For The Love Of Port

Decanted 4 hours:

Appearance: Slightly unclear, Deep dark red with a slight hint of orange to the edge

Nose: a little alchohol, some dampened down wine, prune juice?

Taste: again pretty closed, but loads of dark berries lurking in the background, no real alchohol attack as on the nose - just a nice hot berrie feel to it. Real fruit concentrate!

Finish: way above average IMHO - and better than the reviews it's been getting, I think - but then Also slightly tannic/drying on the finish - I like the laid back style to this one...

Note: Don't chill this one too much - it'll loose it's complexity!

Comments:
I like this - alot!
I'll get back with more at a later time - either when this has breathed longer og when a new bottle is opened.

Claus,
Great job at describing this Port. I look forward to hearing how it held up on subsequent days. That is, if there was any left for day 2.

Now the question that everyone dreads , if you had to put a score on it, what would you score it?

Andy Velebil wrote:Claus,
Great job at describing this Port. I look forward to hearing how it held up on subsequent days. That is, if there was any left for day 2.

Now the question that everyone dreads , if you had to put a score on it, what would you score it?

Thanks Andy,

Been doing tasting notes on whisky for a few years now, so it's 'just' a matter of getting a new vocabulary set up/fined tuned for Ports.
Although I feel I can use many descriptors from sherry cask matured whiskies, I still get quite some new input and need to adjust accordingly...

I use 2 small decanters (50cl's and the best of Danish Design ) and fill 1 full and the remains in second one, which I then enjoy during the evening.
I'll get back to you on how it holds up after 1 days time - still got the most of a full decanter to go.


Final score? Let me get back to you on that sometime tonight - still trying to find my foothold here. I'm still trying to get a good baseline set up here, so maybe putting a score up here will not do it just - but like I said, let me get back to you...

Regards,
Claus

24 hours after decanting:

An entirely different beast on the nose

Nose:It's gone all traditional earthen-floor dunnage warehouse with a slightly chemical hint to it (in a strange, but good way!) A little alchohol + the fruits have almost dissappeared with only few dark but concentrated berries left. Also maybe som exotic spices to be found, like the ones you get in a good curry? The prune juice from yesterday has completely gone.

Taste:Now extremely mild, the grapes seems fantasticly integratic with the alchohol, some would maybe even say one-dimensional?? But I like it! If you think a slight bitter blackcurrant marmelade...?

Finish:More from the taste goes here - but with a tannic hit/drying that prolonges notes from the taste

Conclusion: I still like it very much and if you -as I did- came across this at a more than fair price 150Dkr./30$/15£ (which is a good price in Denmark) - buy it!

Andy, with my limited benchmarks so far - i'll score it at 87 and with that leave room for broadening my horizon and say it's a very good Port.
I got 3 more bottles of this tucked away, and will rate this bottling again as I go along...


Cheers,
Claus

Claus R wrote:i'll score it at 87 and with that leave room for broadening my horizon and say it's a very good Port.

A great TN Claus, and at least according to most explanations of the 100-point scale (including mine) your score of 87 fits your words perfectly. I still find it easier to rate a Port in words first and then convert those words to a number, and "very good" typically corresponds to the range from 85-89.

I love that decanter picture, by the way. Do you know if it can be purchased over the internet?

Glenn E. wrote:

Claus R wrote:i'll score it at 87 and with that leave room for broadening my horizon and say it's a very good Port.

A great TN Claus, and at least according to most explanations of the 100-point scale (including mine) your score of 87 fits your words perfectly. I still find it easier to rate a Port in words first and then convert those words to a number, and "very good" typically corresponds to the range from 85-89.

I love that decanter picture, by the way. Do you know if it can be purchased over the internet?

Thank you for you kind words, Glenn

That's what I do also...put words on it and then rate it...

...and another falls victim to our famous danish design, I see

The official design website is http://www.rosendahl.dk (use the change country in the top menu bar) and you'll be looking for the 'Grand Cru' series in the 'Glasses & Carafes'-category.

There's only websales available for Denmark, but a dealer search on the website found these:

Chartreuse
2609 1st Avenue
WA-98121 Seattle
Phone: 001-206 328 4844
Fax: 206 328 1987
Email: sales@modchartreuse.com

Gifts By Design Inc.
151 Western Avenue W # 350
WA-98119 Seattle
Phone: 001 206-286-6688
Fax: 001 206287-1865
Email: heidi.simonds@giftsbydesign.net

A 0,75L carafe is around 30$ converted directly from Danish kr., but I'm sure it'll have picked up some more on the way to the US. Anyway, try contacting the shops if you're interested

Regards,
Claus

Thanks Claus, I'll check out those two stores!

Glenn E. wrote:Thanks Claus, I'll check out those two stores!

www.modchartreuse.com

Is pretty high end with Kartell, Herman Miller and Alessi products.