It’s snowing here in Woodinville, and I’m hauling out my collection of port style wines to enjoy tonight by the fireplace! There’s just something about sipping port wine on a snowy evening. I try to save my port drinking occasions for snow or for extraordinarily rainy days and thunderstorms. That makes it more special and I think I savor the experience more than if I treated myself to port wine whenever I wanted it.
We refer to our Woodinville wines as “port-style wines” because we can’t call them Port – they’re not made in Portugal! (Similar to how we refer to our local sparkling wines as bubbles or sparkling wine, since they’re not made in Champagne and can’t be called that).
Learn more about port wine at VinePair and at WineFolly.
I’m cooking a special comfort food dinner for my boyfriend, who will come home tired, cold and hungry after his workday and snowy commute home. He probably won’t join me in drinking port wine – he’s a beer drinker – but I might invite the neighbors over for a nip after our dinners.
Jen is a huge port wine fan, and she’s likely drinking her port style wine from Adrice Wines tonight.
I picked up the port style wine made from Zinfandel at my recent visit to Story Cellars and stocked up on Daven(port) during Davenport Cellars’ sale last month.
Opulento is a port style dessert wine from Woodinville’s much lauded Brian Carter Cellars. It has 19% alcohol so I’d better sip slowly. It’s made from 58% Touriga Nacional, 21% Souzao, 11% Tempranillo, and 10% Tinto Cao, all grown in the Yakima Valley.
You can also find a port style wine at Torii Mor in the Apple Farm Village (it’s made from Syrah) and another late harvest dessert port style wine at Zerba Cellars (also in the Apple Farm Village).
The Hallelujah Port over at Sparkman Cellars is made from 50% Touriga Nacional and 50% Souzao. Nearby, stop by Patterson Cellars to pick up their port style wine from Yakima Valley.
The port style wine from Maryhill Winery won gold at the 2016 Cascadia Wine Competition.
In the West Valley district, Isenhower Cellars offers a port style wine made with Petit Verdot. You might want to check out Wilridge Winery (at Sky River Mead) to see if their dessert style red wine is up your alley, too (though it isn’t port style).
If I forgot to mention your port style wine that can be purchased locally in a Woodinville tasting room, drop me a note in the blog’s comments section below.
Which port style wine might you open to enjoy during our Snowpocalypse tonight?
-Carrie
