Quote:
Originally posted by RallyJon
Yeah, 20 year tawny is the price/performance sweet spot. It will also hold together for a few weeks if you vacuvin it.
Vintage port is just too much money and effort. Either you spend $60-100 and wait a generation, or you spend a fortune and roll the dice with an old bottle.
Something else that's interesting: Vin Santo. Made in the hot attics of Chianti producers by adding new Malvasia to an often century old "mother" of freaky mutated yeast.
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Wow. Sounds like you're well informed on this subject. I just knew that Fickin was more or less responsible for bringing a decent port to market 50-70 years ago. Just like E and J Gallo did with Thunderbird, huh?
The story behind TB is interesting. Winos were cutting cheap fortified wine with lemon juice when Ernest found out. He had TB formulated to sell to that market. There were even some lyrics to an old song, "WPLJ, really tastes good to me." White port and lemon juice. I can find the recording if anyone is interested.
Not a highly altruistic endeavor on Gallo's part, mind you. Gallo became the 2nd largest producer and distributor of wines due to this type of thinking in the 50's and 60's. They went on to own several brands and qualities of wines in their success. Earnest Gallo died recently at 90 something. His one brother, Julio, was killed in an auto accident in the 80's. The other left the business early on.
They used to have a running competition, if you will. Julio would say, "I can make more wine than you can sell." To which Ernest would reply, "I can sell more wine than you can make."
A partnership made in heaven. No wonder the 3rd brother left. The younger Gallo generation now runs what I think is still a privately held entity and amounts to a top 400 Fortune 500 company.
(A lot of my info came from an
LA Times article about EG's death. So, if I got any of it wrong, well.......drink some wine.)