Once upon a time there was your quintessential fat friar. You know, wearing his brown itchy robe, going along his merry way delivering casks of wine from one mission to the next. Now our friar, the fat happy hero of this story, had a taste for the harder stuff. Yet in his fraternal order, drinking spirits was frowned upon and even forbidden. So our clever monk purified the evil spirit, in this case brandy, by casually pouring it into his skin of blessed wine before his deliveries. He was pleased with the result, as were his brothers and they took it upon themselves to purify greater amounts of the evil spirit by adding it to their casks of wine. Is this the birth of port? Or perhaps it is simply a legend. The other story is that port came into being when spirits were added to fortify sea-faring wines, but let’s raise a glass to romance, to stories and to winter warming ports…

Join us this Thursday, 5:30-7:00, at our port tasting. We will be warming cheeks and bellies with ports ranging from your standard tawny and ruby to a chocolate infused port. We will finish off with a nice vintage port and you will leave knowing the history and lore of this delicious libation and you may even get some Christmas shopping done while you’re here!

Craving more stories? Check out the mead tasting this Sunday or the blind champagne tasting next Sunday. And if you want to do some background reading for the mead tasting and Winter Solstice celebration, check out the Cape’s new alternative paper, The Sound of Cape Cod. I truly get caught up in the romance on this one!

And from our family to yours, Happy Holidays! Remember to buy gifts locally and enjoy the spirit of the season…