That good bottle of wine you’ve been saving for that “special occasion”? Drink it. Of course you want to have a nice bottle around for when there is really something to celebrate but sometimes you just need to have a nicer than average bottle.
That’s what Scott and I did last week. Sandeman had sent me a 20 Year Old Tawny Port. A few things about this port:
- Scott loves port. I mean really really loves it and when he saw I got this he wanted to open it right away.
- I let it sit for a few days and then we opened it.
- In front of a fire, in glasses that were a gift from Sweden and enjoyed that port that we wouldn’t normally buy.
- Why did we open it? Because it has been a really hard year and we were having one of those weeks where it felt like it wasn’t going to get better and things kept mounting. In just a few days: garage leaking, dishwasher leaking, garbage disposal dying and sending partial disposed food particles everywhere under the sink, more bad medical news and some family stuff going on.
We took the time to reconnect, de-stress and just focus on a few happy moments. And it worked. I had one small glass (I like port, but don’t need more than one glass) while Scott enjoyed 2 large glasses.
The Voice was on in the background for some mindless entertainment and we just enjoyed this evening. A special tawny port that was that perfect brownish red (hence the name tawny) color, had notes of dried fruit and was pretty darn good with salty, buttery popcorn. This retails around $50 a bottle, but can sometimes be found on sale. A major benefit of port, it will last for a few months in the bottle after its been opened. While it might be more than you normally spend it can be enjoyed slowly.
