In 2005 Karrie and I visited Portugal for Fantasporto Film Festival. The festival is held in Porto, home to all worldwide port production. We became obsessed with port during that trip and always stock several vintages at the house.

Port wine was an accidental discovery by the British sea merchants in the later half of the 17th century. During long voyages, they found that if they poured brandy into the casks, the wine for the voyage would not spoil as quickly. What they later found was that with further aging, this fortified wine would begin to change and mature, becoming the complex, long finish delicacy we know as port today. Vintage ports are the kings of all ports. Two years after each years harvest, the port wine that has been aged in oak barrels is sampled. If the weather conditions were perfect and the taste is superb after two years, a vintage year is declared. These ports are then bottled and aged for 15-30 years more in the bottle until they mature to perfection.

At the port wine tasting, we will be sampling from some of the greatest vintage port years: a 1980 Warres, a 1970 Cockburns, a 1966 Quinta da Cachao and a 1963 Taylor Fladgate. All of these years are phenomenal vintage years, declared by all major port lodges, but 1963 is considered by many to be the best vintage year of the 20th century. In addition, we will be sampling a 40 year tawny port. Tawny Ports are ports that are non-vintage, but aged for a very long time in oak barrels. In our case the port will be a blend of various aged ports, but the average age in the barrel for this blend is 40 years. Tawny ports are lighter in color due to the aging process, but also have an exceptional long complex finish.

We will be pairing the ports with a variety of cheeses, fruits and chocolates. Tickets to this event are on sale now at $57. There are 18 tickets available.

This tasting will be held at the home of Tim and Karrie League, founders of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and the Highball. Directions will be provided to ticketholders.