Brookview Station Porter's Port

Brookview Station Winery is located at Goold Orchards, a centenary farm located in Catleton, NY. Ed and Sue Miller are the owners, and Karen Gardy does everything else. They are a wonderful team, and a hoot!

Ed is the farmer, and he grows thousands of apples every year. He is also a wizard with fruit wine, and with each vintage, his body of work is growing as a vinter. Ed has made several great vintages of cassis the last few years. Fantastic stuff! But his newest accomplishment is pretty amazing.



Ed's been babying two separate batches of cherry wine over the last 12 months. He did a wonderful job with his Bing Cherry wine some time ago. Just last season, Ed did a batch of red sour cherries, and a batch of black cherries. He's been nudging them along and sampling, wondering what he was going to be doing with each batch as they matured.

I've been lucky enough to have sampled the wine several times along it's gestation. Like any real vinter, Ed considered all the flavors he was tasting, and took his time about it. When it came time to do something with it, Ed knew the profile he wanted. He threw a small amount of the red sours into the black cherry, and fortified it. He worked several different trial blends before he decided on the final product.

Admittedly, I meant to write about this wine in April or May, but between the day job, my other side jobs, and lots of travel, I got sidetracked. But the reason it jumped back to mind now is that it recently won a Silver Medal at the New York State Fair Commercial Wine Competition 2012.

Porter's Port is a dark, purple-red port made from black cherries and a touch of bright red sour cherries. It's got all the gravitas of a bigger port, but some of the subtle fruit characteristics of more classic ports. This is a fantastic after dinner drink, with just enough acid to fight off the sweetness for a well balanced wine. You can drink this with chocolate mousse, chocolate cake, brownies, or your favorite cigar.

Here's even better news. You can let this one sit too. This is a quality wine, and will only get better with age, probably good for 5 to 7 years. Really good stuff!



Congrats Sue, Karen, and especially Ed!!