Champion Ports. - Episode #102

October 6, 2006

episode102

Wines tasted in this episode:

Today Gary tastes four ports and matches them with one of his favorite cheeses with port. Sit back and enjoy this episode on one of the great dessert wines. More viewer questions answered. Have a great weekend everyone!

111 Responses

Pages: [5] 4 3 2 1 » Show All

  1. about 4 months ago

    Deeve

    Wine goal is/was to enjoy it as much as I possibly can as often as I possibly can :)

  2. about 4 months ago

    Rhonda

    here is probably the dumbest question you might get this week, would a wine bar have an aged vintage port that I could try? I would really like to try one but I am not sure how since I haven’t had any laying around for 20 years. There are a few wine bars near to where I live and I have to admit I have been too intimidated to step into one so I have no clue what they would have.

  3. about 5 months ago

    thefanjestic

    Good Episode - I liked getting an education on the ports.

    Ok - so I am very curious about your baseball card business - if you’re reading this now GV - you should talk about that on an upcoming episode - just a quick summary of your working carrer and what has halped you make WL so successful would be cool.

  4. about 8 months ago

    ryptide

    Went back and watched this episode, because I’m sitting here enjoying some Taylor Fladgate 10 year old tawny porto.

    Gary, I know vintage port needs to sit for a long time to develop fully. Tawny apparently does not. How do you feel about tawny port?

    QOTD: It’s just one of those things I’d like to be well-versed in. I like trying to identify the smells and tastes. I’m nowhere near good at it yet, but practicing is easy when there’s so much out there. I routinely just grab things off the grocery shelf, taste spices at home, etc. Trying to do those palate pushups.

  5. about 12 months ago

    David Canada

    I am a port head……will try to snag some of the 2003 warres
    QOTD - Simple to learn, and get all the enjoyment possible out of wine…and to get loopy while doing it.

  6. about 13 months ago

    Panoca

    Gary, since i’m the bigggest fan of port out there, i’ve got to say that i’ve watched this episode more than 20 times already (yes! more than 20) and i have to say this is one of my favorites (is in my top 5). The tasting notes are “profound” and i found you ABSOLUTELY hillarious in this episode (the part that you chewed that chunk of cheese is definitely a classic) You really crack me up in every view. Congrats!!
    Samer I (the comment before mine): once you open your bottle of port, it will last ……………….. FOREVER!!! I had port with almost a half glass left on the bottle, for over a month, and when i tried it, it tasted the same as the previous ones. These wines are “ridonculous” profound.
    Gary, again, you rock!!

  7. about 14 months ago

    Samer I

    Gary

    I love Port however I always drink it at restaurants and not at home for one reason and that is: I can’t finish a bottle of Port in one sitting and I worry it will go bad. Once a bottle of vintage Port is opened how long will it last? You’re saying to keep it for 20+ years and it would be a serious waste to wait 20 years to open the bottle, have a glass of it, and have the rest get oxidized. Is there a way to try the same bottle at say 20 years, 25 years, and 30 years the marks without it going bad? Also at 20+ years to maturity, how do you even get your hands on some well aged ports?!?! No restaurant is serving that at least without breaking the bank.

    Thanks
    Sam

    PS No name for the cheese near the links nor the WL price….

  8. about 16 months ago

    Fiorentina!

    Yo GV! How can you have a porto tasting without Fonseca or Croft? What’s up with that yo?

  9. about 17 months ago

    Salvatore

    I knew we had something in common besides wine. “Yard Sales” it’s like the very best treasure hunt ever! My wife in I did the Yard Sale hunt intense for two years. We even made a few bucks selling on ebay; Oasiz5. (O)livia, (A)ngelina,(S)alvatore,(I)sabella,(Z)achary; 5 Grandchildren.

    You just lit a fire under me; now we can go YS hunting again; and use the profits to buy top shelf wine. Very enjoyable episode. We are going to visit you folks this summer; as a torist destination.

  10. about 19 months ago

    Adam

    Great episode, can’t wait for the next one on port. My goal was to be able to distinguish enough flavors and scents to talk intelligently about wine.

  11. about 21 months ago

    Vinacull

    I’m with TimF on this one. This EP was about as close to perfect as it gets. Loved the Vayner-Puff reference, and the cheese chomp later followed by our friend Nikolai took it over the top. Best of all there were excellent descriptions for great wines Gary. QOTD: Related to your answer on one of the viewer questions, my goal when I started with wines was to taste enough that my palate would serve me reliably and correctly even in blind situations, and also that I would come to know enough about producers and vintages that I would never be intimidated again when picking a bottle from a restaurant list.

  12. about 21 months ago

    Brandon M

    Cannor wait…this free shipping thing is AWESOME

  13. about 21 months ago

    Brandon M

    Just ordered the Dows with free shipping!

    B

  14. about 21 months ago

    JayZee

    Gary:

    Dude, great episode! One of my favorites. I really enjoy Port, but I didn’t know much about vintage Ports. Wow! You’ve sold me. I need a case NOW!

  15. about 21 months ago

    Sam Zen

    G- Can you open a port for a long time or is it like other wines that, for the most part, you need to finish in a day?

  16. about 21 months ago

    Seth - MacGeek

    What is wrong with criticism? It happens every episode on WLTV? It isn’t wrong or right :-D it is just opinion!

    What is the most expensive bottle of wine out there?
    What is the worst bottle of wine out there at the highest price?

    Seth - MacGeek

  17. about 21 months ago

    Brandon M

    :-) Nothin wrong with that I guess

  18. about 21 months ago

    Ed R

    Brandon,
    I just thought the QOD was a bit elitist. I’m a blue collar guy who drinks wine for fun just like everyone else here. Just think Gary needs a little criticism to keep things fresh and I was hoping to create a little controversy to wind up the troops, but like Gary’s QOD it went pretty much unnoticed.
    For the record I liked the episode and appreciate Gary’s assistance with my increasing wine knowledge and helping me spend my money more wisely.

  19. about 21 months ago

    Brandon M

    Ed R…whats up? Did you really think the show was that bad? I mean cmon..whats wrong with telling what our wine backgrounds are. If someone says it was to get drunk, and now they have evolved into a connoisseur…then so be it. At least people are being honest.

    What did you think was wrong with this episode? You REALLY didn’t eloborate.
    To say Gary has 25 epsiodes left is a little harsh…even though you thought the episode was bad, doesn’t he deserve a bad showing every now and then?

    B

  20. about 21 months ago

    Tom

    Gary,

    Great episode. The first port my wife tried, she did not like. I should have left it there. Now she is a port fiend and we give each other a vintage port almost every year for Christmas. We have several 80 and 85’s in the cooler waiting for them to develop fully.

    We had dinner with Bartholomew Broadbent the other evening when he was in town. He is a very interesting gentleman. You should also try his Madeira which also is very interesting. Remember Madeira was the #1 wine in the US until around 1900. Many a US document was written by our forefathers over a glass of Madeira.

    We “taste wine” every evening.

    Thanks for using the port glass.

  21. about 21 months ago

    GOL

    GV - Great energy on this ep… I’m fearing today’s episode might find you in a less enthusiastic mood, what with the Yanks and Jets showings over the weekend…

    QOD - My goal in getting into wine was to give me something to do during a six-month period of unemployment… it worked, and I’m still hooked!

  22. about 21 months ago

    zerokreap (kw)

    QOTD: i didn’t like it when i first tasted it….so i was going to drink it until i liked it…what do you know, 10 years later, i like it A LOT!

  23. about 21 months ago

    Tommy T.

    Excellent episode. Just what I was waiting for!

    So Gary what exactly do you do with all that wine left over from the WLTV episodes?

  24. about 21 months ago

    Tony S.

    Great episode Gary, I love Port…my wife hates it. So I rarely drink them, I just save them for special occasions. Also, I LOVED your ending, wine is meant to be enjoyed by everyone, not just the successful. It just sucks that most wineries nowadays cater to the rich. It’s sad. I love wine very much, but I hate that side of it.

    QOD: I kind of fell into wine. I didn’t know anything about it, didn’t even think I liked it, and I was working two jobs–one as a Pizza Hut shift manager (which I dreaded and didn’t want to even imagine myself staying there) and the other as a telemarketer. The telemarketer thing was just to slowly ween myself out of Pizza Hut before moving onto something else…ANYTHING else. Anyway, a friend of mine was working as a temp person for a wine auction company here in Chicago, that was back in 1997. They needed a full-time warehouse guy, and he told me about the job opening. I applied, told them I knew nothing about wine and walla! Here I am now, still learning, but I’ve come a loooong way. Now I inspect the wine that comes in, rather than shipping it out.

    I guess my goal now, is just to enjoy wine with friends. Even though I’m surrounded by fine wine and I get to taste them at tastings, I can’t afford them. So, I’m always looking for that great bargain that doesn’t taste like crap. That’s why I like your show. You weed out the crap for us.

    Alright, well, this posted too late on Friday, so it’s lunch time on Monday and I gotta get back to work. I hope nobody is celebrating Columbus day…but instead, if you have it off, I hope you’re celebrating just having a Monday off…three day weekend’s are always great! See you in a couple hours or so…hopefully.

    GO BEARS!!!!!–truly the best overall team in the NFL right now. Haven’t been able to say that for a while!
    T

  25. about 21 months ago

    Lawrence Leichtman

    Gary, thanks for reviewing my favorite wines but I don’t know about buying too many new ones as I’m not sure I will last 20 years much less wait that long. Just now drinking 70’s. Do you have any opinion on Ports not from Portugal such as some of the California or Australia Port makers. I love Prager Ports but I know many who say they aren’t real ports so why drink them?

Pages: [5] 4 3 2 1 » Show All

Leave a Reply