ThePortForum.com

None of us here have anything other than a minor, passing interest in an obscure red wine from a tiny part of a small country on the western fringes of Europe.

That is what I have consistently told my wife, and myself. I can stop any time I want to.

We decided to open red wine to go with our salmon steaks this evening.

By golly, this is astonishingly good mature claret at its absolute peak of perfection. Full of fruit, gentle of grip and hauntingly long.

Anyone who thinks they have volunteered but hasn't had an email from me, please let me know.

Anyone who has had an email from me, but hasn't replied, please reply so I know you're still able to help.

Belated congratulations to Zak and Iona on the birth of their twins in February. I’m told that mother, father and children are all well, if rather tired.

It may not be the Ashes, but Croft 1977 is a wonderful Port to sip whilst watching (highlights of) the last couple of matches of the IPL.

IMG_6905.jpeg Croft 1977, decanted 4.5 hours. This is a Port in a lovely place at the moment. Glowing, polished ruby in colour and so expressive on the nose! The nose brings sweet cherry fruit, layered with mace and allspice, and so much more. Tobacco, aniseed and dried cranberry on the palate - br...

This is the highest resolution I can post here.

But whatever the bottle is — you have a bargain!

It’s looking unlikely that I will be able to attend.

If I can, it will be a last minute decision — in which case I will order on the day.

Waitrose is having their “buy 6 bottles and get 25% off” sale.

So I’ve just bought my summer supply of Kopke 10YO White and Kopke 2010 White Colheita.

jdaw1 wrote: ↑17:26 Fri 29 Mar 2024 From the 1994 horizontal in 2019:

Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑15:57 Thu 20 Jun 2019I have a couple of cases of the Martinez. I think I'll pull one out next year for drinking over the next few years.

Did you?

No, I never got round to it. I did pull the SW94 halves though.

Many thanks to Julian and Alex for organisation and to Martin for placemat printing. Great to see everyone, and enjoy your company! The scoring sheet quite correctly shows Vesuvio wiping the floor. Thanks to Anthony Symington for a fabulous magnum of the stuff. Overall, I was really quite disappoin...

I’ve just realised I posted this in the “Other Wines” forum and not in “Other Fortified Wines”.

Now corrected.

Fonseca and Vesuvio both opened last night about 19.00, decanted this morning at 09.00 and will be returned to their bottles around 13.00 before I head into town.

I’ll aim to be at the B&F around 17.00 but might be half an hour earlier.

Bottle line up.jpg On 29th February 2024, Jörg Lewerenz – the owner of Quinta da Corrieira in the Carcavelos wine region of Portugal – organised a remarkable tasting of a selection of 9 wines curated to show the historic and modern interpretations of this region. The history of Carcavelos is a long...

Julian would probably object. He hates us having too much Port.

Me, I just hate 1990s corks. Bloody Fonseca cork exploded into tiny fragments, even after being loosened with the JDAW cork impeller.

I'll be in London between the 21st and the 24th. I'm attending the BFT, but other thanrr that I'm free. I’m not usually good company that close to the BFT. It gets pretty all-consuming for the week when it’s on. Sorry. More than reasonable, it's a big event! And we did see each other a couple of we...

MigSU wrote: ↑16:39 Wed 20 Mar 2024 I'll be in London between the 21st and the 24th. I'm attending the BFT, but other thanrr that I'm free.

I’m not usually good company that close to the BFT. It gets pretty all-consuming for the week when it’s on.

Sorry.

jdaw1 wrote: ↑09:20 Wed 20 Mar 2024 The food order has been updated, with Mike’s corrections (though pls check again).

Only THRA is missing: WhatsApp and texts and messages here unanswered. Has anybody heard from him?

I’ve not heard from Tom for a while. Try calling him?

Coming in to the UK the duty free limit is 12 x 75cl of Port per adult. In theory, if you have more than that you need to use the red channel and declare the excess. The only time since Brexit that I tried to use the red channel I waited about 10 minutes for someone to appear before giving up and wa...

From time to time, we’ve had annual passes from Historic Royal Palaces and so have visited the Tower of London several times, with and without children. If you’re into history, it’s definitely worth a visit. We were last there a couple of years ago. There’s a gun salute every day at 1pm, which is a ...

Alex/Julian - to confirm, Christopher is adopting the T94 from me. What's the guidance/preference for decanting? Unless there's an objection I'll decant the Cr & T the evening before, leave in the decanter for a couple of hours, and then put back in the bottle and Vac-u-Vin. No decanting guidel...

Our guest would like:
“Potted Devon crab & Chicken breast

If we’re doing puddings am happy to share cheese if anyone would like or the brownie.
If no one is doing pudding then I’m happy without”

Feel free to add veg and / fries.

Given the BFT, I don’t know - but I’m definitely a possibly.

Christopher would like ham hock starter, then the same main as me.

No starter. Main of sirloin steak (m-r) with fries and green beans / shallots.