WINE PRESS

                             ESSEX COUNTY WINE SOCIETY

January 25, 2007

Dear Society Members and Fellow Wine Lovers:

The February 2007 cover of the British wine journal, Decanter, which bills itself as “The World’s Best Wine Magazine”, states in very large print “WHY THE RHONE RULES”.  We are not sure why the Rhone should rule but the Northern Rhone and the Southern Rhone ( Chateauneuf des Papes) have had excellent recent vintages (except for 2002).  “Northern . . . wines display red fruit, subtle, quite bony tannins and require three to four years to meld” (John Livingstone-Learmonth, Decanter February 2007).  On January 4, 2007 member Tom Bonito presented wines from the Northern Rhone - Cote Rotie, Hermitage, and Cornas with selections of recent and older vintages, which speak to this point on “melding”.  We had E. Guigal’s Cote Rotie, Brune and Blonde, 1999 and 1990.  Many tasters found similar qualities of shoe leather and bacon fat in both wines though the 1990 was softer and less angular.  Tom showed four wines from Hermitage, the 2003 and 1998 Domaine du Columbier and the 2003 and 1990 Delas Freres, Les Bessards.  The 2003 wines were both quite tannic but were rich and full.  The older wines also showed some tannin, albeit reduced. The 1998 Domaine du Columbier did have considerable bottle variation.  All wines were solid and expressive of their origin. We then had two representatives from Cornas, the 2003 Alain Voge and the 2001 Auguste Clape.  Both were rich, solid and four-square.  For those who are interested, most Northern Rhone wines show little, if any, change in price over the years at auction compared to their release prices.

Our next tasting was suggested by our founder, Herb New.  Herb felt that some of the newer members had not been exposed to the joys of Port and the older members would benefit as well with a refresher.  We have arranged a tasting of the Ports of the Fladgate Partnership on February 15, 2007 conducted by Robert Bower, a seventh generation member of the ownership family. “Port: a simple four letter word that somehow, over 300 years later, still manages to conjure up a sense of well-being, of style at the end of a dinner, of great satisfaction” (Howkins, Ben in Rich, Rare and Red, a Guide to Port published by the Wine Appreciation Guild 2003)

Port has an ancient history (though perhaps not as old as the history of wines from Southern Italy we tasted in December 2006) and the world’s first well-documented exposure certainly dates back to the thirteenth century when the English traded cod for wine.  Portuguese wine became more popular in London in the seventeenth century during the frequent periodic French and English armed disputations.  The oldest still active port shipper, C.N. Kopke &Ca. was established in 1638 (Richard Mayson, “Port and the Douro” published by Michael Beazley, 2004) The oldest English firm dates to 1670 (Warre & Co.)  Members of the present Fladgate Partnership include Croft (founded 1678), Delaforce (1834), Fonseca (1798) and Taylor (1692). 

We will taste several different types of port and also different house styles of port to compare and contrast.  As an aperitif we will have a white port, which is much more popular in Europe than in the US.  Some white ports are very dry and others quite sweet. Most are fortified with brandy.  (As an aside, the alcohol content of port is generally around 18% so that our pours will be smaller than usual and caution on intake is advised.)

The standard styles or classifications of port are usually listed as Ruby, Tawny, LBV and Vintage.  The wines we will taste include two Ruby ports, Fonseca Bin 27 and Croft Distinction.  Ruby port is “generally . . . wines from more than one year, aged . . . for up to three years to capture the strong, fiery personality of young port (Mayson)”  We will also have two Tawny ports, a 10 year old from Delaforce- His Eminence’s Choice and a 20 year old tawny from Taylor Fladgate.  Tawny port “implies wine that has been aged for longer than ruby until it take on an amber-tawny hue” (Mayson)  All are complex blends from a number of different years with an average age denoted by 10, 20 or even 30 or 40 years on the label.  A 10 year old port has a tawny rim, “a rich, raisin and toasty coloration . . . smooth . . . peppery” (Mayson)  The 20 year old may be the “ apogee of tawny – epitome of balance and poise”(Mayson)  A third type is LBV or Late Bottled Vintage.  Depending on the producer the wine may just have been in barrel for four to six years and then bottled to age appropriately before drinking or it may be filtered and fined and cold stabilized so that it is ready to drink on release.  The LBV for our tasting is from Taylor Fladgate. We will taste four ports which have vintage labels, the Fonseca 1983 and 1997 and the Croft and Taylor 2003.  The 1983 vintage as described as “firm, powerful, lasting wines”(Mayson)  The 2003 vintage was hot and produced potentially outstanding wines (Mayson)  The Fonseca  1997 was rated 93 by Parker and he described it as “charming, floral. . . sweet . . . and velvety”(Wine Advocate #126).  The 2003 Croft Port was rated 93 by Pierre Rovani (Wine Advocate #161). Rovani noted it to be gorgeously creamy. . .[with a ] thick satin texture. . . immensely rich”. The 2003 Taylor Fladgate was given 98 points by Rovani (Wine Advocate #161). The wine was “full-bodied. . . rich. . . balanced and harmonious” He felt that the wine was the equal of any ever produced by the Partnership.

For the tasting we will have appropriate and perhaps surprising accompaniments.

The cost will be $41 for members and $55 for guests.

The following tasting will be of Oregon Pinot Noir on March 1, 2007

In vino veritas and a votre sante

Bob and Howard