NV Brotherhood Ruby Port

[John M.]

Made in New York State. Paid $8.50 plus tax ($10 retail less 15% discount) in 2010. For this price, why not?

Day 1: Pop and pour. As expected, a bit disjointed as I got a very sweet grape smell and a bit of alcohol. Color is a brighter red than most ports. It also lacks the usual port viscosity and appears thin in the glass. Upon tasting it was tart and puckery with hints of prune and a little less fig. The sugar tasted a little artificial--saccharin. Guessing some zinfandel in there--seems to have that quality. So far, not too good.

Day 2: Color and viscosity unchanged. Still getting the prune/fig undertones and now it is drinkable and the sugar does not taste artificial any longer. The spirit has settled down.

Day 3: Similar to day 2. Showing as OK. I had 1/3rd of a bottle which I corked and put in fridge.

Day 8: Took out of fridge, took out cork about 6 hours before I finished this off with a friend last night. Seemed to be going slightly downhill from day 3--still the hint of prune overlaid with sweet wine.

I've had worse and for $8.50 it was cheap enough that I'm not disappointed, but I can't say I'd buy it again, either. Pretty one dimensional--If you try this, for best results open a day in advance.

Rating: 75

[Roy Hersh]

John,

I assume you know this is the oldest (first) winery in the USA. My parents (who were basically non-drinkers) took us there in 1967, on our way up to Expo '67 in Canada, for my 10th birthday. I had no idea what a winery was and we were given tiny plastic cups of grape juice which was free-run that they kept on hand for kids. They did sparkling wine and my mom got really funny and I don't even remember if my dad had any.

I probably never would have thought of that place ever again. I do remember the other stop we made on the way to Expo, which was the Baseball Hall of Fame and Ausable (sp?) Chasm.

Funny to hear they make a port-style wine, now it all makes sense to me.