For The Love Of Port

Tasted 6/9/2009 at McCarthy & Schiering in Seattle
TFP Vintage Port tasting with special guest Robert Bower

2007 Croft Vintage Port (cask sample)
Bright but deep red with purple overtones. Raspberry and some riper red fruits, along with dry mustard and a vague meaty note on the nose. The dry mustard and meaty note carry over to the palate, which is exceptionally well integrated for such a young VP. More raspberry, plenty of solid but not too grippy tannins, and a very nice floral impression.

My vote for best (of the 10) for drinking now, and tied for WOTN with the 2007 Vargellas Vinha Velha.

I really liked this one very much. Glad to see this bottle showed so well. Interesting to note the difference to earlier bottles.

That said, the one that Robert brought to this tasting was also one of my favorites. Very solid indeed.

Now I am going to have to grab some Coleman's Dry Mustard to see what you are whiffing in so many Ports where you mention "mustard" as I know you can't possibly be talking about Dijon aromatics.

LOL... no, not dijon. I use dry mustard in cooking fairly frequently, and it's the closest approximation I can think of to one of the many aromas I find in a lot of good vintage ports. I know it sounds weird, but to me it is a positive note because it adds to the depth and complexity of the Port.

As I had mentioned before, I wasn't a major fan of this one the first day it was open. But what a beauty it became on day 2 and 3 when I tried it. I'm glad you got to try a good bottle of this.