1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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jdaw1
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1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

Post by jdaw1 »

To celebrate the Quinquagenary of AHB, he arranged a horizontal of 1963s in Wokingham at The Cantley House Hotel (evenings of Friday 11th and Saturday 12th October 2013) and The Walter Arms (lunch on Saturday 12th), and two evening Champagne tastings for our better halves. Sadly the venue was not able to accommodate all AHB would have liked to have invited. Diaries had been blocked since early 2012, and bottles had been gathered for most of a decade before that. A splendid weekend indeed.
Port
Placemats (and parameters by which constructed).

Evening, Friday 11th October 2013 at The Cantley House Hotel
Image Image Image

1963 Viera de Souza;
1963 Quarles Harris;
1963 Gould Campbell;
1963 Cockburn;
1963 Graham;

1963 Krohn;
1963 Poças;
1963 Morgan;
1963 Avery;
1963 Fonseca;

1963 Rebello Valente;
1963 Quinta de la Rosa;
1963 Sandeman;
1963 Dalva;
1963 Constantino.

Four bottles were added:
2010 Niepoort Coche Branco;
1966 Château Batailley (magnum);
1863 Burmester;
1977 Warre (tappitt hen).


Afternoon, Saturday 12th October 2013 at The Walter Arms
Image Image Image

1963 Quinta do Sibio;
1963 Real Vinicola;
1963 Real Companhia Velha;
1963 Adams;
1963 Royal Oporto;

1963 Dolamore;
1963 Berry Bros & Rudd;
1963 Taylor;
1963 Croft;
1963 Niepoort;

1963 Mackenzie;
1963 Feuerheerd;
1963 Offley;
1963 Martinez.


Evening, Saturday 12th October 2013 at The Cantley House Hotel
Image Image Image

1963 Messias Quinta do Cachão;
1963 Warre;
1963 Dow;
1963 Quinta do Noval;
1963 Quinta do Noval Nacional;

1963 J. H. Andresen;
1963 Borges & Irmão;
1963 Delaforce;
1963 Pinto dos Santos;
1963 Cavendish;

1963 Gonzalez Byass;
1963 Cálem;
1963 Cálem Quinta da Foz;
1963 Burmester;
1963 Ferreira.

One bottle was added:
Martinez Crusted bottled 1973;


Champagne
Placemats.

Evening, Friday 11th October 2013 at The Cantley House Hotel (‟Is Patience Worthwhile?”)

NV Moët & Chandon, Purchased recently;
NV Moët & Chandon, Cellared 1 year;
NV Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top, Purchased recently;
NV Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top, Cellared 2 years;
NV Etienne Dumont, Purchased recently;
NV Etienne Dumont, Cellared 3 years.

Evening, Saturday 12th October 2013 at The Cantley House Hotel (‟Champagne: The Whole Spectrum”)

NV Duval Leroy Blanc de Blanc, Sainsbury;
NV Waitrose Own Label Blanc de Noir;
Mystery bottle;
NV Krug;
NV Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top;
2002 Heidsieck Monopole Gold Top;
2000 Nicolas Feuillatte;
1996 Pol Roger.
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

Post by jdaw1 »

A fascinating first session. Or, more accurately, fascinating first sessions. Some blossomed from mediocre to lovely (most obviously Fonseca); others fell from sublime to mediocre (Krohn). The early and the late evenings were quite different.

Which added complexity to the voting. I said explicitly that I was voting the wines as they were at 21:30, when Krohn was a joy. But had I voted as of midnight, Kh would not have made the medal table, whereas the likes of Fonseca would have.

Good showings also from Gould Campbell, Constantino, Sandeman and de la Rosa, Cockburn.

A fine evening. Next up, coming soon, lunch.
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

Post by RonnieRoots »

Happy birthday Alex, good to see you celebrated in style. :)
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

Post by CaliforniaBrad »

Happy Birthday! And holy cow, THAT is a lineup.
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Pictures of bottles and capsules have been posted. Credit: most of these were taken by Andy V, a few by Axel P. More pictures coming to this thread.
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Friday evening, all poured.
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Saturday lunch, all poured.
Image

(No such picture for Saturday evening, as that was mostly delivered to seated people.)
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Friday evening glasses:
jdaw1 wrote:Image Image Image
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Glasses, Friday evening, by JDAW
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Glasses, Friday evening, by ADV
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Glasses, Friday evening, by RAH
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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jdaw1 wrote:Image Image Image
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Glasses, Saturday lunch, by JDAW
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Glasses, Saturday lunch, by ADV
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Glasses, Saturday lunch, by RAH
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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jdaw1 wrote:Image Image Image
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Glasses, Saturday evening, by JDAW
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Glasses, Saturday evening, by RAH (two of the three pages)
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

Post by benread »

This was a fabulous weekend. 43 different vintage ports. 1 South African "port". One vintage from 1863. One 1973 crusted. My first ever Tappit Hen (amongst many other 'firsts'). The major firsts being the collection of 'significant others' (which may or may not prove ultimately to have been a good idea!) and none of us leaving to catch thev10.xx from London xxxxxx!

AHB's hospitality, planning and organisation are all to be applauded - LOUDLY!

My wines of the weekend were Dow, Noval National and Croft. And I recall a comment to the effect that one attendee had experienced the Dow recently being even better. Wow.

There were no 'Dotyisms' for a change, but quote of the weekend must be 'a Tappit Hen is the perfect size for 14 men - who have just shared 16 bottles of port and need a quiet nightcap'!

Thank you Alex. Enjoy your birthday next weekend.




Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
Ben
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Vintage 1970 and now proud owner of my first ever 'half-century'!
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Friday evening:
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Saturday lunch:
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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Saturday evening:
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

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The voting for the weekend needs a wider picture than phpBB can easily accommodate, so right-click and open in a new tab.
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

Post by jdaw1 »

Some links:
Review which includes links to the Champagnes; Placemats and their Parameters;
• Fri evening 1963s: VS QH GC Ck G | Kh Mg Av F | RV Rs S Dl Cn;
• Sat aftern’n 1963s: Sb RVi RCV Ad RO | Dm BBR T Cr Ni | Mk Fd O Mz;
• Sat evening 1963s: MC W D N NN | A B&I Df PS Cv | GB CáF B Fr;
• Others: 1863 Burmester, 1977 Warre (tappitt hen), Martinez Crusted bottled 1973, 2010 Niepoort Coche Branco, 1966 Château Batailley (magnum).
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Re: 1963 Quinquagenary, Wokingham, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Oct 2013

Post by Axel P »

Likewise with the NN 1931 there are two kinds of people on this planet: Those who have been at Alexs monumental 1963 tasting and those who wanted to be.

I enjoyed extremely good company, lots of good food (the british cuisine is not too bad after all) and, yeah, a couple of good wines as well.

An unmisseable weekend sponsored by an extremely generous organiser.

Axel
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