Tsunami's Blind Offline - Crusting Pipe - 30 Jan 2008

[DRT]

2 hours to go - I'm looking forward to meeting the Tsunamis and will post some thoughts here later tonight, assuming I'm not asleep somewhere

[Alex Bridgeman]

Having had to leave Tsunami's offline early, I can take the opportunity presented by a fully charged BlackBerry to post my review of the offline before everyone else has left!


It was great to be able to meet Mr and Mrs Tsunami, although we were well into the tasting by the time they eventually found where we were hiding in the Crusting Pipe.

We thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of the Blind Tasting and made complete fools of ourselves with the notable exception of Tsunami who managed to identify the mystery bottle B absolutely spot on. We were suitably impressed.

Here are my tasting notes on the wines:

Wine A - decanted for 2 hours before tasting and drunk on 30/1/08.

Very pale colour, tawny looking, distinctly orange with a pale green rim. On the nose I picked up violets and some unintegrated alcohol.

This port had a neutral entry with a good acidic structure and flavours of barley sugars. Orange peel and grapefruit juice came through in the mid-palate.

The aftertaste was of moderate length and was just like sucking on a barley sugar.

A rather unremarkable port that wasn't bad, just old. 1/0 on the Uncle Tom scale or 86/100.

Wine B Decanted for 12 hours and drunk on 30/1/08.

Distinctly red center, although paler than wine C. A lovely soft smokey nose bringing damsons and Victoria plums. An acidic structure but well balanced, tannins soft and well integrated with lots of damsons and some cherry. Terrific mid-palate with aniseed and plum. Very long length, just filling the mouth with Christmas cake. Excellent port. 7/7 or 92/100.

Wine C Decanted for 7 1/2 hours and drunk on 30/1/08.

A strong red core, paling slightly on the rim. Alcohol on the nose but a swirl releases a lovely redcurrant syrup. Smooth and easy entry that just glides over the tongue, bringing masses of blackcurrants and lots of complexity in the mid palate. Beautiful balance and lovely texture. A sharp edge on swallowing that fades to leave a long dark chocolate finish.

4/6 or 90/100.

Wine D Decanted for 1 hour and drunk on 30/1/08.

Very pale orange with green on the rim. Marshmallow on the nose, accompanied by creamy coffee and caramel. A sweet entry with raisins and sultanas. Some coffee coming through the mid-palate with lemon juice and licorice. A warming aftertaste of modest duration that again fills the mouth and has a touch of bitter lemon about it. I would describe this as "fireside sipping port". 0/0 or 85/100.

Wine E Served on a pop 'n' pour basis and drink on 30/1/08.

Mid red colour, paling pink on the rim. Sweet and smokey fruit on the nose, but the smoke being created by a slight touch of bottle stink. A restrained entry with a but of a sharp edge and a lot of age-softened tannins. The clear fruit presence is a little masked by the bottle stink flavours but makes itself known in no uncertain terms. The aftertaste is huge, lots of orange juice and cinnamon and lasts an incredible amount of time going through several different flavour profiles. Very impressive, despite the stink. 7/8 or 91/100.

And finally, what were the wines? Well, in vintage and alphabetic order they were:
Borges 1963
Royal Oporto 1963
Warre 1970
Martinez 1983
Martinez 1985

Your challenge is to match the descriptions to the ports. The answer will be posted a little later!

Alex

[DRT]

I can't argue with any of AHBs notes. All I can add is that after he left we had some awfull white Italian sweet stuff and a fiest 85 that would clean a drain very effectively.

It was great to meet the Tsunamis. It will not be the last time

Another great night at the Crusting pipe.

What's next?

[Conky]

God to hear you enjoyed yourselves. I'll take up that challenge, and stab wildly in the dark.

Port A. Oporto 63
Port B. Warres 70
Port C. Borges 63
Port D. Martinez 83
Port E. Martinez 85




Alan

[jdaw1]

The Borges 1963 was bought at auction as an unknown vintage port, as mentioned in the thread entitled Decanting time?.

[SimonSaysDrink]

I'll bite...and add a bit of pre-

Port A: Royal Oporto 1963
Port B: Warre 1970
Port C: Martinez 1985
Port D: Borges 1963
Port E: Martinez 1983

Ahh. To err is human I suppose. Hope I'm close though; they were great TNs.

[KillerB]

I'll bite...and add a bit of pre-

Port A: Royal Oporto 1963
Port B: Warre 1970
Port C: Martinez 1985
Port D: Borges 1963
Port E: Martinez 1983

Ahh. To err is human I suppose. Hope I'm close though; they were great TNs.

On the dot.

The Royal Oporto was like drinking liquid barley sugars - looks, nose and taste.

The Warre was excellent but none of us got that it was Warre.

The M85 was really enjoyable as always but could have done with more time in the Decanter.

The Borges had a bit of a rough ride, same colour as the RO but much fresher with nice citric notes.

The M83 was straight out of the bottle and the amount of sediment should have helped. Much more tannic than the 85 but extremely nice, much more time in the decanter would help.

[RonnieRoots]

Was the Martinez 1983 the bottle that was labeled as Harveys?

[Alex Bridgeman]

Yes - the Martinez 1983 was labelled as Harvey's but stated in the small print at the bottom of the label that it was produced and bottled by Martinez Gassiot.

Nicer looking label than the garish Wine Society Anniversary label on the Martinez 1985. Jolly nice port inside though.

Alex

[SimonSaysDrink]

All this jolly Martinez talk is just a fat, sticky red seal on the 1994 Martinez purchase. LadySimon got paid today...hmm, what shall I do but attempt to acquire some?

And some '85 and '83 snuck on top it

[Conky]

Simon,

I'm sure you've probably grasped this, but be careful with the decanting time on the M85. It hides behind a dismal smelling flat stage. But stick with it. If you haven't had it, I'll be keen to hear your verdict, at least 8hrs on, and preferably, the next day.

Alan.

[SimonSaysDrink]

It's as good as done. If I find a sick deal, I'll pass that info as well. And will provide the best TNs I can.

[Tsunami]

we both emjoyed the eavening very much, we had from great port to brrrrr.... port, but the compannion was best !

thanks guys and a special thanks to birdungy to make it possible to pick up our port!


btw.
we had to get some bags and to unpack the cases for more convinient transport, and wile we did this we were checked by the guardians at the tube (canary warf) we had to explain what we are doing (crazy people )
and had to give all our data

one bottle of 77 taylors did not survive the transport (please give a minute of quitless) but the rest is well layed down at our cellar

[DRT]

Links:

• Review of the evening as a whole;
• 1963 Borges;
• 1963 Royal Oporto;
• 1970 Warre;
• 1983 Harvey's (Martinez);
• 1985 Martinez.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Links:

• 1963 Borges;
• 1963 Royal Oporto;
• 1970 Warre;
• 1983 Harvey's (Martinez);
• 1985 Martinez.

Show off.

[jdaw1]

No: he forgot the de-linkified “Review of the evening as a whole† from this set.

[DRT]

Is thisbetter?

[jdaw1]

Hero of Soviet Socialist Labour, third class.