Blind 1970 tasting, 15 July 2010, The Crusting Pipe

[AHB]

Another tremendous evening at the Crusting Pipe, looked after extremely well. Six of us gathered together to share five bottles and a magnum (thank you Christopher!) of port from the 1970 vintage, but served blind.

And we had the added bonus of a seventh person unexpectedly arriving to join us, which was a pleasant surprise.

Overall, I enjoyed the wines this evening. None were breathtaking but 6 of the 7 (Wolfgang very kindly brought an extra bottle in case we ran out - and we did! Thank you Wolfgang!) were very good and a real pleasure to drink. The seven wines were Gonzalez Byass, Quinta do Noval, Croft (in magnum), Warre, Martinez, Taylor and Dow. Only the Gonzalez Byass disppointed me.

The wines were served blind and we made the usual fools of ourselves trying to identify the wines. One of us managed two correct, one managed one correct and everyone else was totally wrong!

Wine of the night was the Warre with 3 first place votes, with the Taylor and the Noval in joint second place.

Yet another very enjoyable evening in the company of some very entertaining port lovers. Thank you to all who brought a better bottle that I did and for your company on yet another fun evening. More proof for me that port drinkers are great company.

[Chris Doty]

Another tremendous evening indeed. Thank you for organizing, Alex. While the wines as a whole performed very well, my expectations for the 1970 vintage were elevated by the small number of bottles that I've had previously from this vintage, which have all shown exceptionally well. While I thought all wines save the GB were drinking well, I was expecting a bit more complexity and completeness than was to be found.

My WOTN the was the Warre (90pts), which I thought was a very enjoyable and composed wine, but lacked some of the fruit and intensity that we found when I brought a different bottle from the same case to a prior TPF event.

I thought the Taylor (89), Dow (89) and Noval (88) all came quite close to eachother, and based on their reputations, I'd say the Noval well exceeded my expectation, whilst the Taylor fell quite a fair ways short.

I do think it is curious that in a tasting with such experts, everyone failed so miserably (stastically as a group, no better than random guessing) at identifying the shippers. Not sure I really know how to make sense of these results, except to chalk it up to a combination of bottle variation and the heat within the TCP.

Anyway, a very educational and enjoyable evening. Is the next one really not until September?!

[Glenn E.]

I do think it is curious that in a tasting with such experts, everyone failed so miserably (stastically as a group, no better than random guessing) at identifying the shippers. Not sure I really know how to make sense of these results, except to chalk it up to a combination of bottle variation and the heat within the TCP.

Or perhaps "house style" is marketing hype with regards to Vintage Port.

I can barely recognize house style in Tawnies with age, and those are (allegedly) deliberately blended to conform to a house style shortly before being sold and consumed. How could a shipper possibly create a consistent house style in VP, which must be bottled with whatever nature provided and then aged for 20-30 years before being consumed?

My belief is that house style is mostly a myth, or at best a vague target that overlaps considerably with everyone else's.

Sounds like you guys had a great evening, but that the Ports didn't show particularly well. That's too bad... the Taylor in particular can be quite stunning!

[WS1]

Hi there,

it was a great evening indeed. However my verdict on the ports is a bit different to yours. Overall the ports showed the longer the evening lasted not as great as they can be. However since I had only bad experiences with Taylor 1970 and Martinez so far, these were the best i had so far.
I found all Ports on that night decayed from the first glass onwards. Not in terms for power and flavour but in terms of complextity and palate excitement/taste. Since the temperature was still quite I high I fear that handicapped the performance of all the Ports that night. Overall since 1970 is such a great vintage we still had a very good Ports and a great night out indeed.

My WOTN was Dow closely followed by Noval and Taylor.

regards

WS1

[KillerB]

I am having a temporal shift problem here. I could swear that July is before September and that it is currently, July.

[KillerB]

Links for the TNs:

1970 Gonzalez Byass
1970 Quinta do Noval
1970 Croft
1970 Dow vintage port
1970 Warre vintage port
1970 Taylor vintage port
1970 Martinez vintage port

[AHB]

I am having a temporal shift problem here. I could swear that July is before September and that it is currently, July.

You are correct, it is July. There will be a blind 1970 tasting on 15 September 2010, in 2 months time. This tasting has already happened, is yet to happen, and is happening right now on a metaphorical and temporal sense.

I have posted the tasting notes for convenience. Whether I have already posted them, have yet to post them or am in the process of posting them as you read this this message, I cannot say. I can say that I am, will be and have been drinking port while writing this post.

Salut!

[DRT]

This thread has given me two distinct thoughts:

1. Why is it -6C with 55 mph winds and the risk of lightning in July?

2. I need some good Vintage Port.

Derek

PS: Hello from the east end of Glen Coe

[Andy Velebil]

This thread has given me two distinct thoughts:

1. Why is it -6C with 55 mph winds and the risk of lightning in July?

2. I need some good Vintage Port.

Derek

PS: Hello from the east end of Glen Coe

OMG, at least we know he is still alive. Hang in there man, you can do it.


(sorry for thread drift)

[Chris Doty]

Just found my notes from the evening. My TNs are finally up for those interested in greatness.