Wine Tasting 40: Benjamin Port fm Mildara Blass, Australia

[meztica]

dim the lights, have some jazz in the background, with a bit or french/italian decor and you may go mainstream... good luck

[JohnnyH1982]

It is quite a good port

[milkmantx]

got a bottle of this for new years from a friend. what can i make to eat with it?

[michaelyblam]

Hello Milkmantx. Ports are traditionally drunk with stinky cheeses / blue vein cheese. The classic is with English Stilton. I also like to drink port with dessert that's not too sweet or just on it's own. The other classic combinations are Port and roasted nuts and port and chocolate. For main course, port goes well with pork and duck but it's depends on how it's cooked. I like port with pork/duck with a rich, fruity sauce...do be brave and experiment on it!

[milkmantx]

Sweet! thanx! there is a vietnamese store near my house that sells whole roasted duck marinaded in a mango peanut sauce. Ill try it and post my results. thanx again!

[michaelyblam]

Now my mouth is watering...where do you live? I will bring some quality beer too! Wine / food pairing is an alchemy and very much a trial & error exercises. Some seemingly good matches turn out to be disappointing but others belong to the opposite spectrum surprisingly match well! Keep me informed!

[Adol666]

Fine Dark Chocolate 80 % caoca with a good tawy Port mmmm

[ThrashATL]

WOW! I'm drinking some right now. I don't think it's all that great but it's decent for a little buzz.

[VersionSix]

Arguing over the name "port" aside, this is a really tasty port. I was given a bottle for my birthday by the woman who introduced me to it; it brings back wonderful memories of late-night discussions with a glass before bed.

I quite enjoyed the review.

[michaelyblam]

I like this as I can go to sleep without worrying breaking too much of my bank account. Many ports are far more superior for complexity and tastes but they cost 6x - 8x more! I always look for Price/Quality Ratio when I taste and when I shop myself. This is a diamond in the backyard!

[michaelyblam]

Forgive me for voicing my comment - I think there are many reasons...1. Porto from Portugal are usually a little more expensive especially Vintage and Tawny ports. For vintage port, consumers have to wait for 10-20 years and 99% consumers buy wines and open within 30 minutes. 2. Like the name pilsner from Pilsen. Port is more used nowadays to describe a style (fortified wines) than area of origin.

[Ricardo27quaresma]

This is the reason why the sales of porto wine have dropped,because of the use of the word port,people should realise that this is way of fake advertisement,if they wanted to make a original quality wine they would of use a different name,but this way its easier to sale do to the similarity of the name.

[michaelyblam]

Further...3. Not many consumers are keen to learn about the different styles and what's in it etc so they don't know the grapes like Tinta roriz, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Cao and Tinta Barroca are used. So port or port style wines are now made from Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvedre etc. 4. Competition is good. Many new world ports I tasted are a fraction of the price and they are excellent stuffs.

[michaelyblam]

so...there is no such thing as fake advertisement - sake can be made in the USA...Pilsner can be made in New Zealand...unless like the French, they beat marketng to reserve the name Champagne! Other reason I can think of why Porto wines sales drop is consumers are more into dry table wines so Portugal is now making tons of dry red wines now!

[dcklx]

Excellent review Mike. I recently discovered this great Aussie port in my local supermarket. It is quite good, especially as an "everyday" port, but like you said, the value is quite amazing. Only $8.99-$11.99 in US dollars.-Alex

[michaelyblam]

Yes! It's user friendly but sadly they elevate the price here by quite a bit. There are other good port style wines and late harvest wines available. I recently bought a bunch of 1983 vintage ports reduced from about Cad$140 to $65 bucks. Opened one and ate some stinky cheese. It was just simply fantastic. For me, I am not a BIG fan of ice wines. I would rather drink botrytis affected dessert wines - it has an extra dimension of complexity!

[Rastamafata]

Fake wine. Genuine and proper port is the Portuguese one. This is just a cheap copy. Just look at the pictures of the vineyards and you will realize these are very diferent edafic conditions... Douro region produces quality wine way back, even before roman times.

[michaelyblam]

You are correct but there isn't a 'fake wine'. I just had a Graham's 1983 and it's heavenly. The cork flaked and the sediments left in the bottle after decanting was about 1/2 cm thick. The 4th night after decanting was the best! For other times that are no so special...many Aussie style 'ports' or fortified stickies are great. BTY, had a 1989 Ch. Rieussec too with some Cambozola - yum! You cannot have Petrus every night even if you are loaded...

[michaelyblam]

By the way, please read my comments on this wine.

[fuckyourmamma]

Drinking this right now. Your tasting was dead-on. Great to try things in an affordable range and still enjoy it. Keep up those reviews. Oh, and give us a review for Johnnie Walker at some point. Preferably the Green Label.

[hughugh]

You look pretty sharp in the bow tie

[michaelyblam]

Thanks! I have never had that compliment before! I am more of a casual wear person...

[joebandit]

In fact some other countries are making also port wine but as I know just Portugal is allowed to use the word of "Port" in the labels (at least till some months ago still not allowed). Yes, other countries can use names like "vintage", "LBV" etc... but the word of "Port", i think stll not allowed. Maybe the rules changed?

[michaelyblam]

Hello Joebanbit. Thanks for asking this excellent question. You have raised a very good and educational point. In order not to get confused with port or port style wines made from other countries, 'True' Port from Portugal has been exclusively named PORTO after the name of Oporto, the very port city where ports are shipped from Protugal. Hope I have answered your question...

[michaelyblam]

This is also an extract I found on the internet: A sweet fortified wine most often served after a meal. Port originated in northern Portugal's Douro Valley, and the best ports still come from that area. The name port derives from the fact that these wines are shipped out of the Portugese city of Oporto; in fact, such wines (true ports) are labeled "Porto" rather than port. THANK YOU FOR watching my videos.

[michaelyblam]

Joebandit, I realised that you are from Macau. I used to go to Macau a lot as a kid. The last time I was in Macau was when I visited Hong Kong November 2005. I had quite a lot so f beef/pork jerkey, Portugese Egg tart and African chicken...yum! The place has grown so much but luckily the government has an excellent program to preserve history and A-Ma temple is still the same after all these years!