Tasting BOMFIN, POST SCRIPTUM, CHRYSEIA, POMBAL & QUINTA DO VESUVIO, PRAZO DE RORIZ & DOW 2007 VINTAGE PORT 8/09 : Wow!

This was quite the tasting and I think it even included another port or two. I will have to check my notes.I loved this experience to try so many fine Portuguese wines and ports side-by-side like this to get a sense of the range and depth of styles and that Portugal is producing from the traditional to the modern and sometimes blend of both.





You can see the line-up above and if you enlarge the picture on the screen you can see vintages and more detail on these wines.

WE tasted the 1) VALE DO BOMFIN 2006 Douro Valley , 2) PRAZO DE RORIZ 2007 ( this had a hand-written label on it and may also have been a cask or barrel sample ) , 3) POST SCRIPTUM 2003 , 4) CHRYSEIA 2004 , 5) POMBAL DO VESUVIO 2007 , 6) QUINTA DO VESUVIO 2007 , and the 7) DOW'S 2007 Vintage Port Cask Sample. I think I tasted one or two more and so will check my notes for that later.




I really liked what I tasted this day in August which I recollect was Thursday, August 20th, 2009 I believe. There wasn't one that I would not enjoy drinking with a meal. They represent the best quality tier of Portugal and also some of the most expensive wines as well.

I want to have some of them at Cleveland Park ( at our store Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) in our nation's capitol so I am going to work on doing a Portuguese " Big Theme " tasting on a Wednesday evening in the store from 5:30-8:30 PM. Perhaps this will be the October tasting and I have to work out the details still. This was we can taste these wonderful wines and sell some of them, too.




In many of the cases here I felt from tasting these that they were taking the best of traditional old-world and modern-world and combining the two. There was such a brightness and clarity and purity to these wines and both their flavors and varied tastes. They were balanced and in many cases quite pleasing and captivating. They always preserved the fruit in the wines and though it may have lain buried in some of them I could taste it and know that it would surface with time and flesh the wines out.

What makes them traditional and classic is that even though they may be approached at a young age you sense that they will age well and reveal even more treasure and pleasure with time. It's worth being patient with most of these wines. No need to rush. Play their game and let them strut their stuff to the beat of their own drum and not yours that may be impatient and rushed. Easy as it goes ... remember the tortoise here ...




I need to include more information here and so I have to find my notes. I will do it sometime this week but now it is Sunday, August 31st, 2009 at 12:26 PM and I am at home on my day-off. It's a nice day and I'm headed outside to enjoy a bit of time on my deck reading the Washington Post newspaper ( a ritual which I dearly love and will be crest-fallen when they disappear and everything will have to be looked at on-line. This is a big mistake in my humble opinion. Don't do it! Leave us the daily newspapers to read and enjoy!!




I'm an artist and approach things with an artist's eye for both capturing the moment and trying to appreciate it for what it is and what my involvement in it may be? That's always a bit up for grabs. As you will see from these pictures I like to take pictures through the glass as well as reveal those involved and the color and clarity and densities of the wines that are now in the glass and next to either their bottle or those drinking them. This is the experience as I see it fleetingly pass before my eyes and into my ears and onto my tongue and palate.

It happens all so fast that these pictures help to bring it back for me as well as share it with you. I hope you enjoy this wondrous ride through these pictures. I am only sorry that I cannot make it possible for you to taste them, too. That's why we will have to do our monthly " Big Theme " tasting to give you that opportunity.




In the meantime enjoy these photos until I can finish this soon.





In my eagerness to download these pictures quickly I made a mistake in loading some of the pictures I took earlier with Sam of LVDH imports. He was tasting me here in these three pictures the " new " Spanish brut cava called SABARTES that I enjoyed very much as well as one of our all-time favorite dry Viogniers from France called MONTMARIN from the southwest of France. We tasted the new 2008 vintage and will have it along with this new SABARTES brut cava. Stay-tuned for more on the LVDH wines ...