Washington Sips

Now that his purpose was defined, Mike wasted no time in the learning project.  Step one was to purchase a book that advertised it was the only wine book you would ever need.  By the end of his first night’s reading, he was reporting new found  information to me:

Regarding Port (he is a Port lover) – Although Port comes from Portugal, that is not where the name comes from?  It actually comes from the city of Oporto on the Douro River in Portugal. The difference between a Vintage & Tawny Port is mostly due to how they are aged & bottled.  If a port is “declared” suitable to be offered as a top of the line Vintage Port it is removed from the cask after two years, bottled, then aged for at least 10 years in the bottle.  A Tawny port is aged in the cask from 10 up to 30 years, then bottled.  “Tawny” refers to the pale brown color from so long in the cask.

While this and other information that followed was interesting, I was beginning to think he would be providing me with more wine information that I would ever need.  Plus, he was now looking at our wine glasses critically, since we apparently did not have the appropriate type for a certain red.  I couldn’t see his point of view, after all they all matched, which was a step up from a few years prior.

Stay tuned for episode 3, what pairs well with frozen pizza?