ThePortForum.com

My family actually doesn't drink. But come new years, I think we'll have the traditional champagne toasting at a friends place. should have roughly 12 different houses of champagnes. Alas most of my friends are whiskey drinkers. Might sneak in a Balvenie 21 yr aged in Port wood. (Does that count?)

Would anyone be up for it?

Always been a big fan of afternoon tea or high tea.

Was wondering if any of the hotels would allow you to bring in a bottle or two.

Correction, an American with alot of free time on his hands =)

As a suggestion if you could buy a cheese cloth or muslin,

you can probably get away without standing the bottle up for extended periods.

I haven't had either the SW or the GC unfortunately.

Much congratz to you Ronnie!!

I too may come across the same predicament.

=)

Best wishes to you both and here's to 08 being a blockbuster year for all of us!

Sounds like an awesome time,

but I have to say that we did better on this side of the ocean with the 5 of us polishing 5+ bottles out of 8.

I thought you brits could drink =)

I just made some persimmon ice cream on my spare time and some honey toasted walnuts.

paired with a Noval LBV 00.

Very nice.

When are you headed out there Eric?

I could probably go with you. I can pick up a few bottles myself too.

Jay made a comment about trying to find an underlying that would tie together tie together all the Vesuvios and I agree with Julian and Alex that it felt like the wines were a mixed bag. In a blind line up I would be very very hard pressed to know that all 4 vintages we had were from the same winery...

Or perhaps a Colheita tasting,

That's one type of port I really have never tried and would make an interesting learning experience.

Hey Julian,

Reposted link from Spectator about VA

http://forums.winespectator.com/eve/for ... /202107924

I have to say the general rule i stick with cheeses is that

Soft cheeses I pair with Vintage Port or Ruby types

Hard cheese I pair with a Riesling or Gewurtz or Tawnys

Blues I pair with sauternes

Stilton is one of the worst pairings with port in my opinion. I would like to see someone eat Stilton with port for more than a bite and look me in the eye and say that it is a perfect pairing. Monchego, Parmaesan, Asiago are much better pairings. Stilton is too rich and the port does not cut the r...

A dark port with a reddish/purplish tinge.

I'm not a big fan of this wine as I kept smelling like a root vegetable nose that killed everything else with it.

A slight brown sugar with some dark fruit, and again with a sugar carrot like taste that did not agree with my palate.

74/100

Lightest port of the bunch,

Light brown with a hint of red.

The nose was quite curious and what I would describe as a Curry spice with a hint of sweetness hiding somewhere.

Unfortunately it tasted like curry with burnt sugar. Very straight forward wine with a very short finish.

76/100

Third wine of the night. 3rd darkest port behind the V94 and the V95. Dark purple color with no signs of bricking. A very tight wine that needed coaxing on the nose. I personally at a lost of how to describe the nose besides something sweet and something citrusy? Good acidity with a good non bitter ...

Second lightest one of the bunch. Light clear brown color. Anise nose with a hint of a woody component. Eric commented that it might smell like a tawny and I agree on that one. This one really fell apart a few hours in the glass and seems needing to drink up soon. It had alot of heat with a good amo...

This was wine of the night for drinking now. It seems there might be alot of bottle variation as previous posters have noted this is a very sub par wine. It was stunning at our tasting tonight. Probably the second darkest wine of the night. A deep night purple color. Nose of sweet allspice, cinnamon...

Darkest wine of the night. A deep pure purple that blocks any attempt for light to shine through. Loads of dark fruit, cinnamon spice and nutmeg? on the nose. Chewy wine that picks up even more body as the night goes on. A dark chocolate tastes that ends in a balanced acidic/fruity coffee finish tha...

Medium purple with a slight bricking color around the edges. This was a bad wine for me. Heavy Volatile Acidity smell. The gasoline smell just killed it for me. There was a hint of underlying tobacco smell. Tasted bitter cocoa, tobacco, but the VA just permeated on my palate and made this a very une...

Medium purple in color with no signs of browning. Julian and I detected hints of violet on the nose. Was a bit hot and spicy too but mellowed out as we approached 3 hours into the dinner. Sweet raisiny finish with a relatively straightforward brown sugar finish. Tad thin on the palate. After 3+ hour...

5 courageous souls 8 massive bottles. A great time all around. Thank you Julian for setting up the tasting. We did a pretty good job packing away 5 1/2 bottles of port with Renee clearly leading the way. TN in the TN section. Wines of the night: To drink now: 1. Vesuvio 95 2. Vesuvio 94 3. Croft 94 ...

Pleased to report the Vesuvio 95 is a good bottle. No chunks on this bottle, very little sediments. Milk chocolate, all spice, slight raisiny nose. Very very smooth going down with no hint of bite sweet taste with a slight bitter aftertaste. but no balance of acidity there. Dark opaque purple. Can't...

Hey Julian,
Steph dropped out, so it's just me,

still bringing the Chuchill 94 and the Vesuvio 95 ...

Looking at the suggestions, I'm goign to decant both of these roughly 30 hours before hand.

Unless anyone wants any differently?

are these the same guys that make the Duff beer in the simpsons?