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In 2010 the annual Christmas event, The Unknown Shipper and His Peculiar Friends, happened on Thursday 16 December.

Links:

• Review of the evening as whole;
• Tasting notes:
  • 1904 Croft;
  • Unknown, perhaps 1917 Taylor;
  • 1917 Unknown, perhaps Croft or Fonseca;
  • 1927 Martinez;
  • 1942 Niepoort;
  • 1947 Smith Woodhouse;
  • 1955 Barros;
  • 1955 Taylor;
  • 1955 Tuke Holdsworth;
  • 1966 Fonseca;
  • Vargellas Crusted bottled 1969;
  • 30Y Niepoort Tawny;
• Planning and arrangements;
• Paperwork (tasting-note sheets, and several sets of stickers).

I joined you in spirit with a glass of Quinta do Portal 20 Year Old Tawny.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas to all and I hope all your bottles show beautifully!

jdaw1 wrote:

• Paperwork (tasting-note sheets, and several sets of stickers).

This was the first placemat-free tasting, with glasses being identified with stickers. Feedback welcomed.

Separately I note that exactly none of those who attended has yet been able to post to any of the threads relating to the evening. Perhaps suggesting an adequate sufficiency of consumption.

Perhaps suggesting an adequate sufficiency of consumption.

Umm, yes, a splendid evening with no duff bottles and every drop consumed..! Dirk was on fine form, and came very well stocked..

Stickers for glasses works really well, except that we need one sheet of stickers person (or per two people) as we were constantly passing the sheets around and trying to find our respective labels - at one point Dirk put one of his on his forehead so he could find it later!

Tom

uncle tom wrote:Stickers for glasses works really well, except that we need one sheet of stickers person (or per two people) as we were constantly passing the sheets around and trying to find our respective labels - at one point Dirk put one of his on his forehead so he could find it later!

Fine criticism and observation thank you.

Problems:

• At the time the PDF is made, it isn’t yet known who will be sitting next to whom.
• One sheet has 65 stickers, so one sheet per person would waste two-thirds to three-quarters of each sheet.

Other observations, criticisms, and suggestions welcome.

uncle tom wrote:at one point Dirk put one of his on his forehead so he could find it later!

Pictures, or it never happened!

Glenn E. wrote:

uncle tom wrote:at one point Dirk put one of his on his forehead so he could find it later!

Pictures, or it never happened!

WHOSO - it didn't happen

DRT wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:

uncle tom wrote:at one point Dirk put one of his on his forehead so he could find it later!

Pictures, or it never happened!

WHOSO - it didn't happen

I was there, it did not happen!

Julian,

jdaw1 wrote:

uncle tom wrote:Stickers for glasses works really well, except that we need one sheet of stickers person (or per two people) as we were constantly passing the sheets around and trying to find our respective labels - at one point Dirk put one of his on his forehead so he could find it later!

Fine criticism and observation thank you.

Problems:

• At the time the PDF is made, it isn’t yet known who will be sitting next to whom.
• One sheet has 65 stickers, so one sheet per person would waste two-thirds to three-quarters of each sheet.

Other observations, criticisms, and suggestions welcome.

Indeed one sheet per person would be too much waste; but would it be possible to slot the stickers of two or three people on equal sections onto one sheet (each person has ~20 stickers)? They could be after printing cut into the portions of the individual person.

What do you think?

regards

WS1

I was there, it did not happen!

Oh yes it did!

Hmmm, I was sitting right next to Dirk and you opposite; so if you are adamant about it I believe you.

regards

WS1

What a fabulous evening. Many thanks to Tom and Wolfgang for so ably organising it!

What really impressed me about this night is how lucky we were with the bottles. Considering that many of these were very old and unknown, we were extremely lucky not to have had many flawed bottles.

Indeed, we had two major surprises. The first is that the Tuke Holdsworth 1955 is actually rather good. Assuming that there was no slight-of-hand substitution by AHB when he removed the cork from the bottle, to my palate it was better than the Taylor 1955. The second is the Varegellas Crusted/Ruby from 1969 is, if my memory serves me correctly, a lot better than the proper Vargellas SQVPs from the 60s...Perhaps there is something in blending after all...

The 1942 Niepoort was wine of the night--many thanks to Dirk for bringing it--followed by the 1917 Unknown Shipper (guessed at Fonseca or Croft).

The stickers also worked extremely well; thanks Julian. As Wolfgang suggested, the only improvement would be to have each person’s stickers as a block so they could be cut up and distributed before the tasting starts. Also, for blind tastings it might be nice if the number took up only half the sticker so that we can write the name of the wine in when revealed.

jdaw1 wrote:Separately I note that exactly none of those who attended has yet been able to post to any of the threads relating to the evening. Perhaps suggesting an adequate sufficiency of consumption.

The quantity was looking dodgy (a mere 12 bottles between 10 of us) but we were saved due to the Niepoort being in a 1l bottle and Dirk very kindly bringing a magnum of Robustus 2004 to have with dinner...

Please post tasting notes.

JacobH wrote:the 1917 Unknown Shipper (guessed at Fonseca or Croft).

I don't think Fonseca produced a 1917.

Well done to Woolfgang and Tom for yet another successful Xmas tasting.

Everyone managed to attend despite the weather rapidly deteriorating. It was great to meet Dirk for the first time and...yes indeed he did have a sticker on his head so he didn't lose it...I know 'cos I was there!!

It was a great evening with all bottles performing very well and the food and company was excellent.

I am relying on memory for the WOTN but can recall (just) that it was clearly the Niepoort 1942 provided by Dirk as well and some surprisingly good unknowns, which will remain unknown, to me anyway, as I do not seem to have my tasting notes....maybe they blew away as I stood stranded in the middle of the car park as everyone left in the taxi !!!... maybe I should organise the transport next time!!

It was indeed a fantastic evening! All ports showed extremly well to make it a very classy evening. My wine of the night was the Niepoort 1942 (from 1l bt) followed by the 1917 unknown shipper and the Croft 1904. Again the steaks were brlliant; the Magnum of the Robustus 2004 being the cherry on top; the christmas offline in the Bell is just an event not to miss.
Of course there are problems that can lead to this sad situation e.g. like work and real life. We were also lucky to escape the big freeze by just a very small margin. When dropping off Dirk at the airport and later checking that his flight was airborn i was relieved. When reading the news about airports yesterday and today and thinking what could have happened I think we were very lucky.
I also apologise to Ray for not thinking about him to get on the taxi as well. I was too focused getting my wines he kindly picked up in Cambridge into my car, at the same time to get Toms port into his car and not being left behind on my own since the taxi driver wanted to leave for her next customers. To have left Ray stranded in the car park is not acceptable.
At the breakfast table the next day Axel suggested to apply some simple rules from miltary for offlines going fwd; one being very simple; we will leave nobody behind

regards

WS1

Discussion of how to improve the stickers is in the thread Software that makes placemats. Of course, observations about the evening of 16 December 2010, whether or not sticker-related, should be posted here.

It was a terrific evening. Thanks to Tom and Wolfgang for organising it and many humble apologies to Ray for having left him behind. I promise that we'll make it up to you at the next opportunity.

My wines of the night were very similar to everyone else's. For me, the Niepoort 1942 stood out and was just superb. The Unknown 1917 was delightful and the Croft 1904 was extremely good.

I'll post my tasting notes when I get time to transcribe them from their hand-written form.

For posterity, a few photos belatedly added--

1) Some serious analysis, proving this was not just a knees-up:


IMG_0981 by Coombrob, on Flickr

2) Chaos on the table, but stickers worked well:


IMG_0986 by Coombrob, on Flickr

3) Axel & guest of honour; WS1 looking rather mischievous to the right:


IMG_0989 by Coombrob, on Flickr

4) Cookie, lowering the tone, proving this was also a knees-up:


IMG_0991 by Coombrob, on Flickr