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G03, dark dark red, 80% opaque. Big and sumptuous, spice mid palate, lots of dark fruit especially blackberries. Liked.

G00, opened 22:15, decanted at 09:30. Dark dark red, 80% opaque. Mid weight, loverly dark fruit, great balance. Not super old bones in it, but in a great state right now.

G97, opened previous day then decanted 08:00. Dark dark dark red, 90% opaque. Palate had mint and dark cherries, with heat. Not in a good balance — more cellar time needed.

G94: dark dark red, 90% opaque. Light, hollow mid-palate; dark plum fruit, ending pleasingly dark-fruited and sweet. But junior to what it should be.

G91: glorious red, 40% opaque. Dirty nose. Same dirt showing in palate; weight of the shipper’s SQVP. Nose too wrong.

G85: opened 19:30 previous day, decanted 07:30 that morning. glorious red, 50% opaque. Showed very well, mid weight, with lots of lovely red fruit. Not huge. Junior to the TFP’s big-two 1985s. Nonetheless, I liked this a lot.

G83: a sillier colour than the G80 — dark dark dark red, 90% opaque. Notes were becoming brief: very vey dry mid-palate, then faint ending.

G80: a silly colour — dark dark red, 80% opaque. Intense plum fruit, big and sweet, likely with baga.

G77: red-pink, 30% opaque. Nose had maraschino cherries. Different to all older bottles: intensely maraschino, with slight spearmint. The contrast in style was very great.

G75: red-pink, 15% opaque. Sweet and softly ’75ish, being very light with lovely balance.

G70: opened the previous day, decanted 08:00. Not a real G70: soft, light, thin, brown sugar. Sweetness remains.

G66: glorious red, 30% opaque. Sub-par — light, bitter, a hint of red fruit, and cherries late. A shame, as others from this batch have been excellent.

G63: red-brown, 20% opaque. Nose slightly dirty — said by Martin C. to be “dusty”. Very light, heat prominent, faded and not right.

G60: decanted 07:21. Bottled by J Thompson. Mid weight, very long, maraschino cherries.

G55: decanted noon. Glorious red, 40% opaque. Black pepper, smoke, spice, string sweetness, and some heat. Excellent Port, but in this company, not in the top rank.

G48 : brown, 30% opaque. Brown sugar, just wonderful mixed spice incl. black pepper, and huge sumptuous orange. Later, the orange was stronger, marmalade-style, with soft spice. And very long. “This is perfect old Port. Just amazing.” Obvious WOTN. How could this not be everybody’s WOTN? Mysteries ...

G45: red-brown, 30% opaque. Soft, and intensely spicy. In great balcen, but not long. Laterm retasted, it had become much better longer. This wine is 79 years old, and still showing impressively well.

George and I tasted this very differently. G42 , having been decanted 20 minutes before first tasted. Red-pink, 40% opaque. Nose had no fruit. Initially palate intensely bitter, and oddly so, with spearmint and aniseed. Later it had softened and become gentler, but was still bitter, still powerfully...

That was fantastic. So many good Ports. even the few decisively less-good were still not bad. And the G48 was just magical.

Martin C.: thank you very much for arranging.

Current draft of the placemats (which were quite fiddly) added to the first post . Tom: please inspect — is this what you want? One small snafu in the placemats. The first post mistakenly lists Ben R attending rather than Ben P, and this has carried through onto the placemats. Thank you. Fixed, and...

I’m afraid I’m also busy in the last week of April, so please could I be put onto the reserves in case I can get my hearings schedule thinned down. … I can’t make the new date so if I could be parked on the reserves …my diary is rammed in April and May. I am pretty busy next week and it’s unlikely ...

• Soup;
• Sirloin blue + skinny fries;
• Welsh usual.

Referencing earlier discussion, we have previously only assigned permanent abbreviations for brands which have released vintage ports for ~3 vintages or more; do these meet that criteria? is that criteria still reasonable? Very reasonable. And I had forgotten that. Ph , for Quinta da Pacheca ? Obse...

Current draft of the placemats (which were quite fiddly) added to the first post . Tom: please inspect — is this what you want? I’ve changed two of the names, to Tecedeiras (no Q.) and Quinta Seara D’Ordens (minus a preposition). My guess is that you don’t care. Edit: later, Q das readded to Tecedei...

For the Young Turks tasting, more abbreviations are needed. Please comment on the following. Ph , for Quinta da Pacheca ? Observe that already blocked are PA (Quinta da Pedra Alta), Pç (Poças), and Pe (Petre). Gv , for Quinta da Gaivosa? Tc , for Tecedeiras ? SO , for Quinta Seara D’Ordens ? Po for ...