Minnesota Port

For Christmas, I gave my husband a bottle of the Alexis Bailly Vineyard Hastings Reserve Minnesota Port. It’s very convenient that we happen to share the same household and therefore, I also ended up giving the bottle to myself. I consider that a two-for-one gift giving experience!

Last night, for fun, we opened the MN bottle to compare to our favorite port wine from Mayo Family Winery, Zinfandel Port, 2006 Russian River Valley Ricci Vineyard. We found that both bottles shared the sweet, velvety qualities that we enjoy about port wines but that is where the similarities ended.

The Hastings Reserve’s vitis riparia shone through on the aftertaste and body. Vitis Riparia is a native grape to Minnesota and carries a light, playful body with an earthy tomato essence. Minnesota Reds are not at all similar to anything grown in California and in my opinion should not be consumed with the idea to compare. We did it anyways. While the Hastings Reserve was not as refined in quality and taste as the Mayo Zinfandel Port, it was still highly enjoyable because it served up the Minnesota grape’s unique flavor well and incorporated the features we enjoy about ports – sweet, dark and complex.

Luckily for me, I don’t need to take a trip to Hastings each time I need to re-stock with this tasty port. I can run over to Byerly’s to restock my wine rack with the bottle. They carry a wide variety of local wines including a nice offering from Alexis Bailly Vineyard. Byerly’s bi-annual wine sale is another good opportunity to stock up on more of your favorites wines for less. The sale occurs in the spring and fall.