Julia Crowley

EDN's Food & Wine Editor has been in the wine industry for nearly 20 years. First through creating European wine tours, then opening her own wine bar, Julia now loves writing about food & wine for EDN through her two weekly columns: Wine Down Eugene & Local Lunch Gals. Find more wine related articles on her website, WineJulia.com.

Snooth Live Virtual Tasting: Porto with George Sandeman

Snooth.com, an internationally known wine website, occasionally has live, interactive, educational and super fun virtual tastings. Last month, I participated in a global virtual tasting of Rosés, and I not only discovered some outstanding Rosés from the Willamette Valley, Spain and France, but the tasting was educational and informative. As the tasting is happening, viewers and participating tasters can ask questions via a live chat and get immediate answers from the experts that are seen on a live video stream.

Recently on a gorgeous, 80 degree sunny day in the Willamette Valley, I gathered my necessary items for a live virtual Port tasting that I had  RSVP’d for. In a comfortable chair on my back patio, I set up my outdoor office in preparation for the event. I brought my laptop, a note pad and pencil, two stemless Riedel Cabernet glasses and two of the four Portos being tasted during the event – the Sandeman Founders Reserve and the Sandeman 10 years old Tawny Porto NV. I poured a little of each into the two glasses, and was ready to taste some Port with George Sandeman and Snooth.com’s Editor-In-Chief, Gregory Dal Piaz.

During the live tasting, we learned about Portos -Ports from the Douro Valley of Portugal, characteristics of Portos, how long Portos last after being opened, which glass to use while enjoying a Porto and some excellent recipes for summer cocktails using Portos.

For tasting notes, recipes and all the details on this educational, interactive and fun Porto tasting event, follow me over to WineJulia.com.