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Do you usually drink Portos on 100-degree days?
Was 71 in Seattle when I drank it. That is cold for what I am used to in the summer. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
2003 must have been a year it ran 103F in the Douro…
That’s cool for the Douro.
Walla Walla this week is 110.
Just had an unexpected cellar evacuation event to deal with an AC unit draining into the room. My 2003 boxes haven’t been cracked open but had my hands on them. My personal preference is to drink Taylor last (after Fonseca and Dow, and Graham, which are the other houses I typically have bought). They are more structured in style. My favorite is Fonseca overall but variety helps me appreciate vintage variation over house styles and all of these are fantastic Ports. At my current rate of consumption (about 1.2 bottles per year), I will get to the 2003s sometime in the 2030s. I have no idea what I will do with the three magnums of Port that I own. Maybe retirement party, 50th wedding anniversary, and some other big celebration around a school graduation.
Thanks for the look-in.
Cheers,
fred
2003 was, like many wine regions, a very hot year. Not a bad thing for the Douro and some amazing VP’s were made. In short, one had to work at not making a very good VP. The differences are more stylistic preferences, as the quality across the board is fantastic.
2003 Taylors VP rocks.
I generally don’t care (at least not consciously) what the temperature outside is when I choose my wine. It tends to be 69-70 in our house during the evening, and that’s plenty cold to drink whatever I’m in the mood for. On an unconscious level, I certainly DO find myself craving white wine more frequently during the summer months…though that certainly doesn’t stop me from opening plenty of wines that most people view as “cool weather wines” (i.e. Rhones, Italian reds, etc.)…
Backfilling high quality vintage Port between like 10 and 20 years old is incredibly cheap. I picked up 750s of 2003 Taylors/Dow/Fonseca for $45 a bottle – very cheap when you consider the quality and that it’s a wine you can leave open and consume for days. I guess people just aren’t that into Port.
Did the bottle seem excessively or unusually alcoholic/hot (for Port) because of the warm year? Since most alcohol in Port is about the spirits added, it might be less evident than it is for more conventional wines.
