Vintage Port Wine. I wish that I had aged half as well...

For my 70th birthday, I received an amazing gift.  I was thunderstruck. 

Mazuran's is a local vintner that specializes in Sherry and Port wines.  As you can see from the date on the box, they've been at it for a long time. They have won dozens of awards for their wines, not only in New Zealand, but around the world as well.   

This is what my very generous daughter presented to me...

As I was taking my first breaths in Wakefield, Michigan, USA, this wine was being put into casks just off Lincoln Road in Henderson, New Zealand.  I've seen aerial photos of people picking grapes during the 1950's in the vineyards along what was then a rural two-lane road. Seventy years later, Lincoln Road has 5 wide concrete lanes, wall-to-wall businesses, and I have tasted this wine that has been maturing next to it for so long.  It's in a lot better shape than I am.     

It is amazing wine in fact.  At the 2009 San Francisco International Wine Competition, it won the Double Gold Award for Vintage Port.  

And now I have a bottle.  I can't get over it.  

In 1973, on our honeymoon, Jeanne and I bought a bottle of Spanish Amontillado Sherry in the town of Torremolinos, along Spain's Golden Coast.  It was our first experience with this kind of fortified wine. It was heavy and rich; sweet with layers of flavor. 

I've heard it said several times by vintners here, that tasting their wine is like tasting the soil in which the grapes were grown. One winery owner even has samples of the soils from his various fields bottled and displayed and will describe at length how the types of soil affect his product.   

Well, I think that in tasting Port wine, I am also tasting the sun that pulled the grapes out of the soil. 

In October of 2020 I did a post about Mazuran's. I had just 'discovered' them. Jeanne and I first tried their Sherry, and found it superior to the Spanish brand we had been buying for the last almost 50 years.  (I've placed a link to that post at the end of this one.)  

A fortified wine is one to which a distilled spirit has been added. The alcohol content runs between 19 and 21 percent. Most vintners simply buy the spirits they need from a distillery somewhere that gives them a good price, and add it to their wines. Mazuran's is the only vintner in New Zealand which distills their own grape brandy which they then use to fortify their wines.  The difference in quality is obvious.  

I visited Mazuran's after receiving this gift and asked the current owner (grandson of the founder) about drinking this very precious wine. I wanted to save it for special occasions of course, and that meant that I'd want to keep it for some time.  He assured me that he had once kept an opened bottle of Vintage Port for 11 months in a cupboard, and it had suffered no loss of quality whatsoever. 

So far, just our family has tasted small portions. I intend though, when we get the chance, to share it with a few good friends here at Waitakere Gardens. Whether or not they are regular drinkers of Port, the experience of tasting a 70-year old wine doesn't come along every day, and I hope they will enjoy it.  

Those of you who follow my blog know that I have often talked about one of my favorite authors, P. G. Wodehouse. For years I have enjoyed his stories that are set at the fictional Blandings Castle, and of Beech, the butler, with his private pantry, which he keeps stocked with very impressive Port, taken naturally from his employer's cellars. I doubt however, that even Beech has ever sampled such a Port as that which currently resides in my very own refrigerator.   

To close, take a look at some roses that are currently (12-25-21) blooming in our gardens.  I was pleased when I noticed the name plate.  

Old Port means something very special to me now. It reminds me of how sweet, loving and generous my daughter Allie is. Thanks again, Hon, for this amazing gift, but mostly, just for  being you.           -djf

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