For The Love Of Port

Yep, pretty much all of us will be opening fine bubbly come next Monday night for New Year's Eve. All well and good and traditional indeed.

But what we all want to know is: what Port and/or Madeira are you ending your festivities with?

Our champagne on New Year's Eve will be Piper Heidsick Blue Top brut monopole. Any port drunk that night is likely to be the Warre 1983 LBV that I brought back from my brief visit to Los Angeles in November of this year.

Alex

Gonna open 83 Warre's and Ruinart rosé on the 31st. Ruinart is my favourite non-vintage champagne, spicy and floral all at once, can't never get enough.

I'm going with a bottle of Bollinger and I was thinking of mating it with a total fruitbomb port: probably a '95 Roriz (since I have so many & I know my wife likes it) or a '94 Warre's which transfixed me the only other time I had it.

BC

New years supper will be followed by Niepoort's 1997 VP .

A 1977 Gould Campbell is next up on death row. Hopefully before new years, unless work has other ideas for my free time :help:

The decision was made for me today, 1963 Mackenzie's Special Reserve, Vintage Port.

It will be a random choice, driven by who I expect to stay late (most with kids will leave early and aren't into wine either).

I probably won't decide until that morning, but the night before will certainly include a Krohn 64 white colheita (and a 55 Rivesaults).

Ted D wrote: but the night before will certainly include a Krohn 64 white colheita .

Ted, make sure you give this at least 12+ hours of decant before drinking. It can be a little slow out of the gate, but more than makes up for it 12 hours later.

No bubbly this year as the wife/CFO is pregnant. As she is the primary consumer of bubbly, it makes no sense for me to open an expensive bottle for myself. (prices for Champagne here in Canada are insane... is it this bad everywhere else in the world as they keep telling us there is a 'shortage'???) Mind you, should I be surprised that prices for an alcoholic product that ISN'T beer is insane here in Canada?

I will likely take a magnum or two of really cheap Martini & Rossi Asti bubbly to a friend's house as it is just that - cheap and sweet. Much to most of the tastes in the room for that particular gathering. I do intend to bring a half of something that I will be enjoying after the cheap fizzle is done with... just have not yet decided. I may go out on a limb and bring a full 750 of the Warre '95 LBV if a couple of friends are going to be there. If not, and it will be just me, perhaps a half of the Portal 2003 VP.

Todd

Well its 7am, I just decanted the 1977 Gould Campbell VP. Took a quick sip and now I am off to do a hard training ride. Should be back around noon and can't wait to give this its first proper taste and TN.

I'm more in the same boat as Todd....will be spending NYE with a group of people who like wine, but are not "into" wine. We are actually doing a blind tasting (each couple brings a red and a white, and we'll bag them up and taste them), which should be fun. I will bring along either a '94 Niepoort Colheita or Graham's 20-yr. Since neither of these really needs decanting, I can pop and pour if people are interested (or bring them home if not.....)

With kids in tow, we'll be home by 10:30 at the latest, so my wife and I may just pop the port by ourselves to ring in the new year.

Enjoy whatever festivities you are off to!

Cheers,
Rich

Rich,

Sounds like fun. I have been trying to get an organize Port tasting set up with a few friends of mine for almost a year now and no serious botes yet. A couple of interested guys, but nothing in the way of a firm committment. Yet, they would all do it with dry red... seems to be "the thing."

Anyway... have a happy and safe New Year's eve and enjoy the Port, whenever it gets poured!

Todd

Plans can change...

As initially indicated, I was not all that hyped on bubbly for this evening's festivities. I also had planned to go over to a friend's house for a bit of festivities, but his plans changed when it was announced that his grandmother has passed the morning prior. Needless to say, a tough time for him as he has been living with her, supporting her for the past few years. Even had a party been found to substitute the one that was canceled, I am a staunch opponent of drinking and driving, and as cabs can be a bit of a hardship to come by after midnite on New Year's eve, and with a pregnant wife who doubted she could stay up past 21:00 hrs, I wasn't about to go to a party and really go overboard in any case.

But when I happened to be grabbing a 2nd and 3rd bottle of the Graham's LBV 2001 at the local liquor store (as it is really good - full TN to come soon) to have next week, I happened to bump into someone behind me. Turns out the selection of sparkling and champagnes were on the rack opposite to the Ports, so the aisle was getting a lot more traffic than usual.

On a whim, I scanned the rack, knowing that I was going to be staying home tonight and likely drinking alone, a full bottle of bubbly was out of the question, and budget, when I happened upon a limited selection of half bottles. Two italian wannabes and a full-fledged, French Champagne. The price didn't seem outrageous, so I picked up the half, suspecting that I would choke down half by my lonesome, and would use the rest in the mornings, with some OJ.

Having never tried REAL French Champagne (all imitations in my past, sad to admit) I decided that today was the day. So, the 375 that accompanied me home was a GH Mumm. The display listed it as having a sweetness of 3 (the Italian Asti, which is my wife's favourite) was listed at a 10, akin to some drier styles of Port (Dow, etc) to give you some reference point.

It was good. The sweetness had to be sought out, behind the mask of carbonation and a faux dryness... Not sure if I would ever enjoy a true Brut Champagne style, but this was damned good. Now, a half hour past midnight, my contacts removed for the evening, the reading done... the bottle is empty and I really wish I had more.

As a note, the Graham's LBV 2001 was drank a few hours prior to the champagne... not the other way around. Although, I may need another glass of Port to finish the night off properly... and I won;t be driving, so no worries!!!

Todd