New York, 29 October 2007

[jdaw1]

The presence of Alex B. in New York triggered a tasting (arranged via this thread) to which:

• Alex B. brought Kopke 1985;
• jdaw1 brought Warre 1985 and Warre 1977;
• g-man+♀ (Stephanie) brought Sandeman 1977 and Rebello Valente 1977;
• Bob Heckart brought Graham 1985.

This thread contains the review of the evening as whole.

[jdaw1]

On the east side of the table sat, north to south, photographer AHB, then jdaw1, then architect Cary Paik.

[jdaw1]

On the west side of the table sat Jeff Ghi (nearest), Stef, and Bob Heckart

[jdaw1]

Bottles: Warre 1977, Warre 1985, Graham 1985, Kopke 1985, Rebello valente 1977, Sandeman 1977.

[jdaw1]

… with the two decanters containing Warre 1977 and Warre 1985.

[jdaw1]

The Rebello Valente 1977 had bottle stink, so late in the evening we substituted larger glasses. The visual effect was that of a Claes Oldenburg.

[jdaw1]

Alex B. brought his usual tasting glass. We argued about who was more retentive, and seemed to agree on collective guilt.

[jdaw1]

Pictures of the glasses taken early in the evening.

[jdaw1]

The consensus seemed to be that the restaurant indeed had good fries and great steak; that the profiteroles indeed required an extra-large helping of chocolate sauce, and that a suitably fantastic time was had by all.

[DRT]

Looks like a fun night was had by all. Thanks for the pictures, Jdaw.

Incidentally, that glass in it's funny little coffin is always with AHB wherever he goes. Did he keep all the cork fragments?

Derek

[Conky]

The photo's do add a depth, well done. Isn't the Rebello77 so much lighter!
I'll look forward to reading your thoughts on the Ports and the evening.

Alex.
Did you have to nip off to chop down some redwoods at some stage in the evening? (See,I couldn't crack that appauling joke without photo's).

The US, and not a 2003 in sight. Bravo!

Alan

[jdaw1]

Wife has complained that, on my return, I walked heavily and opened and closed doors noisily. Other than that, feeling OK this morning.

[g-man]

oof I was miserable ...

nailed by the early morning conf call ....

I am a blubbering idiot now.

[Andy Velebil]

Great pics and looks like all had a great time. I love that large glass...

Never mind the tree trunk that Alex always has, how about his favorite plaid shirt

Alex gets one day to recover before a few more of us Yanks make him drink again

[AHB]

Incidentally, that glass in it's funny little coffin is always with AHB wherever he goes. Did he keep all the cork fragments?

One should always be prepared for those unexpected eventualities when strangers offer you mature vintage ports. The best way is with your own glass!

[DRT]

Never mind the tree trunk that Alex always has, how about his favorite plaid shirt

Andy,

Be very carefull. That's Alex's favourite Offline shirt which I have seen many times over the past 2 years. It gives him special powers, just like Samson's hair. With the shirt and hunk of oak Alex is a force to be reckond with. Whatever you do, DO NOT try to touch the shirt - you will live to regret it

Derek

PS: The main reason for the red checked shirt is that no one can see the dribbles at the end of the night

[Andy Velebil]

PS: The main reason for the red checked shirt is that no one can see the dribbles at the end of the night

That was my thought...I need to get me one of those shirts

[AHB]

Did you have to nip off to chop down some redwoods at some stage in the evening?

This is my traditional port drinking wear. Note that despite the close proximity of the camera to my shirt you cannot make out any of the port stains or spills that slopped down my front during the evening. Very carefully chosen clothing that will probably also be used tonight.

Anyway, you're just jealous...

[AHB]

Other than that, feeling OK this morning.

I was a bit "seedy" first thing in the morning, but by the time I had had my venti Earl Grey tea, fruit salad for breakfast and sat on the train for an hour I was fine. 10am meeting was no problem at all.

Thankfully Andy has an earlier start than me tomorrow!

Alex

[AHB]

The tasting notes for the individual ports are posted elsewhere, but I thought a summary might be useful of our thoughts on the overall wines. Towards the end of the evening we went around the table and said which of the ports was our port of the night. The voting was:

jdaw1 - (1) Graham 85 (2) Warre 77 (3) Kopke 85
Cary - (1) Sandeman 77 (2) Rebello 77
Jeff - (1) Warre 85 (2) Kopke 85 (3) Rebello 77
Bob - (1) Warre 77 (2) Graham 85
Steff - (1) Warre 77 (2) Graham 85
AHB - (1) Warre 77 (2) Sandeman 77

I walked back to the subway station with Jeff and Steff and we had an interesting conversation about what the differences are between a mature wine (the Warre 77 was seen as the most mature of the evening) and a younger wine with more "oomph" in it. We didn't come to any conclusion as to which was a better type of wine - just that different people prefer different things!

It was a great evening and I just want to thank everyone for making it fun.

Alex

[Simon Lisle]

I know it's a bit sad but looking at the pictures of the port in the glasses the Sandeman's looks a bit cloudy and the warres 77 looks to me by quite a bit to have the best depth of colour(could be the reflection of Alex's shirt though)

[g-man]

the sandeman was definitely cloudy and i t hink that I have the blame for a rather bumpy subway ride in the morning.

I'd have to say, until after i saw the pics, i didn't even realize alex was wearing red!!!

=)