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• Review of the evening as a whole;
• 1955 Adam;
• 1955 Buckingham Palace Factory House Blend;
• 1955 Cockburn;
• 1955 Dow;
• 1955 Ferreira;
• 1955 Fonseca;
• 1955 González Byass;
• 1955 Graham;
• 1955 Mackenzie;
• 1955 Martinez;
• 1955 Niepoort;
• 1955 Quinta do Noval;
• 1955 Offley;
• 1955 Sandeman;
• 1955 Taylor;
• 1955 Warre;
• Placemats;
• Planning and arrangements.

Edit: and, with dinner,

• 1955 Chateau Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville in magnum.

Ni55: red-orange. Nosing, deliciously, of orange-marmalade. A big port, unctuous and orangey. Also cedar-wood. Some heat mid-palate. CMAG rightly said ‟weird”, but not in a bad way. CRS: ‟exotic”.

In the second flight competition (Mk, Mz, Ni, N, O, S, T, and W) scoring 19 points, being ranked first by five including me and second by two, for the Silver Medal of this flight. (Though I thought Niepoort deserved first place, it was only an edge ahead of third-placed 17-pointed Noval.)

Lovely nose of boiled sweets and spice. Thick and unctuous - delicious juice. This was my favourite of the second flight and 3rd or 4th overall.

This proved to be something of a ‘Marmite’ experience. One half of the table loved it whilst the other half hated it (some more vocally than was really necessary in civilised company).

Provided by the kindness of Dirk Niepoort. Decanted from a dumpy bottle. Light red - more burnt sienna - in colour, 40% opaque. A lovely nose, very floral and with some interesting mild lime. Thick in texture, full of clover honey mixed in with rich fruit, cherry and kumquat. Rather empty on the aftertaste and with a very low level finish. Pleasant wine. 85/100.

Perhaps the disappointment of the evening. This smelled/tasted exactly like that house party in '03 when all that maple syrup wound up in the pool. Not ideal. Huge chlorine component, mixed with cheap brown sugar. Not my cup o tea (but at least the bottle is a treasure!). 78 points.

Just had the German part of the tasting (55 @ 55). Along with the Niepoort there were: Croft, Cockburn, Dow, Fonseca, Graham, Gonzales Byass, Noval, Mc Kenzie, Martinez, Taylors, Warre and a Burmester Colheita.

All Ports showed outstandingly well, none of them weak or in bad shape. Niepoort was voted WOTN. The last 55 of this I had was only overshadowed by the extremely outstanding Niepoort 45.

Axel

Color: Medium red.
Nose: Very nice nose - anise, something minty, green tean, orange rind, and phosphorus (like a match head).
Palate: Nice but not great. Some harshness. Didn't evolve over time as most Niepoorts do.
Finish: Lingers. Better over time.

Score: 88+ points. Concensus ranked this 2nd of the 2nd flight, behind the Taylor and ahead of the Noval by a mere half a point.