Champion Ports. – Episode #102

October 6, 2006

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!

113 Responses

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October 8, 2006

Matthew L
Say it with me Gary…T I G E R S, TIGERS, TIGERS, TIGERS!
October 8, 2006

MarcT
BrandonM…stop giving away your alter ego!
Did you know that I too am a computer geek by day and a personal chef by night and weekend?
October 8, 2006

MarcT
Original goal for wine…To build and have the ultimate cellar where I can drink hundreds of wines with my friends and family at my leisure…The goal remains the same…and I am working on it too with my inventory quickly increasing by the week.
BrandonM and Tony…My girl has mentioned my wine buying habit too! I counter with my poker winnings and salary
J/K…she is very understanding and lets me do my own thing as it is my own money. And (thanks to GaryV) she understands the whole futures thing.

MarcT is from Lithia Springs, GA
October 8, 2006

MarcT
I’m BACK!!!!!!
Just caught up with the episodes and posts!!! WHEW did I miss a lot. I’m gonna have to try and get my girl to post on here too!
BrandonM…save a bottle or two for a hippy style candelabra and I am using my corks to make a cork board and to also show off some of the wines I have consumed!
I’m about to vote…play poker…and submit my trip notes from San Fran and the wines we drank…UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 8, 2006

Rich S
Great Port episode GV. I am a huge fan of Port and have a few bottles of Croft 2003 Vintage Port that I will be holding for quite a while. I hope that in 15-20 years it will be as good as the greatest port I ever tasted which was a Penfolds 20 year Grandfather Reserve.

As far as the QOD goes, I think I got into wine because I am a huge “foodie” and aspiring chef. I really enjoy cooking and to me, wine and food are inseparable. Whenever I cook something that requires a little effort, I always open a bottle of wine along with it. I have been learning more and more about wine over the years and now am very comfortable knowing what I like and what I don’t. WLTV is a great tool for learning about different wines so keep it up GV.
October 8, 2006

Lynne
1) LOVE YOUR FAMILY…absolutely! I know we Vayniacs don’t need reminded of this, but it truly is THE most important purpose.
2) QOD: My original goal, the reason I took my very first sip (and subsequent others that evening), was to experience what all my other friends had said was so cool…drunkeness..which is the reason still today that I will not go near certain wines (or certain “friends). Thankfully, my goal has changed. Now, I would like to own and drink wines that taste good to me, are highly rated and highly affordable. I always believed they existed; just didn’t know how to go about finding them. Thanks to Gary V & WLTV, I have begun collecting my personal “stash”. Bad part is, the ratio of purchasing vs. consumption is too close. I need to increase purchasing!
3) Port EP: Gary, thank you for drinking a “wine before its time”. I can afford to buy the young Port, (never tried a Port) but I wonder if I can wait all those years to try it. Does one really have to wait Soooooo long to enjoy a Port purchased this young?

BTW, Gary, I haven’t commented since EP 99 …Congrats! and FYI, I really enjoyed you introducing your father to us. What a treat. I would love sometime to know the whole Vaynerchuk story.
October 8, 2006

Matty Van, Rochester NY
brandon m…I used my saved corks to make a “cork” cork board for my office
October 8, 2006

Tony
Yeah, baby! Goodbye Yankees!!! – and good riddance!
October 8, 2006

Brandon M
Props to all the Mets fans out there. I never thought for a second that the Mets had the ability to sweep my beloved Dodgers….I hang my head in “double play at the plate” dissapointment.

San Felipe…24 hours and 1/2 a bottle left.
I must say that the time has done even more to this wine than expected. The nose has opened up extemely well. The smell of Caramel and Coffe are VERY prevelant, body seems balanced, finish a bit short.

I’ve never had a wine I’ve been all over the board with like this one, but I think the price makes it an absolute steal…Time to order some more!

B
October 7, 2006

Jaye
Gary, you were good, but you are getting better! I really enjoyed this episode. I even laughed out loud while watching on the plane when you took that bite of cheese. Everyone around me turned to look at me. I made my husband watch — he wondered if you maybe enjoyed the cheese more than the wine.

I’m really happy you did an episode on Port wine. I have a number of nice bottles in my collection (1994, 2000 and 2003), however, being that I am 40 now, I think I won’t be buying any new vintages going forward. My experience is you really need about 30 years for a vintage port to come into its own. I figure I will be almost 70 by the time the 2003’s are ready to drink. Don’t know if my taste buds will really enjoy things as much when I get much older than that.

Hope your “Saturday in the Store” was fruitful!
October 7, 2006

Ferrigno
I ALWAYS wanted to see a port episode!!!!! thank you gary, and by the way… several months ago you promised a champagne blind tasting to around these days, just so you dont forget to keep up your word!!! see ya
October 7, 2006

Wildebeest
Gary,

Hmmm… the “puff, puff” comment towards the beginning of the show makes me wonder if you’ve read my email.

It’s easy to use pipe smoking references to paint a picture of the sort of folk who drink wine more out of snobbery than for any other reason, but I can attest to the fact that there are other pipe smokers out there who approach their tobacco in very much the same way that you do wine. Like the drinking of wine, pipe smoking is another pastime that is made unpalatable by the snobbery of some of it’s enthusiasts.

This reminds me of a question that I’ve often had when watching your show. You often mention that a wine has tobacco in the nose, or other overtones of tobacco. What type of tobacco are you talking about? In my experience, tobacco has a variety of forms that barely resemble one another in flavor and smell. The smell of a cigar is nothing like that of a pipe or a cigarette, and each form has a wide variety of ingredients to choose from. In the world of pipe smoking, the tobacco can be blended from a variety of virginias, latakias, burleys, and cavendish tobaccos, to name a few. Some styles of the blends also include other ingredients such as oils or syrups to make them more aromatic. So, when you mention that you smell tobacco, do you have a particular type of tobacco in mind? Are you talking, perhaps, about the smell of many of these ingredients combined, such as the one encountered upon entering a tobbaconist’s?

Thanks for the episode on port, by the way. I saw the word “port” in the title and proceeded to spend four hours downloading with my ridiculously slow connection. It was worth it.
October 7, 2006

Dennis
Hi Gary,
Nice show on Porto. Not an area I am familiar with and look forward to the experience.
As for the QOD: my goal is to learn about and experience a variety of wines. First exposed to wines in college, (Matues and Liebfraumilch) then moved on but not much. Received Alex Lichine’s book as a gift and explored further. However, then got into a rut buying the same wines, Cab or Italians for Red and Mosels for White. About 18 months ago realized I was in a rut and missed the great changes made in the wine world.
I decided to explore again and sampled a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and was blown away by its taste and nose. This encouraged me to explore some more and picked up Karen MacNeil’s book. After reading it I felt like I took a world tour. Used this as a jumping off point to explore wines and varietals from around the world so I can take my own tour. Now I keep a log as to which wines I sampled so I can note which I like. Still enjoy German rieslings but like those from NY State, Washington and Aussies as well. Only wine I really disliked was an Italian Fiano, strange taste. (Not corked though) Although I will give another producer a try to see if it was the varietal or the producer. Ah some many wines, so little time.
Looking forward to future WLTV for more suggestions.
October 7, 2006

Bill T
Gary,
Had to tell you how much we enjoyed a 2002 Charles Creek Merlot Miradero tonight! Fabulous wine …your review in episode 89 was right on! I just placed an order for more. Thanks!

Bill T
October 7, 2006

Kahuna
QOD-I am Itailian- we do not get into wine – wine gets into us
October 7, 2006

john maki
Dear Gary,

1. Very nice episode on Ports.
2. QOD – My goal was to buy some wines at a price I could afford – to taste them when they got
old (which I didn’t think I could afford) & presumably better. That’s been 30 yrs+ and
I’ve learned a lot from that:
a). the wine I loved most young, 1968 BV PR George de Latour, – I no longer love!
My wife keeps encouraging to drink the young wines. (..to drink the wines young.)
b). people are surprised at how well some older California wines have held up
esp Zins from the 70’s. This confirms what you say about wines being resiliant,
as my storage conditions are pretty good but by no means perfect -
under my front steps in a room I insulated but do not refrigerate with slow temp
changes from 55-70 during the year.
c). most relevant to this episode – how pink (at least mine) some old Ports become.
I had a 1966 Dow a few years ago and was shocked at how pale it was – I imagine all
the color went into the sediment (sludge really). It was like a white zinfandel
almost.

Last week I had the first bottle of a case of Taylor Fladgate 1977 and it was also
quite pale. ( My question for you – Is this normal for old ports?)

3. keep up the good work!
4. p.s. I think your funny – at least entertaining and certainly enthusiastic!

john
October 7, 2006

Joe P.
Gary,
My goal was to see the heat episode… and I haven’t reached my goal yet! Actually, my goal is to discover another new favorite bottle.

If we call Bordeaux “Bore dough” and Chianti “Key aunt ee” why do we call Porto “port” ?
October 7, 2006

Tony
I have several jars full of corks. But now, we’ve run out of jars, and they’re beginning to pile up around the kitchen. The bottles we toss – no recycling up here (though I did keep the bottle from the 1999 Dominus, even though it was crap – for $100 I keep the bottle no matter what!).

Denyce, the one place in Chico that does it right is Redwood Forest. Excellent food and great wine list. If you do ever try it, I highly recommend the 1998 Pontifical Chateauneuf du Pape. $38 in the restaurant, and a great wine. I bought a case of it after having it there (no, unfortunately WL doesn’t have it).
October 7, 2006

Big Billy from Big D
For those who have not voted for the Tshirt Name
Voting ends Sunday.

http://www.vaynervote.com/

Remember:
Terroirists is a dirty choice

Chin chin
October 7, 2006

Big Billy from Big D
For those who have not voted for the Tshirt Name
Voting ends Sunday.

http://www.vaynervote.com/

There are rummors afoot about
Wine Librarians
doing it in alphabetical order.

Salud
October 7, 2006

Big Billy from Big D
Port
GV, great Episode to start enlightening folks about the top end of the Port financial spectrum, but how about wines ready to drink now in an affordable price range. Hint – hint – Australian Ports.

I have found Australian â€œPortsâ€ to be quite nice with many example available under $20 for a 750ml bottle. My current favorite Australian is the Seppelt Port Barossa Bin 109 it gets 94 WS. Hardyâ€™s Whiskers Blake (WL item 60210) at $16.99) WS 94 is really nice, and itâ€™s extra nice at its price. Plus the back label has a charming story of why the wine is called Whiskers Blake. I note that WL has a 93 RP for $7.99 in a Trevor Jones Old Tawny Port Jonesy. Ah!…For my next order!

A side note: WL categorises Australian Ports on the WL web site, very correctly, as Australian fortified wines.

Last weekend my wife and I hosted my niece and her husband for a Paella dinner, Nora Albarino, Godello (from WL) and a ripping good Rioja.. For dessert we served fresh Bartlett pear gallette, a Spanish blue cheese, and the Australian Seppelt Port. Port and blue was a first for my niece, she let out a yelp of joy when the port and the cheese made happy in her mouth. There are few other pairings more profound than port and blue.

If you want a real in-depth look at the world of Duoro Port and Madiera go to:

http://www.fortheloveofport.com/

For those who have not voted for the Tshirt Name
Voting ends Sunday.

http://www.vaynervote.com/

Remember:
Terroirists is a dirty choice

Chin chin
October 7, 2006

Brandon M
Question For Everyone…

My Corks are piling up!!!!! Any suggestions on what to do with them?
Does everyone recycle their wine bottles? Any idea what to do with all the dead soldiers?

B
October 7, 2006

SS Chris
CORRECTION: the last comment (#40) was from me, not DedeStan (pretty obvious, I know)
October 7, 2006

Dede Stan
Brandon M. and Paul,

I, like Tony, went to WL and bought the ‘00 San Felipe Cab(Ep 45) after reading your comments. DedeStan and I first shared a bottle of the ‘04 Clos Mimi Petite Rousse Syrah(Ep #80), as part of our new Friday Night ritual mentioned in her comment above. It was excellent..we both enjoyed.

After Dede went to bed early (another part of her ritual on Friday’s…she’s plum tuckered from the work week) I, then opened the San Felipe Cab watching the rest of the Yankee game. (I’m an avid MET fan, but luv all playoff baseball). The San Felipe was so good, that I nearly drank the entire bottle!!! What a nice bottle for $7. I agree w/ Tony that this may become my go-to red. BTW, the ‘03 Castano Hecula(Ep 76) is another great value

So…THANKS to Brandon & Paul….and, of course, to Gary as well.
October 7, 2006

Brandon M
oooops…the above was me, not Denyce.
That’s what happens when I use her computer!

B