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Held for the purpose of evaluating the GC1980, added similar ilk ports for comparison. Links:

• Review of the evening as a whole;
• Gould Campbell 1980;
• Gould Campbell 1997;
• Quinta de Roriz 1995;
• Quinta de Roriz 1999;
• Planning notes;
• Placemats

New location, which had fine quality blue-collar spicy grub. Me likey. The manager appeared to be a major grump, but the lovely Jillian (spelling?) atoned for his abstention (which he later claimed was because of his meds).

Anyway, to business. Gould Campbell 1980, at $35 a bottle (≈ £24 in the brave new world a weak pound), was fine quality-price-ratio. The GC97 was imperfect, but may well recover with maturity. However the Quinta de Roriz did not impress, and did not leave the impression that they would impress. Based on this small sample, not a house to accumulate.

And thank you, as ever, to SushiNorth for being the inspiration and organisational energy.

Sounds like a fine evening.

Re. Roriz: The 1995 was made in a weird time for Roriz. Until beginning '90's it was used as a second label for Noval, and quality was mediocre at best. The 1991 used to be readily available in the Netherlands, and that one was quite poor. I'm not quite sure if the 1995 was still made by Noval (as it was just after the Axa take-over) but it certainly was before the alliance with the Symiongton's which started with the 1999 vintage. 1999, being a weaker year, and the first of the Roriz-Symington partnership, is not examplary for further vintages. The 2000, 2001, and 2004 are all much better. Never tasted 2005, but that could be a good one as well. See here for short impressions on the 2000 to 2004.

Sadly, The Pink Teacup is closing.