Post
by RAYC » 15:02 Thu 10 Nov 2011
It was a very good night, with a deeply impressive level of gluttony and thirst for port on display across the board. By the end i had been drunk under the table by the others, which is not something that happens often!
I was very impressed by the Taylor 77, which i predicted would be my WOTN early on. As it happens, any of 5 of the glasses that i subsequently tasted (F70x2, Cr66x2, G63) had a good stake to that claim for me - testament to the quality of ports that evening and i am grateful we could agree on a fudged voting system to accomodate 3 equal picks (or, in AHB's case, 3 equal choices for 3rd place!). Since i have previously been underwhelmed by my post-1955 Taylor experiences and equally underwhelmed by many of my vintage 1977 experiences - I am very glad to be given this cause to re-evaluate (particularly in view of the relatively poor Taylor and vintage 1977 showing at the Matrix tasting).
Many thanks to jdaw1 for opening a prized magnum of F70 and conducting a very interesting decant experiment. Not only did none of us pick it (at least initially), but i think that there was even disagreement about which glass tasted more mature! This port is fabulous now, but i don't think it is yet at its peak.
The Croft 66s were also interesting - this is the second tasting in a row where duplicate blind ports have been brought - again, I don't recall anyone being anywhere close to spotting them! Both were a very nice drop indeed. 66s are my sweet spot at the moment.
Overall, a very successful evening. Though, since one bottle per person is clearly never enough, perhaps we should in future pre-agree in the organisation thread whether a modest bottle of VP should be decanted as an extra bottle to avoid the late-decant scenario that we had with the Malvedos and Cavadinha 92s...
Rob C.