A Celebration of St George's Day

[Alex Bridgeman]

April 23rd saw 8 of us gather together in the Crusting Pipe to celebrate the launch of The Port Society. We celebrated the launch in fine style, with port and steaks (or rare roast beef in my case). My sincere thanks go to Tom and Ray who provided all the port and food - an extremely generous gesture by them both.

The ports were an interesting and varied selection. We had:
Terra Feita 1986 - one of the gems that Ray discovered a few years ago and which has been glimpsed at tastings from time to time. Really quite a lovely wine.

Niepoort 2009 - cask sample. This really is rather an impressive young port.

Taylor's Special Vintage Character Lodge Port - from a 3 litre bottle filled in 1985! Paled by the comparison with its peers on the day, but a perfectly drinkable wine.

Niepoort 1959 colheita bottled 1977 - quite a rarity and a really lovely port filled with toffee, caramel and mandarins.

Butler Nephew 1955 - absolutely where I like my port to be; mature, elegant and really rather refined. My port of the day.

Dalva 1964 colheita bottled 1972 - very light in colour, elegant but lacking in depth to my taste.

What was particularly great about the day was the wide variety of "favourite port". The Niepoort 2009 was really appreciated by some, the Butler Nephew by me and the colheitas by others. Variety is the spice of life!

Thanks to everyone who helped to organise and contributed towards the day. A fitting way to celebrate the patron saint of England.

Oh yes, and I was told that Taylor Fladgate had declared Taylor, Fonseca, Croft and Vargellas Vinha Velha 2009 ports.

[jdaw1]

Links:

• The Port Society;
• A Celebration of St George’s Day: Review of the event as a whole;
• 1955 Butler Nephew;
• 1959 Niepoort colheita (bottled 1977);
• 1964 Dalva colheita (bottled 1972);
• NV Taylor’s Special Vintage Character Lodge Port;
• 1986 Terra Feita;
• 2009 Niepoort cask sample;
• Invitation to the launch, and arrangements;
• Placemats for the tasting at the launch.

[WS1]

Hi there,

sounds terrific; sadly i could not make it due to my yearly trip to Burgundy -> Cote Rotie -> Chateauneuf du Pape

Hope there will be more future gatherings of the Port society!

regards

WS1