ThePortForum.com

To celebrate the Quinquagenary of AHB, he arranged a horizontal of 1963s in Wokingham at The Cantley House Hotel (evenings of Friday 11^th and Saturday 12^th October 2013) and The Walter Arms (lunch on Saturday 12^th), and two evening Champagne tastings for our better halves. Sadly the venue was not able to accommodate all he would have liked to have invited. Diaries had been blocked since early 2012, and bottles had been gathered for most of a decade before that. A splendid weekend indeed.

Partial links:
• Review of the event as a whole, which starts with a full set of links;
• Placemats (and parameters by which constructed).

Some links:
• Review which includes links to the Champagnes; Placemats and their Parameters;
• Fri evening 1963s: VS QH GC Ck G | Kh Pç Mg Av F | RV Rs S Dl Cn;
• Sat aftern’n 1963s: Sb RVi RCV Ad RO | Dm BBR T Cr Ni | Mk Fd O Mz;
• Sat evening 1963s: MC W D N NN | A B&I Df PS Cv | GB Cá CáF B Fr;
• Others: 1863 Burmester, 1977 Warre (tappitt hen), Martinez Crusted bottled 1973, 1966 Château Batailley (magnum).

Sb63. Red, 40% opaque. Nose had faint red plum. Taste of rich dark fruit; heat mid-palate; great length. Maybe also black cherry. Best on page.

Dark red. Attractive nose. Thick with lots of cherry and a very sweet finish. The best of this sub-flight (Sb RVi RCV Ad RO) by a very long margin.

DRT wrote:The best of this sub-flight (Sb RVi RCV Ad RO) by a very long margin.

Seconded.

A full elegant wine, with a little touch of fire at the finish. If tasted blind, could easily be mistaken for Taylor.

glorious, clear dark red; cherry smell, slightly restrained dark chocolate nose; very attractive nose! Very good port; cherry taste, amareno cherry aromas; long finish; medium body, very complex wine.

After having had the Sibio 70 some times, I was very impressed by the Port as this turns out to be a superb Port from the year, unlike everything I have tasted after and including 1970. The best Sibio however I had was the 1938 at the Gaveto Restaurant with Dirk Niepoort 2 years ago in Matosinhos/ Porto.

Axel

Rich red in colour, looking mature and ready to drink; 50% opaque. Nosing gently of candied red fruit and chilli peppers. Sweet, quite thick in texture and a peppery palate with the chilli showing through the sweet redcurrant jelly. A spicy finish with lots of sweet jelly and charcoal tannins. Decent port, albeit simple and straightforward. 84/100. Drunk 12-Oct-13. Decanted 2 hours.