3/22/2023 - Didn't see Professor Boyer at the Lab, but my buddy Hayden was waitering that night so that makes up for it.
Had the port flight ($10 for three 50mL pours). Have never drank (drunk?) port wine before, my only expectation was that it would be sweeter than normal (which it was). Full Tasting notes below:
Boplaas Hanepoot Muscat di Alexandria (Cape Town, SA) 2021, $32/bottle
Color is golden, amber, dehydrated-urinesque. Like apple juice - very brown and crisp looking, but upon moving the glass the thicker viscosity was noticeable. I smelled quince, cloves, honey, and apricot. Tasting produced a very sweet honey and fig flavor. I could feel the alcohol; certainly the 17% abv was noticeable, but not in a harsh way. It was definitely sweeter and more viscous than the other two ports. I tasted this first, and then the Barnard; part of me worries that my unimpressive tasting of Barnard was due to this being so heavy and sweet. I liked this wine, quince is a fruit I grew up eating fresh, in preserves, in cobbler, and in chutney, so it was very nice to be gifted passage back to those memories through this wine.
Barnard Griffin Syrah Port (Columbia Valley, WA) [no vintage given], $28/bottle
Color is red/black/brown for sure - more purpleish along the edges and a dark black at the center. Odor of plums, black pepper, could smell the booze in it. Less sweet, less viscous than the Boplaas. I noticed sediment in the bottom of the glass after tasting this one - unsure what that's about. Not off-putting to me (I had a beer this weekend that I brewed myself - enough yeast sediment in the bottom of the bottle to make several loaves of break). I picked up a mushroome-y flavor on the last sip when it had warmed up more. Not a huge fan, probably wouldn't ever spend the $28 for a bottle of this.
Graham's Six Grapes Port NV (Porto DOC, Portugal) [no vintage given], $32/bottle
Less opaque than the Barnard, but still a dark red with no light transmittance through the Smelled kalamata olives immediately, which was nice! Probably one of the only wines I can say made me feel "spicy", which was kinda fun and I might start chasing that more. Walnutty character, more tannin than the Barnard. Gave off the vibes of an oversweet tart cherry juice like Cheribundi with honey added. This is a distant second to the Boplaas.
Reading up on Port on Wine Folly, I am unsure if the Boplaas is a tawny port or a white port - it had both the caramel flavor of tawny and the apricot flavor associated with whit ports. Over all, I'm not a big fan of sweet drinks (soda is not in my diet most of the time), but I really enjoyed this flight!
.jpg)