Any ASV members opened their fundraising port?

[stephenb (Stephen)]

I've had these in the back of the cupboard since I purchased them in 1989 and 1991.

They were both fundraising ideas for the Astronomical Socity of Vic. and highlighted the total Solar Eclipse across the Baja Peninsula in 1991 and Voyager 2 mission passing Neptune in 1989.

As an occasional port sipper I thought I might open them up on for these cold Melbourne eves.

Any ASV members out there recall them? Do you still have them? Should I expect a mouthful of vinegar? Should I put them back down in the cellar with the Penfolds '57 Grange?

[ZeroID (Brent)]

I don't know what the quality of those two are but I'm sipping a 1949 Port that my wife bought to celebrate my birthday. (It's my birth year )
It's absolutely glorious ...
I'm not a believer in just hanging on to stuff for the sake of it, it's there to be drunk in my opinion. Just wish I could be there to taste test it with you.

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Brent I agree re: not hanging on to certain items for the sake of it. If you've cracked open a '49 port then you're more adventurous than I am so... done deal bro! I'll hit the '91 Baja Peninsula special edition this evening....

funny I only went to the Parer St observatory once. I always thought it was an odd place to build an observatory - right in the middle of Melbourne suburbia.

[blink138 (Pat)]

you will probably find stephen that it will be a "non vintage" even though it has a date on it commemorating an occasion
what it means is that it will be a tawny port in which it has already been barrel aged and then fortified and the contents therein will be inert and thus no further ageing occurs as the winery has already aged it in barrel rather than in glass
some of these commemorative tawnies have to me represented fantastic experiences for their meagre cost at the time, i have had obscene amounts of the 1980's horsey ports representing all of the countries carnival winners
the most famous of the aussie tawnies of course was the penfolds grandfather port and the old seppelt parra......... absolutely marvelous drinks and the parra particularly was "vintage dated" which was in itself rather meaningless because whether you had one from the late sixties to one from the late eighties, well, they were all basically still a twenty year old tawnie
pat
incidentally in the 80's i picked up a bottle of 1945 penfolds grandfather tawnie

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Thanks Pat - yeah all that makes sense. Well I opened the the Baja Eclipse and mmmm.. well it's not Draino. Going down nicely!

My grandfather had all those horsey ports also! Wow I remember all of them sitting up in the veneer 70's wall cabinet! Is this them here?

[blink138 (Pat)]

aye stephen, that be them alright!
i used to got to wine auctions and i had never paid more than a tenner at retail and a fiver at auction for these ports, the seppelt parra was more money but they were a true twenty year tawny, yum, i can smell and taste then right now when i think of them!
enjoy them mate
pat

[byronpaul (Paul)]

As an avid consumer of fortifieds, I do have a fond passion for the more famous Para Ports ...... not the Parer St bottle mentioned here

Based on the name "Old Tawny Port" as well as the enclosures used, I would think are indeed Tawny and not Vintage or Late Bottled Ports.

Here's a few shots of the Para's I'm more accustomed to

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Originally Posted by stephenb

Brent I agree re: not hanging on to certain items for the sake of it. If you've cracked open a '49 port then you're more adventurous than I am so... done deal bro! I'll hit the '91 Baja Peninsula special edition this evening....

funny I only went to the Parer St observatory once. I always thought it was an odd place to build an observatory - right in the middle of Melbourne suburbia.

It was cracked with the greatest of reverence believe me ! 65 years old, like yours truly. I see no point in leaving it in my will, I'd appreciate it more than my kids would. Opened in 'The Hermitage' hotels Vista restaurant up by Mt Aoraki (Cook) in the Southern Alps back in March. Still about 2/3's full, it only comes out on special occaisons.

[blink138 (Pat)]

Originally Posted by byronpaul

As an avid consumer of fortifieds, I do have a fond passion for the more famous Para Ports ...... not the Parer St bottle mentioned here

Based on the name "Old Tawny Port" as well as the enclosures used, I would think are indeed Tawny and not Vintage or Late Bottled Ports.

Here's a few shots of the Para's I'm more accustomed to

ha ha paul these are exactly the ports i was referring to!
very nice mate.......are they yours?
pat

[byronpaul (Paul)]

Pat,

yep ... their part of my collection of fine wines

Love a nice quiet night under the stars with a great selection of fortifieds and an even better scope !@#!@#

Cheers

[blink138 (Pat)]

you... lucky..... lucky....... basket! deffinately a man after my own heart you are paul
incidentally mate i think personally the aussie fortifieds are well overpriced now and have been for at least the last fifteen years, and i know some of the old rutherglen forts are almost ancient and so to the 1890's parra so i tend to buy the spanish pedro ximinez (px) sherries and my favourite one is their 1927 solera, about $50 a bottle and my goodness!
happy drinking paul ya......... lucky thing!!
pat

[byronpaul (Paul)]

Pat,

sounds very interesting ... might have to look out for some of that 1927 solera and give it a try.

I've been fortunate to attend a 100 year old Para Tasting night hosted by James Godfrey a few years back. Tasted 12 on the night - 6 older than 100 years and 6 younger. Blew my mind how good they were !!!!!

Aussie fortifieds can be expensive, but they are amongst the finest wines in the world. I get partially around this by having 6 fortified barrels of my own on tap - 5L Port, 65L Port, 6L Tokay, 14L Tokay, 5L Muscat, 25L Muscat - all blended with good Rutherglen stock which I mostly buy from Morris.

Nothing like a cold Friday night in winter, if I cant be outside with the scope then I'm inside, fire going, watching the football and working my way through each of my barrels after cracking a good vintage port

Paul

[blink138 (Pat)]

paul i completely agree with you about the oz fortifieds as if i am not mistaken a lot of the vines from rutherglen are still pre phyloxera and are considered ancient
as for keeping your own barrels you are one of the smartest people i know
my brother and i have on occasions over twenty five years or so attemted to maintain our own "solera" (adding new material to the top barrel but drinking from the bottom) using three barrels but found it very hard to maintain money wise and it fizzled out
interestingly i talked another older brother to buy a barrel, he moved back to the uk about ten years ago and we found his barrel recently
what was inside was pure nectar ha ha!
pat