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• Review of the evening as a whole;
• 1955 Adam;
• 1955 Buckingham Palace Factory House Blend;
• 1955 Cockburn;
• 1955 Dow;
• 1955 Ferreira;
• 1955 Fonseca;
• 1955 González Byass;
• 1955 Graham;
• 1955 Mackenzie;
• 1955 Martinez;
• 1955 Niepoort;
• 1955 Quinta do Noval;
• 1955 Offley;
• 1955 Sandeman;
• 1955 Taylor;
• 1955 Warre;
• Placemats;
• Planning and arrangements.

Edit: and, with dinner,

• 1955 Chateau Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville in magnum.

GB55: orange-red. Nose ‟maybe slightly flawed”. Early-palate hot. Then horrible. The late-palate, in so far as I could be bothered to care, was OK. Likened by CRS to cough mixture.

In the first flight competition (Ad, BPFHB, C, D, Fr, F, GB, and G) scoring 4½ points, being ranked second by THRA, third by GEE and NN, and third-equal by an indecisive RAH.

In complete contradiction to those who included this in their three best wines of the flight/night my brief but descriptive note says:

"Urine nose. Yuck."

Deep tone of light red, 40% opaque. Lovely rich nose of gentle Christmas cake - very attractive. Mild entry, slightly flabby and fat; lacking a little acidity and therefore focus. Behind this lack of focus is a pleasant mandarin flavour. The aftertaste is full of concentrated mandarin juice and a lovely lavendar finish; unfortunately, one which fades quickly. 85/100.

This is BLUE COLLAR port. Feels like 1980s Pittsburgh. Hard hats, lunch pails, and denim. Brown sugar, light, a bit grim, a bit medicinal. Gruff, and not up the street of this dandy. 82 points.

Color: Medium dark.
Nose: Interesting floral note.
Palate: Entry sweet and pleasant, but then goes south a bit.
Finish: Similar to palate; nice.

Score: 89 points. My #3 of the first flight behind the Graham and Adams.