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AMERICAN WINE SOCIETY
A non-profit corporation

Northern Virginia Chapter

“Here's to the ability
To have the agility
To take our virility
Into our senility.”

 -- A Toast by Napa Valley Wine Greats

OCTOBER MEETING: 

Walt Rachele put on his instructor's hat last month and led us through the intricacies of Port.  This included a tasting of all styles of Port: white, ruby, tawny, colheita, late-bottled vintage (LBV), and vintage.  Along with his expert commentary, we all learned a little more about the various styles of Port.  To help us learn, Walt selected three wines that we could try to identify through blind tastings of wines in brown-paper bag disguises.  All wines served were as follows:

Year
 Producer
 Cost
NV Piedmont Vineyards (VA) Peach $   9.95
NV Kluge Estate (VA) Cru $ 18.00
1998 Stone Hill (MO) Port $ 29.00
NV Dows White Porto $ 10.49
NV Barros Ruby Porto $ 11.99
NV Barros Tawny Porto $ 11.99
NV Taylor-Fladgate 10 Year-old Tawny Porto $ 28.99
1977 Barros Colheita Porto $ 63.99
1997 Barros LBV Porto $ 18.99
1997 Rozes Vintage Porto $ 49.99


All in all, it was a great evening.  I think, everyone learned a bit more about Ports. Of course, Walt gave us a great incentive: one of his trademark quizzes. Of the twenty questions about Port, Sue King correctly answered the most and received a bottle of Imperial Ruby Port as her reward.  Carl Brandhorst had the second most correct answers and received a copy of the book Port on Port (to be able to do a bit more research and do better in subsequent quizzes).  Thanks again, Walt, for such a great evening!

NOVEMBER MEETING: 

A conflict has developed which forces us to postpone the originally scheduled presentation for our November meeting.  However, don't despair!  We will still have a meeting, but the topic will remain a mystery until that evening.  The meeting is scheduled for Friday, November 19, 2004, at St. Mary's Church.  The gathering will begin at 7:30 p.m. while the formal meeting should get underway at 8:00 p.m. Please RSVP at least 24 hours in advance if you are planning to attend so we will have enough of everything.  Call 703-941-2384 or complete the following RSVP form.  Remember, though, that the National AWS Conference is this week, and I will be attending that (along with many of our chapter members) in State College, PA.


See you on the 19th!  

Cheers,       
Dave Barber
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