29th November 2012, Berry Bros Port Walk

[PhilW]

Thanks to Rob for passing on aticket to me for last nights BBR Port Walk (as I had missed out when they were issued and was keen to go) I was able to attend last night's tasting. The format was the usual walk-round sampling whichever you wish, with cheese, crackers and water available; It seemed slightly less crowded than last year, which was a good thing and had Charles Symington in attendance. The range of ports was a little different this year, with some youngers ports; For the VPs, the comparison between bottles of VP years is:

2011: 63x2, 70x2, 77x3, 85x2, 94x4, 97x6
2012: 70x2, 77x2, 79, 80, 91, 92, 94, 97, 00x2, 07x2, 08

The full line-up was as follows:

Quinta de la Rosa white port
Berrys' St James's (sic) Finest reserve Port, Quinta de la Rosa
Berrys' Own Crusted 2006
Berrys' William Pickering 20yr
Dow Quinta Senhora da Ribeira 2008
Croft 2007
Quinta de Roriz 2007
Fonseca 2000
Niepoort Quinta do Passadouro 2000
Quinta do Vesuvio 1997
Smith Woodhouse 97
Gould Campbell 94
Fonseca 92
Graham 91
Dow 80
Graham Malvedos 79
Fonseca 77
Dow 77
Taylor 70
Warre 70

[Note to apostrophe monitor: the above Finest Reserve is quoted as from the Port Walk tasting note sheet; I did not verify against the bottle!]

Most of the bottles were in good condition (one very hot bottle of D77 being the primary exception) though I think several would have benefitted from a slightly longer decant; I understand they were mostly decanted at around 17:00, and the event ran from 18:30 to 20:30; some noticeably improved at the end compared with the start.

Highlights for me were:
- Vesuvio 97, very fruity, huge flavour, long aftertaste, very tasty
- Grahams 91, which I seem to be impressed with each time I try it
- Fonseca 77, slightly hot, but very tasty
- Warre 70, which is one of my favourites anyway
The W70 was an Oporto bottling, which was not as good as the bottle from the WvF night; I need to check back and find out if that one was EB or OB (which also fed into another interesting discussion on EB vs OB...). Overall it was a pleasant, relaxed evening with some interesting conversation; I will definitely plan to attend again next year (and hope I can get a ticket before they sell out this time).
Finally thanks again to Rob for the ticket!

[DRT]

!
Berrys' St James's (sic)
!
[Note to apostrophe monitor: the above Finest Reserve is quoted as from the Port Walk tasting note sheet; I did not verify against the bottle!]

The positioning of "(sic)" suggests you are doubting the correctness of St James's? It is correct.