For The Love Of Port

I have a 1980 Dow VP in the decanter since this a.m. and am very much looking forward to this later this evening, after a selection of bubbly, whites and reds with my STG tasting group.

So what do you have planned or on hand for this weekend?

A Tempranillo tonight, which isn't a Port, but related. I just recently opened a Warre's Otima 10 that was brought over by a friend. It isn't something to jump up and down about, but it was fine when opened and on the second night was really nice. I'm looking forward to working on it over the weekend.

Eric Menchen wrote:A Tempranillo tonight, which isn't a Port, but related. I just recently opened a Warre's Otima 10 that was brought over by a friend. It isn't something to jump up and down about, but it was fine when opened and on the second night was really nice. I'm looking forward to working on it over the weekend.

I've had that one before. For what it is, it isn't bad. That's the beauty of these "ready to drink" ports with the serrated head stoppers. Inexpensive and satisfying for "no particular" occasion.

We're doing a "one night getaway" tomorrow. Hotel in town, museum (Ghengis Khan exibit going on) and dinner out. We;ll be taking the Taylor Fladgate 10 year tawny with us. A dependable and consistent blend. No surprises. Can't forget the block of Havarti either.

In keeping with the virtual tasting of February , I opened a ' 97 Niepoort .
Tn's in virtual section .

I had 4 Ports on Friday night - a 1980 Fonseca VP, a Graham's 20-yr old Tawny, a Cockburn's 20-yr old Tawny, and a Quinta da Costa de Baixo 20-yr old Tawny. I'm finishing off the Cockburn's right now.

It was an interesting casual tasting. The F80 showed extremely well - the person who brought it said it was the best showing they'd ever had from an F80 - but oddly didn't go well with dinner (big, fat, juicy steaks). It is fully mature and I would say probably at its peak right now, so drink up if you have any. The Graham's was the best 20-yr old... until we started eating, and then it was too sweet. So the Cockburn's actually ended up being the best Port to go with the food.

Yes, the infamous 1983 Taylor - AND I posted a note about it where it belongs. :)

Jay Hack wrote:Yes, the infamous 1983 Taylor - AND I posted a note about it where it belongs. :)

Thanks for the TN Jay

Poor Glenn. Having to suffer through the F80. Well, at least it was a good showing ... certainly their worst effort in many years. I think I'd even prefer the 83 Taylor.

I will now have to look at Jay's TN, to see what he thought.

Eric Menchen wrote:A Tempranillo tonight, which isn't a Port, ...

Eric, which tempranillo?

Ferreira 20 y.o.
1977 Dow's

Life is good!
-Dave-

This weekend:

1957 Niepoort Colheita
1970 Niepoort Vintage
1871 Quinta do Loureiro Porto Velho
20YO Krohn

Madeira:

1840 Boal Raro Velho do Campanário
1907 Malvazia Rôxa (private producer)
1913 Verdelho (Private producer)

Last night, to celebrate surviving my second bike race of the new season, I stopped at a wine bar/retail store not far from my race. I had a glass of the 2004 Krohn Quinta do Retiro Novo Vintage Port that they had opened the night before. I'll post a brief TN in the TN Forum.

Carlos Rodriguez wrote:Eric, wich tempranillo?

Artesa 2000 Carneros Tempranillo
This vineyard and winery is in California, but they are owned by the Spanish Codorníu Group, which I presume explains those grapes. The winery is located between Napa and Sonoma, as I recall just north of the Sonoma Highway. (The Carneros region is just south of there.) My wife and I visited the winery in 2003 or 2004. The grounds were beautiful, but the wines didn't really impress us, until we tasted their Tempranillo. It was outstanding. As a limited release, they would only let us buy three bottles, which we did. We consumed the last one this weekend. It was very good, but not quite as excellent as bottles #1 and #2.

Eric, thank's for the reply.

I was curious, because of the spanish grape. Codorniu is a huge company with some very good wines here as well.

I brought it up because Tempranillo is also known as Tinta Roriz :)

Finished off a Noval 40 year tawny with the brother-in-law over the weekend. In the midst of our biggest snow storm in Maryland of the season, I opened a 1988 Feist Colheita (bottled 2008.)

I continue to look for opportunities to open some of the vintages, but the in-laws prefer tawnys. I hate to open a good vintage for just me and my wife. I guess I just need to get over that.

-- Gary

Andy,

Second race of the year? Wow, our road season here does not begin until around the first of May. Today, 35 and windy, 2 hours was all I could take.

Michael

PS how did you do?

Eric Menchen wrote:I brought it up because Tempranillo is also known as Tinta Roriz :)

Also all the spanish wines you see as: tinto fino, tinta del pais, tinta de toro, ull de llebre and cencibel, are tempranillo.

michael miller wrote:Andy,

Second race of the year? Wow, our road season here does not begin until around the first of May. Today, 35 and windy, 2 hours was all I could take.

Michael

PS how did you do?

It was about 75+ degrees with a killer wind that cropped up just before the start of our race. It's still the early season for me and I'm still getting back into top race shape as I have some races later this summer I want to peak for. So while I am actually riding a tad stronger than I expected for this time of the year, I still got a bit to go to be in top shape. But I managed to get into a couple of breaks that didn't last and then did a lot of work for our top sprinter on our team to keep him safe from the wind and to set him up for the finish.....as I am not a great sprinter, give me hills and time trials

35 is a tad cold, thats for sure...glad I live here in sunny So Cal

Michael, you still racing? If so what category?