For The Love Of Port

On Thanksgiving, I opened a slew of bottles, a pair of my oldest domestic Chardonnay bottles 1994s from Kalin and also Hanzell, a beautiful Meursault and Chevalier-Montrachet (both beautiful white Burgs) and a Scholium Project Naucratis Verdelho which was a very unique experience for those that had never had one. Then it was onto the the reds. My brother put in two gorgeous Burgs but only one showed really well, I put in a fine bottle of Rayas CdP, a Dehlinger Pinot Noir and a 2004 Quinta do Crasto Vinha da Ponte as the lone soldier from Portugal. I told my family the story about this old vine beauty and was interested to see what they thought, especially my brother who has a fine but jaded palate and prone to a "nothing but Burg wows me" mentality. He really liked it a lot and although he has had only a few Douro wines, he has now experienced a very different realm in terms of what the Douro can achieve. Who knows, one of these days he may even join us for a tour of Portugal. We did open a six pack of Ports and Madeiras with some very special bottles, this will be reported in the days to come and included in the newsletter too.

Thats sounds truly excellent Roy. I'm very interested to find out more about what you thought about all those French wines - maybe even some abridged TNs? :)

Sorry Ray. Normally, I would be happy to oblige. But with the upcoming newsletter deadline and new release of our 2009 Port trips, (not to mention catch up with posts/emails) TNs won't be possible at this time.

Fair enough. I look forward to the coming newsletter - especially all the madeira commentary. :)