Douro reds from this weekend's party

[Glenn E.]

I hesitate to enter these as TNs because, they're really not. I don't drink wine, but I do take a little sip of every bottle that we open in the house.

This weekend I hosted a birthday party for my mother-in-law, and served a pair of Douro wines to go with dinner.

2007 Pombal do Vesuvio: rich and beefy. Seemed very round and robust.
2005 Chryseia: seemed tight and very tannic. Lots of minerality, too.

If the empty bottles count as votes, the party prefered the Pombal. That bottle was emptied, while we had about 1/3 of the Chryseia left after the party. My guess is that the Pombal is just more accessible right now, and so paired better with food. The Chryseia might need a decade to really hit its stride.