Wedding Year Port

We spent Saturday in Newburyport, MA to celebrate my daughters birthday. Her birthday was 3 weeks ago but weather did not cooperate until Saturday.
Newburyport has boutique shops, antingue stores and restaurants. One of the shops is a wine and cheese store.

I like tawny port wine. I rarely have it but do enjoy it. I am a lightweight drinker and can not finish a bottle by myself before it goes bad. ML does not drink it so she is no help

Good port is too expensive to be pouring the dregs down the drain so I normally only purchase it if company is coming.


But in this store my daughter Amy found a vintage 35 year old port. From 1983 -the year we were married!!!
Well I had to purchase that!


Not sure if  I will toast our anniversary with it or if I will let it age to say a 40 year old port. Or maybe save it for 15 years for our 50th anniversary.

I am sure glad my kid saw this and excited to have it.

Too cool!

Enjoy, Phil.

I'd plan a nice dinner with my wife and then open the port and enjoy it - maybe even have some friends over and finish the bottle at a sitting. I've saved bottles of wine for "special occasions" in the past only to have them turn on me. I realized that every day is a special occasion and we should enjoy them because we don't know what the future holds.

Well said Marko! As I age I have come to realize exactly that.

FWIW, a coworker who retired just one year earlier than I did is fading fast. Seeing that sorta makes one appreciate every day.

I'd plan a nice dinner with my wife and then open the port and enjoy it - maybe even have some friends over and finish the bottle at a sitting.  I've saved bottles of wine for "special occasions" in the past only to have them turn on me.  I realized that every day is a special occasion and we should enjoy them because we don't know what the future holds.

That's the beauty of port - the high sugar and alcohol content means they age nicely. I guess they can go bad like regular wine but I've not experienced it. I have enjoyed 10, 20, 30 and even 40 year old port. It is all tasty.

I even have a bottle of 40 year that ML gave me 5 years ago so it is now 45 years old.

If I do crack this bottle it will be in October on our anniversary. But as previously mentioned I am a lightweight. One glass of port makes me goofy. The second puts me asleep. So I will schedule a dinner with friends to finish it.

As an aside - a little anecdote about my lightweight drinking abilities.
To celebrate my wife's birthday I booked  a 3 day weekend ant a very nice in. One with a 4 diamond restaurant.

The type of place that my first night I selected a tea from the tea chest. One each subsequent night the tea chest was never presented, just the tea I chose the first night with a question from the server if it was still my preference. Impeccable service.

On our first night I had a red wine with the meal and port for dessert. My wife did not drink. When we were seated  the second night there was a red wine goblet at my seat while my wife's place setting was devoid of any goblet. The server asked if I would have the same red wine as the prior night.

Before I could reply my wife snatched the goblet and handed it to the server  stating "He'll have no wine with his meal. We are here to celebrate my birthday and two glasses last night knocked him out. He's no good to me asleep" I don't know who blushed more - me or the server

Well said Marko! As I age I have come to realize exactly that.

FWIW, a coworker who retired just one year earlier than I did is fading fast. Seeing that sorta makes one appreciate every day.

Reading both your and Marko 's post tripped the Grassroots song in my head.

May others plan their future
I'm busy loving you
(One, two, three, four!)

Sha la la la la la live for today
Sha la la la la la live for today
And don't worry 'bout tomorrow, hey

I wouldn't go so far as to live for today, but definitely appreciate each day and savor them like fine wine. As we age we (OK me) appreciate relationships and getting together with friends far more than holding onto things.

But Phil knows more than anyone here that there ARE some material things that I value highly.

PhilNH5 thats hilarious. Did a plate of complimentary oysters show up next?

Life is precious and we need to spend it wisely with those we care about. Not to be a downer (well maybe a little) a neighbour of a a friend of mine - late 50s like me, was playing weekly hockey with the guys about a month ago. He went down into the boards and his legs weren't feeling right so he goes to the ER and they check him out. Blood clots in the legs and they need to do some more tests. To cut to the chase this guy went, in the span of 2 weeks from its all good to stage 4 lung cancer. He's never smoked. What a bummer.

Great story, Phil and I hope you enjoy that lovely Port wine.