Here we have another Glunz wine, a Vintage Port from 1999.
The Glunz Family Winery has a shop in Long Grove, Illinois. You can try their wine at the shop, buy a bottle of almost everything produce, or pick up an array of gifts. It’s a nice shop in a tourist destination, if you’re in the area it may be worth a visit. The 1999 was $25, they had a few other vintages for different prices...from $20-$40.
The cork on this one was a bit messed up...it clearly leaked a bit, the capsule was stuck to the bottle, and the cork was moist throughout. A bad sign, but the wine actually survived.
I opened this one a few days ago but held off writing about it since an open bottle of Port can morph for weeks after opening. This one is no exception. When I first opened the bottle I poured a glass right away and it was, shall we say, terrible. The smell and taste of tobacco just punched you in the face. Not a whole lot of fruit, not a lot of nuts, and seriously, tobacco just overwhelmed everything else.
I dumped out the glass, poured a bit more into a larger wine glass, swirled the hell out of it, poured that into my Port glass, and gave it a shot. It was better, but still not good. I’ve had Glunz’s 2000 Vintage Port and it certainly didn’t taste like this, so I decided to let it sit for a while.
After a few days, the bottle improved significantly. The tobacco flavors faded pretty far into the background and fruit, oak, spice, and caramel came forward, topped off with a fairly long nutty finish.
I honestly can’t tell you how this holds up to the high end Ports of the world. I’ve tried my hand at a few, but none really higher than the $40+ range. What I do know is that as a guy who’s not afraid to try the cheap ones ($10-15) and who generally goes for the mid $20s range, this is right on par. There’s a very nice balance of fruit and oak on the palate, with a nice long nutty finish. I would not hesitate picking up another bottle of this if I wanted something surefire for under $30.
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