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Introduction

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 3:01 pm
by Dale B.
Hello All,

Thank you, Roy and Andy, for all your kind assistance in getting me engaged properly on the website after I had made a mess of it; I look forward to learning and sharing info here about all things port. By way of introduction, I live in rural Alabama with my wife, Laurie. It's a second marriage for both of us and we've been married for seven years. I've liked port all my life, having been exposed to it early on. My wife has learned the delights of port as well and we love to travel, tasting ports along the way. We also love brewpubs and wine bars! It is difficult to find port, even in the better restaurants, that has not been opened too long to be able to give it a fair assessment, so we are often in the position of buying a bottle and trying it ourselves.

We are fortunate in that the LAST CHILD is due (FINALLY) to graduate from college this Dec., and we plan on spending his tuition/living expense money on travel and port!!! :D We have a cellar and have started collecting some things. We started tasting some LBVs and found some we liked more than others (of course, we liked them all!) Having done that, we started collecting some Warre's VP '03 and have told our adult children that while we hope we live long enough to drink at least half of them at maturity, they will probably have to take up the task after we're dust. We're fond of Dow's Crusted Port, sauternes, and Australian stickies. While we're still exploring, we enjoy wine and good food and friends. We're in our 50s and are semi-retired. Portugal is on our short list of places to visit, but we'd like to become a lot more knowledgeable about ports and wine before we visit. Hope this introduces us!

Re: Introduction

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 3:09 pm
by Derek T.
Dale,

Welcome to :ftlop: :D

I do believe that our web guru, Stewart Todd (aka Admin) is also from Alabama so you should get special treatment here if you need it :wink:

Have fun exploring the word of port here.

RegardsDerek

Re: Introduction

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 3:35 pm
by Andy Velebil
Dale,
Again welcome to :ftlop: its good to have here and thanks so much for the introduction. The fun part about Port, or any wine for that matter, is getting to try all the good stuff along the way :winepour: With your youngest finally graduating, I guess you couldn't have picked a better time to dive head first into the Port world. The fun part lays ahead of you and your wife. Portugal is a wonderful place with lots of friendly people, good food, and great vino. In less than two weeks I head back for the third time in as many years. Don't wait to long to get over there. Its the best place to learn a lot in a short amount of time. You also can try a huge amount of Ports in a short time too, finding those you like the best. I do have to put a little plug in for Roy's Harvest Trip (starts in two weeks). They are worth every penny and then some, and its worth looking into when you and your wife decide to head over to the "mother land."

Re: Introduction

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:22 am
by Roy Hersh
Hi Dale,

I am working out of town with very little access to the net these days. I am very pleased to see you have made it here to :ftlop: and hope to see you participate and share some of the Ports you open with us in tasting notes if/when you are comfortable in doing so.

Should you ever want to bring your wife along to Portugal, I'd be honored to have you join us on the Harvest Tour or our Fortification Tour that we do in the Spring. We have a ton of fun and get to drink some very interesting bottles along the way and meet many of the proprietors and winemakers in the Douro and Porto too. Anyway, something to consider.

In the meantime, I look forward to sharing a bottle with you sometime!

Cheers :winepour:

Roy

Re: Introduction

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:15 am
by Glenn E.
Hi Dale, welcome to FTLOP!

You've found a great place to learn more about Port. :lol:

If you have trouble finding Port, don't be afraid to order over the internet. I have had great success that way, and there are a few tools you can use to ensure you're getting the best price. I use http://www.wine-searcher.com (as do many others here) and have always been pleased with the result. (Well, at least when I don't screw up the order myself, but that's a different story. :roll: )

Re: Introduction

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 3:59 am
by Moses Botbol
Dale B. wrote:We're fond of Dow's Crusted Port
Dale, welcome :hello:

Is Dow's Crusted something that you find locally for sale? It's unusual port to add to a list of "fond" drinks. It's an excellent value, but just quite uncommon in USA.