Good to see Port back on Winelibrary TV. You started by mentioning the Port glasses and white wine glasses – I would have liked to have seen you follow up on that part.

Nice to see you open some vintages that many of us will never get to experience – along with a ‘non-vintage’. You should have thrown in a more standard ruby for comparison.

The next time you taste a Port – maybe a comparison of three 20 yr Tawny Ports from different makers to highlight the differences between labels.

QOTD: Port went from like to love on my 40th birthday, which I spent in Porto/Gaia touring Ferreira, Offley, and Sandeman (thanks to you, Brandon, and Brian). I’m having my first tasting on Saturday which will include a Ruby, LBV, 10 yr, and a 20 yr. Roaring 40’s will be included as will some homemade chocolates and Portuguese-inspired appetizers.

Thanks again for the great show

I actually went to Porto and the Douro Valley for vacation last june for
a week.

We went to Taylor and visited the winery. Was great and we got to taste a few very good port and I did bring back a 2005 Vargellas. The restaurant that is in the winery is an incredible QPR with a view on Porto and pretty good prices!

My timeless moment was a dinner with the oenologue of Niepoort with my wife and our 7 months old kid. Incredible man and wines/ports..

Suprise of the trip: enjoyed alot more the ports over the wines (except for Niepoort with homerun wines)

thanks again for the shows. not leaving many comments but enjoying them

and dont hesitate to travel with you daughter, complex but incredible experience

QotD: Port was one of the first wines I got into and still love it. They are the gems of my collection, which isn’t saying much but hey…what can you do? I will definitely try my next one with some blue cheese as well.

Love the Madiera episode idea that others have expressed!

Hi GV.

Knowing friends who are totally into wine but also are laboratory scientist they are right into low and behold the science of wine but at a really really nerdy level. Can I recommend you get a guest in who is really nerdy about the science of wine. I think it will be fascinating for all vayniacs.
IE: A particular smell is actually this chemical makeup. Hence our scence of smell is picking up blabla which is actually the smell of… plums/apples etc.

This sort of knowledge for me has taken me to a whole new place with wine.
Regards Ben

“I need more comments, or I’m going to quit.” I think we’ve heard that one before. No, you’re not going to quit. Nice show, though. I have some Dow’s 1994 Vintage Port in my cellar and the two bottles I’ve had to date were excellent – probably 92-93 points.

QOTD: I love Vintage Port, but the expense is a bit much to deal with sometimes unless you buy it on release. I do have a 1960 Croft Vintage Port in my cellar that I am saving for my 50th birthday next year, so I hope it doesn’t suck. On a more regular basis, I enjoy the various LBV Ports and they are a great buy. I am not a big fan of the Tawny Ports, though.

Thanks for having a port episode. QOTD: I love that stuff! A few years ago a rep from Fladgate flew all the way to KY and spoke to about 30 of us and from that moment I was a lover of port/porto whatever you wanna call it. Keep on hustlin’ crushing and drinkin’.

I love port and have a bottle of the Taylor Fladgate ’94. I will try to follow your recommendation and wait. What’s another 20 years? Perhaps I’ll open it up when my 8 year old son has a child of his own. I can hear the grousing already: “Why wont Grandpa Billy share his port?” – lol

Very interesting show, amazing wines. I remember sharing a bottle of 1979 vintage Taylor’s about eight years ago. If memory serves, the palate was dominated by dried fruits and nuts, particularly golden sultanas. Would that note be applicable to today’s wine or is there a polar difference between vintages?
Regards to you and your family,
John

At the beginning of the Taylor Fladgate episode you alluded to a discussion regarding Riedel port glassware vs the chardonay glass you nave been using as a substitute. I have some Riedel port glasses and truly cannot tell much of a difference between them and any other similarly shaped Riedel wine glasses such as white wine. I have read all of the Riedel literature and I wonder how much of it is simply marketing.
Could you offer your expertise on the subject, please. I love your show and have turned hundreds of people in Chicago onto Wine Library. Keep up the good work.
Dennis Swiech

qotd: one of the varieties that is criminally underappreciated by myself, along with other wines from portugal….

Gary – You mentioned in the beginning discussion about the two types of glasses you utilized, although it never came up again. That would have been interesting to have the three wines, in both glasses, and discuss your comments.

QTD – My take – good fall/winter evening sipper in these parts of Ohio. Can pair well with the winter cheese board, nuts/dried fruits, etc. Reliable to stay with one of the venerable port houses – Taylor, Quinta de Noval, Dows, Graham’s, etc.

Sorry to hear about the knee.

Interesting episode. I’m sure the cheese was great but my preferred pairing is: great port + Arturo Fuente Opus X + complete strangers = great new best friends

QOTD: PORT! One of my first restaurant jobs was a dessert-centric restaurant in Boston called Finale. This is when I first took an interest in wine and started to study this stuff like crazy. Since we served constructed-to-order plated desserts, the wine list consisted of about 15 Ports by the glass, a few Madeira, and a boatload of late harvest wines, ice wines, and Sautern-esque botrotized wines. SO, since I wasn’t even 21 yet, PORT has a special place in my history with wine education and enjoyment because it was actually the first segment that I started to explore… then I worked backwards into the dryer stuff.

Always finish our groups tasting with Port and Blue Cheese.

another great show

qotd: port + rouqufort = one of the great gastronomical pleasures in life.

Port, guess I will have to try it again with some fancy bleu cheese. The only times I have tried it in the past is when it came as a part of “turn down” service at a hotel or Bed and Breakfast. Always seemed quite heavy and viscous to be drinking at bedtime.

hey i love Mott getting on the Crush IT theme…

lol i like how your all talking about getting people to pay attention to port while trailing off and picking cork out of your glass …

your knee will be fine gary, my dad just had both of his replaced, and if you do the rehab, you will be fine. just do the rehab.

Gary how come you dont put port into the dessert wine catagory? isnt it? shouldnt it be subject to the same rateing skew as other desert wines like late harvest and ice wines? its sweet as hell so …

dam yo, you just did a $400 internet show.

qotd: besides the above comments, i think the few ports ive tasted have been way to sweet, to high in alcahol, and tasted a bit to much like rasins … ill keep trying it though.

Qtod: Since Im not the biggest fan of sweet wines, tho a good sweet wine is a good sweet wine. Maybe its the fact that grandma drinks port/sherry. But this vintage stuff with blue cheese I could do, because I could live on Cheese, Fresh Bread and Wine, and a scooter or maybe a Citron/Pugeot?

Been gone on vacaton.

Love Port, really enjoy the 1986 Colheita. I have been recommended the Taylor 10 year tawny and an excellent QPR.

Just a short comment as not to lurk… FANTASTIC episode. Thoughtful and provoking.

Thank you for another great effort.

Aurelio

Thanks Gary

QOTD: Port all over it, love the stuff and it cvertainly still has a place in my cellar, though in Australia I tend to by Australian fortifieds, just because they offer such awesome calue.

Cheers
Andrew

Love Port – Best ever (honestly one o the only was, a Dow’s 1997 late bottled…. it was a gift at the hotel we stayed at…….. really nice.

Really enjoying the nerd factor…. keep it up.

Great show and I cannot believe you did this show w/o me! Getting into Port season soon. I didn’t catch how long you let this wine breathe before drinking? Though I’m not much of a decanter before you drink fan, I would say here that 1 or 2 hours out of the bottle & your scores would go up by 5.
Also, you know when you will be drinking port, so you have time to let it open up.
Lastly, lets look at WS and WA scores on the ’77, 98 and 96. For the ’94, 100 and 97. TF ’00 at 95 and 98 TF ’03 at 94 and 98. These last two offer great value due to both being below $100. Also, I believe Parker (WA) has a better hold on the Port subject as well as expert Roy Hersh. i’d go with their ratings.

Great show, Gary. The Ruby ports have a bit too much alcohol for me so I’ll check into the vintage side for a bit smoother beverage.

Excellent episode I don’t know much about it, but am excited to dive in. Cheers my friend