The Staffordshire Record Office has a collection of copies of letters written by Alfred H. Finch of Tiverton in Devon to his wine merchant, Stanley Blood of W.H. & J. Joule of Stone in Staffordshire. The author was born in 1874, married in January 1903, and was deceased by April 1957.
- On 19th May 1951 he wrote, after comparing Gould Campbell 1927, Gould Campbell 1934, and Tuke Holdsworth 1927: “Vintage Port is becoming one of the pleasures of a bygone civilisation, fast disappearing.”
Other bon mots:
- 16th October 1953, at the end of a report on a comparative tasting of GC27 (“as a standard of reference”) versus Graham 1942 and 1945: “I don't think the combination of Graham and the Portuguese bottlers produce such an attractive get—up (cork, label and dirt) as the English exponents of the art. Joule's dirt is much more realistic.”
- 18th October 1954: “Wine prices remain forbidding. … I wish you could tell me, as a matter of curious interest, what sort of people are prepared to pay 360/- for Vintage Port.” [360/- per dozen is, per bottle, 30/- = £1.50.]