellar.

I currently have 2 decanters. One is hand-blown crystal made in hungary of the ship's decanter style (similar to this one at Amazon.com). The other is a Visual Wine Decanter by Wine Enthusiast. I use the latter far more often than the former because it's just easier to use. The big ship's decanters are impressive looking and make great centerpieces on your table, but I find it difficult to pour a glass from one.

Peter,

If you start an entirely new thread in the PORT BASICS AREA ... about decanters, you will have a lot more feedback.

I have been to exactly ONE restaurant in Ann Arbor with a group of wine lovers from that area and further North too. One of them just happened to be Chaad who was the Sommelier/wine buyer for Paesano's for several years. The same group got together at the home of the (Mo'Cool founder) last Dec. as Chaad had finally left Paesano's. I was bummed because my wife had FINALLY agreed to check out the restaurant. I'd be happy to meet you and a group this year, as long as:
a. I can bring my wife along (she almost never joins me for wine/Port events) but wants to eat at Paesano's.
b. You bring something other than Nimrod or at least something in addition to it.

My wife's family is from Jackson so it is not more than an hour to get up there and less if there's no snow. However, in my 10 consecutive Christmas' in MI, there was only 1x where there was not significant snow. Last year the night I drove North of AA, it was an absolute blizzard (Fri. prior to Christmas). We were in a 4WD vehicle that was huge and it took quite a gang of us to get it out at the end of a very long night where it snowed insanely. Quite the fun night ride home after picking up our rental car at my friend's home. His wife with a shovel at 3 a.m. was quite the picture.

Roy Hersh wrote:
I have been to exactly ONE restaurant in Ann Arbor with a group of wine lovers from that area and further North too. One of them just happened to be Chaad who was the Sommelier/wine buyer for Paesano's for several years. The same group got together at the home of the (Mo'Cool founder) last Dec. as Chaad had finally left Paesano's. I was bummed because my wife had FINALLY agreed to check out the restaurant. I'd be happy to meet you and a group this year, as long as:

a. I can bring my wife along (she almost never joins me for wine/Port events) but wants to eat at Paesano's.
b. You bring something other than Nimrod or at least something in addition to it.

1. The more the merrier.
2. Michigan being the state it is, bringing an outside bottle into a licenced establishment is technically against the rules. I expect that we could arrange for almost any available port to be in the restaurant for such a dinner. We could also adjourn to our house after dinner.

As well as being the former sommelier at Paesano's, Chaad is also the person who I have referred to in other posts as "my wine guy". He is currently a partner in a new wine import company based in Ann Arbor: U.S Wine Imports http://www.uswineimports.com/. (DISCLAIMER: Chaad is a friend of mine and I am shamelessly plugging his company.) Since he was the Wine Guy at Paesano's for a long time, he knows ALL the distributors that serve the area, with a special emphasis the ones with a good selection of Italian wines. He is also a Madiera and Port fancier. If he isn't off buying and negotiating for wines in Italy, I'm sure we could get him and his wife, Susan, to join any proposed gathering. If so, we might even get some kind of custom wine/food pairings. Chaad Thomas and Isabella Nicoletti (Paesano's chef) are about the best team for Italian food/wine matching I have ever run into. I've been attending Wine Dinners there 4 to 6 times a year for over a decade and have only disagreed with their choices two or three times; pretty remarkable for around 130 pairings. The few outside wine dinners I have attended have typically hit only about two-thirds of the pairings (IMHO).

As far as getting back through the snow, we could probably put you up here. It's a fun house to visit, and you could explore my wine cellar at the same time.

Peter W. Meek wrote:

Peter W. Meek wrote: a nice stoppered port decanter...

Speaking of which: what is the proper shape for a stoppered port decanter?
Here's a selection of shapes: http://www.crystal-co.com/waterford-cry ... nters.html

What shape should I be looking for?

The Grafton Street Decanter is the most traditional decanter on that page for port. My friend has a nice collection of 19th century decanters for port and they are all similar to that shape.

Glenn is correct, that any decanter will do the job. If you want "proper", I would pick the Grafton Street model. Do not forget to buy a silber neck tag with Port inscribed on it.

Moses Botbol wrote:

Peter W. Meek wrote:

Peter W. Meek wrote: a nice stoppered port decanter...

Speaking of which: what is the proper shape for a stoppered port decanter?
Here's a selection of shapes: http://www.crystal-co.com/waterford-cry ... nters.html

What shape should I be looking for?

The Grafton Street Decanter is the most traditional decanter on that page for port. My friend has a nice collection of 19th century decanters for port and they are all similar to that shape.

Glenn is correct, that any decanter will do the job. If you want "proper", I would pick the Grafton Street model. Do not forget to buy a silber neck tag with Port inscribed on it.

The question is: would I rather have 5 bottles of a nice 1966 VP or that decanter? I think I will keep looking for something in that general shape. (I can make the tag; I have an engraving machine and can get silver chain and a chunk of silver 1/16 thick.)

Now, for a further question: I tend to think of port decanters as having a ground stopper. I think the Waterford/Grafton has a crystal stopper with a plastic plug attached. Any thoughts about ground crystal stoppers? Do they get stuck and break while removing a stopper that has been in place for too long?

Search ebay, craigslist, or antique shops and you'll find decanters in that shape for very good price. You might get beat on whether it's actually as old as they say, but it sounds like that is not a concern.

I have never seen a ground crystal stopper get stuck. I have seen parts of the cleave off, but that's it.

I hear you on getting VP over a decanter. It's about balancing your budget to cover all the bases. Perhaps one open decanter and just pour back into a rinsed port bottle could suffice for now?

The neck tags can be real cheap, not worth the effort to make yourself.

Maybe get one of these? :joker:


I found that while searching for an image of the Grafton Street Decanter. Just having seen the Grafton Street, I won't be getting one as it doesn't fit our decor at all. And for the price, I'm with Peter.

Eric Menchen wrote: I won't be getting one as it doesn't fit our decor at all.

That's the trouble; it really does fit our decor: Georgian-style Palladian. Too bad it's a kilobuck, although I did find a place that was discounting it to US$663. Still, that's a LOT of good port.

Re: shrunken head decanter -- whose decor does THAT fit? (maybe mine, long, long ago? heh)