Old & Odd, New York, Friday 7th November 2008

[Andy Velebil]

As for decanting times. I would guess that pop-and-pour for the two 1800's Ports. That way you can evaluate them over a couple of hours and se where they go. Better to air on the side of caution in case they don't hold up all that well once opened.

As for the others, I'd say between 2-4 hours. Better to go a little shorter and slowly taste them over several hours and see how they open up then decant for too long and not catch them at their prime.

[jdaw1]

New page, so a reminder of the state of play won’t hurt.

19:00 Friday 7th November 2008, Nick + Stef’s, 9 Penn Plaza at Madison Square Garden, 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue, NY 10121-0111.

By bottle:

1. 1873 Schofield (FF);
2. 1896 ‘Refreshed’ Garcia (AHB);
3. 1932 Butler Nephew (ED);
4. 1938 Hooper (JDAW, adopted by GEE);
5. 1942 Hooper (JDAW);
6. 1944 Hooper (JHG);
7. 1947 Barros (JDAW);
8. 1952 Barros (JDAW);
9. Vintage Character, Quinta do Infantado, bottled October 1996 (JDAW).

By person:

1. FF (1873 Schofield);
2. AHB (1896 ‘Refreshed’ Garcia);
3. ED (1932 Butler Nephew);
4. GEE (1938 Hooper);
5. JHG (1944 Hooper);
6. JDAW (1942 Hooper; 1947 Barros; also 1952 Barros; also Vintage Character, Quinta do Infantado, bottled October 1996);
7. DCP, guest of JDAW;
8. BS, guest of JDAW.

(And if needed I have another O&O to hand.) Dress code: cufflinks, of course.

Changes: Quinta do Infantado Vintage Character added; start time now 7pm; MW deleted from attendees; DCP + BS added to list of attendees.

[jdaw1]

Better to air on the side of caution

Commendation for the pun assuming that you meant to substitute ‟air” for ‟err”.

[Andy Velebil]

Better to air on the side of caution

Commendation for the pun assuming that you meant to substitute ‟air” for ‟err”.

Look, in the past 4 days I've work in the neighborhood of 65+ hours...no Port...I'm tired, cranky, and don't give a rats arse about spelling correctly at the moment...then again, maybe because I just finished a 1/2 bottle of VP after only intending to have one or two glasses ma have something to do with that

[DRT]

Somebody has to ask about decanting times.

1. 1873 Schofield (FF);
2. 1896 ‘Refreshed’ Garcia (AHB);
3. 1932 Butler Nephew (ED);
4. 1938 Hooper (JDAW, adopted by GEE);
5. 1942 Hooper (JDAW, adopted by MW);
6. 1944 Hooper (JHG);
7. 1947 Barros (JDAW);
8. 1952 Barros (JDAW);
9. Vintage Character, Quinta do Infantado, bottled October 1996 (JDAW).

My strongly-held view is that I have no idea. Perhaps four hours for all of them?

I haven't had any of these. Given the age and the fact that these are from lower league producers (for VP) I would be tempted to pop-pour-taste one at a time over an hour or two and then watch them evolve throughout the evening.

Derek

[uncle tom]

Somebody has to ask about decanting times.

That's such an unusual lineup of vintages, its hard to advise!

However, I'm beginning to suspect that after decanting, warm conditions are the death of mature ports, and that they may evolve better if they are kept fairly cold..

- am experimenting..!

Tom

[jdaw1]

But at the Cockburn tasting Miguel insisted on a longer decant for the oldies, and was right. I don’t know either.

What about a 12-year-old vintage character? Surely somebody can say something helpful about that?

[DRT]

But at the Cockburn tasting Miguel insisted on a longer decant for the oldies, and was right. I don’t know either.

But I think Miguel was advising on those specific Cockburn vintages, not old and fragile wines in general. Don't throw away your former approach to such things based on one experience! You have 7 people and 9 bottles so there is plenty to allow you to decant and taste a glass and leave another glass in the decanter for Round 2 a few hours later. This could be turned into a useful experiment if you decant all of them and then serve as 2 flights which are 3-4 hours apart.

What about a 12-year-old vintage character? Surely somebody can say something helpful about that?

I would give it at least 4 hours but would not expect too much from it. I have some old Vinatge Character that I use to rinse decanters

Derek

[g-man]

Reservations are confirmed

Friday 7th November 2008, Nick + Stef’s,
9 Penn Plaza at Madison Square Garden, 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue,
NY 10121-0111.

7:00 pm EST
for 8 people.

[uncle tom]

I have some old Vinatge Character that I use to rinse decanters

An appropriate deployment!

Tom

[Alex Bridgeman]

Given the generous offer from our hostess to halve the corkage fee or waive it if we order something of the same value (=9 x $12.50 = $112.50) from the wine list, can we post here and discuss any port options there may be available? I would much rather pay $112.50 and get something than pay simply to open our own bottles.

Alex

[jdaw1]

Start time amended to 19:00 in most recent summary post, and MW deleted from attendees.

Wine list seemingly devoid of port. Unless several bottles of our port prove undrinkable, we already have enough to stave off the most urgent symptoms of thirst. (Nine bottles, six people, time limited.) Anybody for an extra Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose?

I’ll try for an extra person.

[DRT]

I have some old Vinatge Character that I use to rinse decanters

An appropriate deployment!

Tom

You should know - they used to belong to you

[g-man]

Start time amended to 19:00 in most recent summary post, and MW deleted from attendees.

Wine list seemingly devoid of port. Unless several bottles of our port prove undrinkable, we already have enough to stave off the most urgent symptoms of thirst. (Nine bottles, six people, time limited.) Anybody for an extra Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose?

I’ll try for an extra person.

Here's the port list

Some poo always pairs well, esp with a seafood platter.

[jdaw1]

Ahhh, well found though there is a better link. A half bottle and a glass of Dow 1980 would do the job perfectly.

The new decanting plan:

• 4 hours: Infantado Vintage Character;
• Pop-and-pour: all others.

I have gathered 0 or 1 or 2 extra people.

[jfacciol]

Pop and pour? How are we supposed to do this at a restaurant? Are we going to whip out coffee filters, cheesecloth and funnels? Somehow, I don't see it. And I certainly would not trust the waiter or sommelier to do a proper job in decanting. My expectation would that we would be either drinking a lot of sediment or missing a lot of port.

On a separate note, Julian's idea would work fine but I am more tempted by the 20 year old tawnies.

[g-man]

I agree with Jay, pop and pour should be clarified.

I meant along the lines of, right before people swing out to the restaurant, to decant and pour back into bottles.

As with my bottle, I've already stood it up so the sediment is probably at the bottom, but I'll keep it at a cooler temperature and probably decant to filter sediment before i head out to owrk.

[mosesbotbol]

So much for the port tongs

[jdaw1]

Are we going to whip out coffee filters, cheesecloth and funnels?

That’s what I meant. I can bring two funnels and a box of coffee filters. We need only to borrow one or two decanters and a faucet.

more tempted by the 20 year old tawnies.

Works for me.

[g-man]

Are we going to whip out coffee filters, cheesecloth and funnels?

That’s what I meant. I can bring two funnels and a box of coffee filters. We need only to borrow one or two decanters and a faucet.

Julian, the restaurant is laid out in such a way that I think it might be very disruptive if you were to swipe their faucet.

I would recommend that those of us who can filter and decant at home should try and do so.

We could probably get 1 or 2 decanters tho for us to use ourselves.

[jdaw1]

OK, last-minute home double decanting, except the two eighteen-hundreds which should be done there.

[Glenn E.]

On a separate note, Julian's idea would work fine but I am more tempted by the 20 year old tawnies.

I vote for a bottle of the Taylor 20-yr old at $120. Granted that's an outrageous price for the bottle, but we're already opening possibly 9 bottles of VP so having some tawny would be nice.

I'm not a wine drinker, so I have no vote if you choose to purchase a bottle of wine.

[jdaw1]

20Y tawny fine with me.

I think we have two extra guests both highly probably, neither yet confirmed.

[jdaw1]

Drew C. Phillips confirmed. Port novice; sound fellow.

[jdaw1]

Also confirmed is Ben Schonzeit.