Port by another name – the finalists! Vote now!

What can we call port-style, fortified wine made here in America? Thanks to your over thirty suggestions, we now have finalists!

Unfortunately, names with the letters “port” (or “porto”) are not legally allowed. I was thinking of suggesting “Corto” since it is a contraction of California Porto (and, in a double entendre, also the venue where producers could be sued as in “see you in corto.”). But, alas, intellectual property law takes a dim view on items that have a similar look, sound or meaning (see, for example, Microsoft vs. Lindows even if Microsoft did have to pay in the end). Thanks to winemaker Jeff Stai for pointing out the legal difficulties for making his fortified wine, Pig Stai.

So without further ado, here are the finalists for your voting! And remember, they are playing for a bottle of USB donated by Peltier Station in Lodi, California. They were suggested, in order, by SB7, Benito (Trop is port backwards), Lillac (Treading with bare feet is often used in making the best ports), and Mark Ashley. Voting remains open through Friday!

[poll id=”4″]

On a related note, nobody suggested “Turley.” But in a California wine shop I visited last week, the owner kept a 1997 Turley zin right next to the 1970 Fonseca.
turleyport

16 Responses to “Port by another name – the finalists! Vote now!”


  1. I demand a revote – I want to call it Deep Purple. Or if that is taken (ha, ha) how about Heavy Purple?


  2. Need to include a “None of the above” choice


  3. Port o’ Sacramento


  4. Ha, okay, Bob–added!


  5. portentious
    (Just to clear the air, while that’s a pun on both being like “port” and like “pretentious”, I don’t really mean the insult – I’m a port fan.)

    method Duoro

    Just calling it a fortified wine isn’t quite there, I mean, isn’t Ripple a fortified wine?

    I like the starboard/not starboard options, also.


  6. “Dark Sauternes minus the Botrytis”


  7. Love the Turley in with the Port-

    That’s funny because it is true.


  8. I suggested portus or pourt on the other thread. what do you all think of those?


  9. Can’t use anything with “port” Thom. I dunno, I just can’t imagine being in a tasting room, being poured their latest port-style release and having them call it any of the above mentioned names.


  10. I love the Turley next to the ports on the photo! Ain’t that the truth, all my sweet tooth Zin-loving friends!


  11. Not Starboard is a shoe-in. I’m surprised at how dissatisfaction with the name options comes in second place though.


  12. vote for Not Starboard


  13. I missed the noms thread, but “larboard” is the old nautical term for “port”. Still, I like the humour of “not starboard”.


  14. The voting has drawn to a close and “Not Starboard” is the popular choice! Congratulations SB7, your prize bottle of USB will be wending its way to your shortly.


  15. How about ‘Fort’?

    short for fortified but rhymes with port…


  16. […] this year on this blog, we put our heads together to try to come up with a name for port style wine, made in America. Well, thanks to a new bilateral accord with the EU, Australian winemakers found themselves in a […]


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