For The Love Of Port

Hello Everyone,

First off, I'd like to apologize for disappearing from this forum for so long. I'm going back to school and have been quite busy lately. So now I'm trying to catch up a bit, and I have a few TN's I want to post.

Casa de Santa Eufemia Special Reserve White Port

I had this one on my birthday. Rumor has it that most of the wine in this batch is from either 1973 or 1972. I was born in 1973 and so there's really nothing I can find from my birth year except for an odd colheita or two. So I was very curious about this one.

Color rich clear amber, nose very faint at first, Sauternes-like, whiff of alcohol, hint of orchid. Slightly dry, with notes of sasparilla and sassafras, vanilla, pleasantly rooty finish. Very delicious, reminded me a little bit of a sweeter version of Churchill's Fine Dry White. 91 pts.

This is 100% 1973. It was not meant to be a single year white port but because of the revolution and the family split(quinta do santa eufemia) they were left with the option to bottle only from one year. It is very good indeed, and this is probably the one other reason why Casa do santa eufemia will thanks the revolution. They release around 1000-1200 bottles per year, but I don't know how much is left.

Eric,

'73 is my b-day also and this is from 1973. Not much Port out there for us '73 babies....score! Hope school is going well.

Frederick:

Thanks for the clarification. It pleases me to know that it really was 100% 1973.

Andy:

You were the one who spotted the demijohns marked 1973 in the Niepoort cellars. We were both eyeing those.

School is going well, but right now I'm doing an unpaid internship, which means I'm broke, which means I will be forced to dip into my reserves. But hey, it's not that bad! I've been drinking mostly tawnies, so it gives me an excuse to crack open more VP's!

I was recently in Porto and I tasted this at Vinhos dos Quintas with Maria Teresa (sorry if I've mispelled either name). It was an amazing surprise. I immediately bought her last bottle and despite the best efforts of the Newark baggage handlers got it safely home. Now I just have to figure out which of the 20 bottles of port I brought home to open first.

Glad to hear someone else also thought this was nice.

Mark good choice. And Maria T. is an awsome person, I look forward to seeing her whenever i get to Oporto.