Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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Doggett
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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

Post by Doggett »

Tasting notes and a proper review to be posted when the mind is less foggy...

But for now, a massive thank you to Mike for arranging the tasting. It was an honour and a privilidge to attend, even if the the ports were a slight disappointment overall. I am most grateful to all those :tpf: members that have made me feel so welcome, and able to sample so many ports I had not had the chance to enjoy before.
Thanks also to Julian, Alex and all involved in the set up. I hadn't appreciated the effort involved and I applaud your efforts and enthusiasm for still putting in the work after many years of these events.

Finally it was lovely to meet lots of other folk from the forum and put faces to usernames! I hope to see you all again soon.

Thanks all,

Simon
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flash_uk
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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

Post by flash_uk »

Many thanks all for a fine evening. I have to say I did next to nothing on the organisation front, with Julian doing the hard work - thank you Julian. Also great to meet Simon. The 85s...hmmm...on the basis of this tasting, definitely a vintage to be selective about. I think it was CSD who observed that the quality does not run very deep, which I would now agree with.
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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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The glass photographs were taken before Tom arrived with the Delaforce, Sandeman, Gould Campbell, and Smith Woodhouse.
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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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Wine Of The Page:
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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

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Wine Of The Night:
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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

Post by SCP-DFF »

This is some serious sport. Very nice, guys.

Last night when I heard Julian come home I assumed that he'd be totally sloshed. I heard him go up to his office, then a big bang on the floor. If that big noise was his big body collapsing, something made me think that he was just fine and that if he passed out he'd just sleep it off. Luckily, I was wrong and he was just moving boxes around (as I was told this morning). My husband continues to boggle my mind.

Round 3 tonight?

Have fun, gentlemen!
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Chris Doty
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Re: Wed 25 Nov 2015, horizontal of 1985s, Boot & Flogger

Post by Chris Doty »

Splendid evening - thanks Jdaw for marshaling - entertainment not found anywhere else - and surely not the streets of Indranagar Stage II

Was fabulous to meet new young port enthusiasts - I hope the first of many similar gatherings on either side of the pond. :tpf:

In terms of global vintages for great wine 1985 deserves serious consideration. Fabulous in France, excellent in California, very good in Germany and Australia, and with at least Graham and Fonseca, enough port from the same class to complete any dinning/dabbing experience. 1985 also produced some excellent people

I have never been especially high on the remaining cast of the 1985 declaration on an absolute basis, but as a relatively cheap and reliable mature vintage, it seemed like the much needed safe harbor for drinking between 1970 and >1994

This evening did little to change my overall view, but the failure rate we observed was quite high and unusual. In all my years, I don't recall something like it. I asked each taster which wines he thought were flawed. I don't believe any two people gave the same answer...

Rupert
Harvey

Tony
MZ - Bacterial
Noval - Strange
Taylor - Flat

Axel
Calem - 2nd form
Taylor

Other Chris
No flaws (::pssst:: Churchill!)

Tom
Calem
Taylor
Graham
Noval
"possibly" MZ
"general lack of attention"

Flash
everything and nothing

Charles
MZ
Calem

Jdaw
Taylor - corked
Mz - Bacterial
Noval - VA

Ian
Noval - all over the shop
Gonzalez - murky / weird

Simon
Gonzalez - can't believe that's proper port
Taylor - i was expecting more
Fonseca - not as nice as i've had before

Chris
Mg - like smelling cotton candy from tim burton's carnival. curious, but not correct
Mz - corked
Delaforce - DNPIM. smelled worse than the Mz and I had exhausted my tolerance. I traded my glass to Axel for a bmw
Noval - I have had maybe 8 noval 1985s, and i'd say 6 or so have been of this manner. Very thin, cloudy - like vitamin water without the vitamins. At this point don't know if it is a flaw or just what the wine is. If this IS the wine - never buy it.
Graham - corked. not stanky corked, but just completely stripped of depth of flavor and well, flavor. A pity, as it has recently been my wine of the vintage.





Fonseca won my night (aside from the 1970 Offley we bought off the list!), but with an 88 pts, it is the lowest I have yet scored this wine, if memory serves. In my head, this should be in the low-mid 90s with upside at this stage. YMMV.

The following night, BBR were pouring Dow and Graham 1985 and both bottles showed much different (in my view, better) than ours. In fact, they would have come in #1 and #2 in my voting had they been included.

So, this is a frustration but it was still tremendous fun and I look forward to knocking on the 85s on the 17th of this month on the other side of the atlantic

woo woo
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