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The purpose of this thread is not to debate any relationship between quantity of sediment and quality, but whether the texture of the sediment gives clues to the grape varieties used to make the wine. There seem to be three types of sediment formation: 1) Fine dust 2) Gritty soup 3) Flakes I am curr...

For several years now I have been a bit of a bear regarding the property market. In the late eighties, I saw the last slump coming, and acted accordingly, my forecast being much ridiculed at the time. The current boom became unsustainable about six years ago, and for the last four my prognosis has b...

Far too busy in another field. If this link is not off-limits, I'll expand..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Matt/pM ... 4AVCBQYIV0

Tom

Simon has been very generous with his stash - here's my take: On decanting, the wine had some rough edges, but was approachable. 18 hours later I thought it a bit jammy - cranberries came to mind - not noticeably better than when first decanted. 30 hours and the wine had come round, darker, deep and...

France had a referendum on the Maasticht treaty, on 20 Sept 1992, which — by an edge — came in over the line. (Had it been in metropolitan France only, would have lost, but the overseas départements were sufficiently in favour to get the total over 50%.) The Irish referendum was on 18 June 1992. ...

there is no doubt that the Euro has eased international trade

I think the Shippers' accountants might not agree - the currency's value is ruinous to their ability to turn a profit at the moment.

Tom

what’s the point of the change The notion that one size can fit all is the great failing of the euro. The issue is not the funding of multinationals, it's much more mundane. Sovereign central banks need to be able to set interest rates that best suit their domestic circumstances, the everyday lives...

A long essay Julian, but I disagree with your conclusion. A member country in the eurozone could very easily re-create it's old currency - or an entirely new one - and convert it's national debt into the new currency. In the first instance it would probably be wise to value the new currency at exact...

I'm going to hang fire at the moment - the property market in Spain is a disaster area, and while I've not heard much about Portugal, I know they've been getting drunk on cheap money, so a bad hangover is very likely! When realism prevails, I shall start sniffing around.. ..but will they still be us...

Calvados - Pays d'Auge

Slightly slug chewed label - retails for around £90

Want to make me an offer?

Tom

I don't think the Noval's were released - Broadbent recorded cask sample tastings, but I think that was as far as it got.

I have a bottle from '69 in the cellar which I'll happily part with - but it's not port!

Tom

A different track might now be required

What every country in the EC does except the UK - cheat.

Get them to box up that 6l bottle and write 2 x 3l on the outside

..oops!

Tom

Invested £12 in the GN (pub sweepstake) - got £30 back (second place nag) - so a happy bunny! (my other three horses got nowhere!) Andy, If you try to hang that bin label on a bottle in a regular rack, it crashes onto the bottle below and looks stupid.. Fine for bins holding bottles by the hundred, ...

If you thought Vesuvio was prettily packaged - have a look at the Dow Senhora da Ribeira packaging.. Personally, I'd rather have a couple of extra bottles for the same money, and have them packed in cardboard cartons. The solution to the your problem however is follow my example - take the bottles o...

The Wine Society has done this before - but only once as far as I know

Their mixed cases of '85's periodically appear at auction.

The main stumbling block to such a scheme, however - is price..

Tom

I did a list a fair while back of vintage port brands known to exist (or have existed) and came to 173, but I now know of quite a few more...

Tom

Oldenburg's book is not often mentioned, but has some great photos

Tom

A small aside, but if you can get fresh green pepper corns (I brought some back from Thailand) they make an infinitely better pepper sauce than the dried out little beads that are normally sold.

Tom

Conky,

I prefer a steak to the Piri Piri, and prefer talking to the minions rather than the masters.

If you had wanted to know whether Heathrow T5 was going to get off to a smooth start, who would you have talked to?

Willie Walsh - or a baggage handler?

Tom

Simon,

Fedex can ship door to door for you - they have a 25Kg parcel service that uses a standard Fedex carton. Cost is around £120 + duty

Tom

The Noval shop in VNG is selling a Q. Marco 1999 as well..

Tom

And I still don't have any... :? I found the Ramos Pinto lodge, but they were firmly closed for easter (unlike most others..) so I wasn't able to check out that little line of enquiry. Derek, could you ask your son (very nicely..) if he'd let his dear old dad share one of those bottles with his mate...

In VNG I concluded that the basic tawnies from Taylor and Croft were probably bottled from the same stock - this was not denied, but the Croft is sold for less..

Tom

To be called “Harvey of Bristol†? Are they the http://www.harveys-usa.com? Just Harvey should suffice. There's a fair number of bottlers who only put their own name on the bottle - some put the shipper's name on the cork, but some didn't... To make things really complicated, one of these bottlers ...

Please could somebody write a simple list, explaining all uses of the term “Silval†? Silval is to Noval what Secundum is to Niepoort - a second wine, normally made with grapes from both the quinta and also from grapes bought in. Quinta do Silval has (I believe) no association with Noval and is pri...