For The Love Of Port

Pete's wine shop in Bellevue, WA hosted Dominic Symington to sample the 2007 Vintage Ports plus a nice selection of older vintages from the Symington stable. This was a slightly traumatic experience for me since I had to drink from a plastic cup (so take these with a grain of salt) but it was fun to sample these and meet Dominic Symington. I also met Roy there and apparently just missed Stewart.

2007 Smith Woodhouse
Not sure how to describe the nose other than plummy and porty. Moderate tannin, lush and sweet with a warm finish and good length. 92

2007 Warres
Dark fruit nose. Soft tannin warm finish. Smooth and elegant. Tannin comes on stronger at the finish. Lighter style but Dominic compares this port to a long distance runner. It's lean but ages well. 91

2007 Vesuvio
Tight nose. Black color. Firm, dry coarse tannin. Some heat on the palate. Full body, thick and viscous with good acidity. 93

2007 Dow's
I thought the Vesuvio was dark but the Dow is intense squid ink black. Nice spices on the nose with some dark fruit. Big structure, like the vesuvio but better balanced. 93 - 94

2007 Graham's
Tight nose of sweet red and blue fruits. Good tannins and balance but not showing a lot of complexity right now. 92

1980 Warre's
Garnet red. Licorish and red fruit with some leather. Nice soft tannins but still has good grip. Bit of heat on the palate and finishes with nice cherry flavors. 92

1985 Dow's
My notes are sparse here but I noted aromas of charcoal and raspberry. Seemed hot on the palate. Medium length finish. 91 - 93

1991 Graham's
Sweet red / black licorish, leather, plum. Gorgeous nose even in a plastic cup. Firm tannin with that nice Graham's sweetness and enough acid to keep it balanced. Complex, full body and long finish. 94

1994 Vesuvio
The rock star of the evening. Last time I tasted this it was a tannic monster. Tonight it was surprisingly approachable. Dark fruits and chocoalte with smooth velvety tannins and a delicious finish that went on and on. 96

2003 Smith Woodhouse
I know I tasted this but I must have forgotten to take notes on this. Anyways, it was good.

I was weak and walked out of the store with some of the 2007 Vesuvio and 2003 Smith Woodhouse. In addition to being some of my favorite bottles, I thought they also represented some of the better values.

What was up with the plastic cup? They didn't trust you with the fine china

Nice notes. I am heading to the same tasting tonight with Dominic here in Los Angeles and can't wait to try them again.

BTW, can you copy and paste each as a single TN in the TN section so the new search engine coming out grabs each. Many thanks

It was good to meet you last night at the tasting at Pete's. I'm pretty sure I was the youngest one in there (just to try and jog your memory). Anyway, I'm fairly new to port but that was such a great experience for me.

I'm somewhat of a regular at Pete's so I was well aware of the bring your own glass policy. Although I don't have numerical scores, here's how I would have ranked them.

2007's:

Warres, Graham's, Dow's, Smith Woodhouse, Vesuvio

Older:

Dow's (1985), Smith Woodhouse (2003), Vesuvio (1994), Graham's (1991), Warres (1980)

Sorry to miss you Kris!

Had to "taste and run", but what a fantastic lineup they had.

Completely agree with you - the '94 Vesuvio was absolutely rocking!

It was great to see Kris, Stewart and meet Jay too, as well as a few others I knew (Yashar, Christine etc.) and a couple of other FTLOP folks who have been lurkers until now.

Jay, I hope you will continue to feel comfortable posting here. We do plenty of Port events in the area and list them in the offline section below. In fact on Thursday, Esquin is doing another one. Check it out!

I really enjoyed the 1994 Vesuvio but it was a much friendlier and less tannic VP than I typically taste. Great nonetheless. I detected two corked 1980 Warre's and had to bring it to "their" attention (quietly) but the third bottle was so much better.

The Dow's were rocking as a team. Lots of beautiful VPs and considering what we normally see, the prices were outstanding.

The surprise of the night for me was the 2003 Smith Woodhouse ... wow! Not to mention a price point just below $40 per bottle.

Definitely. It was a great event and good to meet you, Roy. I actually work down in Georgetown so I knew about the tasting on Thursday. I'll be there for sure.

Excellent. Kris, hopefully Stewart and Glenn will be there too and maybe a few others. Look forward to see you again ... soon.

Andy Velebil wrote:What was up with the plastic cup? They didn't trust you with the fine china

Something to do with health department regulations. Not sure what the deal with that is though since every other wine shop I've been to provides a decent wine glass for tasting.

They probably have never invested in a proper dishwasher or 3 compartment sink which would be a requisite of the Public Health Dept. before allowing them to provide glassware for a tasting. There used to be Chantanee Thai Restaurant practically next door to Pete's and therefore it was probably fine for them to bring glasses next door.

I agree that pouring very fine Vintage Ports into plastic glasses was a travesty. Even with a policy known to their regulars (which I am not one of) about BYOG (bring your own glass) it was not a good move to go with plastic which is certainly not the right shape, nor conducive to providing the aromatics that are inherent in great young VPs, no less the older bottlings.

No worries the Bordeaux glasses used last night weren't much better. The aromatics sucked out of them to the point that i went out to my car during the tasting and got my own Port glass to use.

I don't know why otherwise great wine shops almost always fail to have the correct stemware for Ports. They have no problems with the other main types of wine glasses (Chard, Burg, Bord.) but good luck when it comes to Port glasses.

Andy Velebil wrote:... i went out to my car during the tasting and got my own Port glass to use.

I think I read something like this in the "You know you're a Port geek when ..." thread

Eric Menchen wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote:... i went out to my car during the tasting and got my own Port glass to use.

I think I read something like this in the "You know you're a Port geek when ..." thread

I have a little wood box I made out of an old Colheita box. The ones 750ml port bottles sometimes come in. I cut it down and lined it with foam, cut out in the shape of a port glass. It's perfect for traveling and the glass won't break. I wish I could take credit, but that goes to Alex B. who I saw do it first. I never attent a Port tasting without it.