A Port and Cheese Evening
- Thread starter OzPiper
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
Watch for Updates Twice a Week
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
I would like to pop over for a sampling, do you pay airfares? I am only in NZ...
My wife and I are very much enjoying a bottle of 12yr old Galway Pipe 'grand tawny' port. I do not know port's at all, in fact this might be the first bottle I have ever purchased. I like how it ticks the box as a red wine at the same time as sipping like a bourbon, with that sweet oak flavour. I will be investigating this genre!
My wife and I are very much enjoying a bottle of 12yr old Galway Pipe 'grand tawny' port. I do not know port's at all, in fact this might be the first bottle I have ever purchased. I like how it ticks the box as a red wine at the same time as sipping like a bourbon, with that sweet oak flavour. I will be investigating this genre!
I’m very pleased you are enjoying the Yalumba Galway Pipe port.
It’s made with Shiraz grapes rather than Portuguese varieties resulting in a fruitier style.
Great with a cheese platter,
Galway Pipe was one of my favourites when I started drinking port in the late 1960s
The 20yo was a premium port then and strictly rationed.
I recall it was 3 bottles per retailer every 4-6 months, but only if they bought a minimum of so many cases of other Yalumba wines.
Yalumba is one of the few large Australian wine companies to remain in family hands these days
Thank you! It is also the only bottle on the port shelf with the word 'pipe' in the title, which may or may not have influenced my purchase...I will be coming back to you for port recommendations!
This sounds almost as good as Velveeta and Baloney rollups with Sprite!
I've just decided in response to the temptation placed at my feet by this thread to hunt down a 20 year Tawny for Easter. If that isn't a good enough reason then I don't know what is.
I'll report back on what I can find in these boondocks.
(Actually I do have a chance of finding something, because although all of our liquor stores sell schlock, there's one gas station in the middle of the woods within striking distance for me, that somehow always stocks the most rare and prestigious bourbons, ryes, and scotches, that you'd otherwise have to drive 5 hours away to get on a waiting list for. I assume that they'll have some tawny too? We'll soon see.)
I'll report back on what I can find in these boondocks.
(Actually I do have a chance of finding something, because although all of our liquor stores sell schlock, there's one gas station in the middle of the woods within striking distance for me, that somehow always stocks the most rare and prestigious bourbons, ryes, and scotches, that you'd otherwise have to drive 5 hours away to get on a waiting list for. I assume that they'll have some tawny too? We'll soon see.)
When I was subscribing to Robert Parker's Wine Advocate many years ago, he often praised the the Sherry offerings of Lustau. I tried several and really enjoyed them.
Lustau‘s sherries are very good.
Their almacenista offerings are often excellent , as are their VORS (>30yo) bottlings.
And good value.
I found and picked up a bottle of this:
Silly as this will seem to you, this is easily the most that I've ever spent on a bottle of wine. I stood deliberating over the $59.99 (USD) price tag (which on my moderate income and with seven children represents a careful budget decision) for some time, wondering whether I could justify the expense.
But there's no greater occasion than Easter, and if we love this as much as I think we will, then perhaps we'll make this a once annual tradition.
The tasting notes that I'm finding online are escalating my anticipation greatly ;-) As a whiskey drinker more interested in the toffee/nutty/butterscotchy notes than the fruity ones, it appears (from others' reviews) that I may have landed just the right bottle!
Just for my clarification... if I want to get into ports, do I have to eat those gawdawful cheeses? 
My entry into the Port world was Warre's Otima 10 Year Old Tawny Port. I think it's an extremely good entry level Port ($25 USD for a half-liter) and I still drink it today. I also like the Taylor Fladgate 10 year old, even a little more than their 20 year old.
I haven't incorporated Port into my pipe smoking routine, but I find that Ports are ridiculously good with cigars!
The stinkier the better!Just for my clarification... if I want to get into ports, do I have to eat those gawdawful cheeses?
And don't forget the pâtés (chopped liver) and and terrines (spam).
Last edited:
For those who appreciate stinky cheese try a aged Epoisses. That is one serious cheese my friends!
It is indeed.
IF you get past the slimy, fluoro-orange rind and the smell.
The “durian” of the cheese world
How does it compare to Limburger? I honestly love that one lol. But it’s def ripe!
I have not done a side-by-side comparison.
All washed rinds cheese have funky smells because of surface bacterial growth causing protein breakdown.
But the flavours of wash rind cheese are complex in a way that Brie and Camembert are not