may 6th tasting in the UK?

Organise events to meet up and drink Port.
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g-man
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by g-man »

Theme:

Something to cure a red eye from london :twisted: and flying out the very next morning to portugal port tasting
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

Sounds like a traditional "bring a blind bottle of vintage port to share" and then we can all make fools of ourselves guessing what the bottles are.

Who else is in? So far it is Jeff, Jacob and I ( :wink: ).

I suggest we meet at The Crusting Pipe at 5:30pm. I'll book The Office if it's free and we stay as fewer than 7.

Jeff - if you can, call ahead to Berry Brothers and see if you can make an appointment to have someone show you round the shop and tell you a little of its history. Mention both TPF and FTLOP and tell Berry's that you've been recommended to visit by both groups of port lovers. It would help if you take a look at their wine list and buy some port to collect the day of your visit and requested tour. (Tours are complimentary and for goodness sake, don't tip the sales assistant who shows you round.)

Other port places to visit - Portal restaurant, but that's a bit pricey; Vinopolis is worth a few hours of your time; then there's that port / wine bar next to Charing Cross station that 've been into once and can never remember the name - Jacob knows it though and might post to help me out.

Oh yes, and the Don restaurant close to Canon Street station and my office in London. Take a look at their website. The restaurant is in Sandeman's old London bottling plant and is quite a place with an eye-wateringly expensive wine list. Still, if you fancy lunch there on Friday May 6th then say so here and I can meet up with you guys for a quick lunch in the bistro.
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2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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jdaw1
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by jdaw1 »

AHB wrote:Who else is in? So far it is Jeff, Jacob and I ( :wink: ).
I’ll accept either possibility. One by grammatical logical; the other by custom.

When I visited NY the New Yorkers had a spread of Smith Woodhouse for me. Surely the subjects of Her Majesty could do as well for this visitor? Surely there is a minor house of which there could be a vertical in a minor key?
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g-man
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by g-man »

Btw, I'll have to be + 2 as my wife and wine drinking friend will be along (BBR sounds like a great idea, will probably pick up a few bottles for the dinner then)

Does bbr really only have 21 bottles on their port list? the youngest seemingly a dow 94?
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g-man
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by g-man »

or if you guys are interested,

i have 1974 and 1975 california port style wines i can pack and ship.
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jdaw1
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by jdaw1 »

g-man wrote:i have 1974 and 1975 california port style wines i can pack and ship.
BBR better.
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RAYC
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by RAYC »

Unfortunately I am planning to take advantage of the run of public holidays to go on extended holiday out of the UK - although my plans are not yet set I think it rules me out of this one.

For wine-based entertainment, I can recommend "The Sampler" up in Islington as well. If you are in the vicinity of Berry's, Fortnums is also worth a look and has a nice selection of douro wines and port at surprisingly reasonable prices. Their own label vintage and lbv is good as well (either Passadouro or Secundum for the vp, I can't recall).

The easiest way to browse BBR for port is to go to the "buy wine" tab, click "browse wine", select the "16% to 30%" option from the grey column on the left and then sort the results by vintage. This pulls up their old madeiras and ports, as well as other bits and bobs (rivesaltes etc.). Currently they have some Croft '63, Gould '70 and Warre '80, though prices do not tend to be cheap (Taylor/Fonseca are particularly dear at BBR). Worth also calling the shop itself by phone - sometimes they have the odd bottle that is not listed on the main site, and i know for a fact they have a couple of mags of Vesuvio '94 at the moment.

EDIT: looks like the Sampler has a Kensington branch as well now, though have not been. Link below - they have a nice selection available for sampling and would be worth phoning both ahead of time (or checking back on the website) to see what bottles they have at the time of your visit (and when opened) http://www.thesampler.co.uk/store/
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JacobH
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by JacobH »

If we wanted to go a little down the theme route, I was wondering about suggesting the next informal tasting be themed around bringing a bottle of the Symingtons’ ‟double-barrelled” shippers: Quarles Harris, Smith Woodhouse and Gould Campbell, since they often do better at blind tasting than more major houses.
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RAYC
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by RAYC »

[url=http://www.theportforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4606&p=40280#p40280]here[/url] g-man wrote:I originally had the SW 80 and 83 rated very highly however once teh fonseca came out, they were both dropped by at least a level of complexity.

Still, some good ports, but the price is rightly so as the SW is unfortunately no first rate.
Might want to avoid basing it around SW!
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JacobH
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by JacobH »

Ok, scrap that idea! (Albeit that I am slightly concerned about RAYC’s knowledge of other posters’ posts.)
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g-man
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by g-man »

Called bbr, they do have some Symingtons’ ‟double-barrelled” shippers: Quarles Harris, Smith Woodhouse and Gould Campbell
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

Jeff +2, JGH, AHB

On that basis, we could put together a decent selection of 5-6 vintages from a shipper, or a decent horizontal of a particular year, or just choose a bottle and serve it blind - in which case I think I have chosen my bottle!

Jeff, and preference? Fonseca vertical? 1977 horizontal?
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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g-man
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by g-man »

AHB wrote:Jeff +2, JGH, AHB

On that basis, we could put together a decent selection of 5-6 vintages from a shipper, or a decent horizontal of a particular year, or just choose a bottle and serve it blind - in which case I think I have chosen my bottle!

Jeff, and preference? Fonseca vertical? 1977 horizontal?

nope no preference at all, good ol' wine searcher showed me where to hopefully pick up a few bottles for the day. A blind would be a fun exercise though.
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JacobH
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by JacobH »

AHB wrote:then there's that port / wine bar next to Charing Cross station that 've been into once and can never remember the name - Jacob knows it though and might post to help me out.
That’s Gordon’s; a great place, certainly worth visiting. Please add any other good venues to the Port in London thread!
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by benread »

Jeff,

Is 6th May still your plan for a London tasting? Saw on your "organizing" post you plan to be in Porto from 6th May unless I mis-understood you?

Still hoping I may just make 6th May if so. We get home from holiday late on 5th May.
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g-man
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by g-man »

yes, still plan to be
UK the night of the 6th to meet up with you guys

and 7th i'm flying out to portugal

the 6th keeps getting stuck in my head cuz it's my bday =)
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

I was looking at my diary for the next couple of weeks and spotted that I will be in London on May 6th - isn't that convenient!

So who is coming to meet up with Jeff for his very brief visit to the UK?

Venue: The Meeting Room, The Crusting Pipe, Covent Garden
Time: 5:30pm to about 11pm
Confirmed Attendees: Jeff+2, JGH, AHB
Possible Attendees: THRA

Theme seems to be "Bring a blind bottle to share"

I'll book the meeting room right now.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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benread
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by benread »

I am a possible. I will probably not know for certain until the day before as we only get back from holiday on 5th May.
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by jdaw1 »

First draft of the placemats.
  • More details needed about JGH’s other +1.
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by JacobH »

jdaw1 wrote:First draft of the placemats.
  • More details needed about JGH’s other +1.
Ok; will confirm.

If anyone fancies a pre-tasting warm-up at Gordon’s, let me know. It’s only a couple of minutes’ walk from the Crusting Pipe.
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by jdaw1 »

My error: JHG’s other +1.

Should first names be used?
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by jdaw1 »

Updated draft of the placemats.
  • JGH≠JHG, but confusion possible. So Ports named with first names.
  • More details needed about Jeff’s other +1.
  • Food menu to be added, when May menu published.
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by uncle tom »

Count me in..!

Tom
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by jdaw1 »

Updated draft of the placemats.
  • +THRA.
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Re: may 6th tasting in the UK?

Post by Deleted_User_1 »

I would like to attend please.
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