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The discussion about Benelux and the need for a service to be able to collect, pack, ship and deliver bottles purchased at auction made me sit down and work out the economics of what I used to do - to travel to an auction house and collect my purchases. (The furthest I ever went was Perth, Perthshir...

The emergency offline in London on January 3rd did happen. It took place at 67 Pall Mall and featured Kopke 1975 Colheita, Warre 1980, Fonseca 1963 and Fonseca 1934 (from Castle Raby). Attended by me, Martin and Nigel.

I've now had chance to collate everything people have offered onto a spreadsheet (I love a good spreadsheet) and have updated the first post with the allocation of seats and assignment of bottles. This allocation can and will change as people buy / discover / offer up older bottles. Essentially thou...

@ Alex - I am sorry if I came across as grumpy, I was attempting gracefully to resign my seat to those who enjoy this stuff (even) more than I do. I will enjoy reading the tasting notes. You didn't come across to me as grumpy; I apologise for making it seem that I thought you had. (We are nice and ...

Sorry John, I’ve never used Benelux Shipping.

I love the idea of using a decanter stand to catch the last few drips of Port!

And also a most wonderful place to be drinking it.

Where are you staying?

I might be about to commit heresy, and I am certainly suffering from pre-holiday-blues, so you may put this down to that. My attendance at this tasting now becomes less likely, not only because I have little port from before 1960, but also because the older it is the more I worry that other people ...

In the spirit of openness and honesty, with Michael’s offer to bring the 1924, I am considering replacing some of my younger vintages with older vintages which are not yet on the list. That would, in turn, trigger a re-working of who was bringing what. And who therefore has a seat at the dinner tabl...

Yes please. (Helps if I look at the right date in my diary!)

I love the idea of cellar reduction parties!

Hi Alex I would be interested if not too late. I have 1924 and 1927 as well as some of the newer vintages. I think I might have one other not listed but need to check at weekend. Michael, the 1927 or 1924 would certainly get you a seat at the table (sorry Phil). Let me know at the weekend what you'...

IMG_0812.jpeg An interesting thing happened the other day. Dining at the 1665 Bistro in the Mitre Hotel in Hampton Court I checked the wine list for Port, as I always do. Not bad, Barros 10YO Tawny and Barros 2018 LBV by the glass or bottle and Barros 2002 by the bottle (£120). But then I went to t...

Ouch, my head hurts. My plan is to try to put together as old a vertical as I can, giving seats round the table to the 8 people who can offer the oldest bottles. Currently that would be: Tony - something appropriate Charles - 1935 Harry - 1945 Me - 1948 (which also brings 1955, 1963 and 1970) Mike w...

Hmm. For clarity I should also share with everyone that I plan to bring all 4 bottles I’ve listed. I’m looking for people to bring different vintages from those. If everyone else brought 1 bottle, we'd have 11 between us. Of course, if someone was willing to bring a magnum then my OCD would be sooth...

PhilW wrote: ↑14:33 Tue 14 Jan 2025 Yes please. Could offer Justerini 60 (believed Taylor, though not definitive), T63 (which you already have so don't need), T66, T77 or T85.
(am assuming you mean VP and not SHTs btw)

You’re right, I do mean VPs. I’ll amend the first post appropriately. Thank you.

It's been a while since I last organised a London tasting, so here goes. Does anyone fancy getting together on a Monday in damp and dismal October to enjoy a Taylor Vintage Port vertical? When planning my drinking list of bottles to take out of my cellar during 2025, I found 4 bottles of Taylor were...

Tom has kindly offered to host us at The White Horse in Newport (Essex) on Thursday 11th December. The usual theme of The Unknown Shipper and His Peculiar Friends will be adopted. The usual procedure of the prior year attendees having first refusal will also be adopted with one exception — the last ...

April 2nd is not a good day for me — I am usually a little bit busy the day before the BFT. I have dinner with about 20 winemakers!

That is a really interesting looking bottle - there’s nothing I see on the pictures that makes me think it’s a fake but I’d really want to handle the bottle before a final conclusion.

I have some 1979 Malvedos, which isn’t a bad wine. Happy to open it alongside the 1979 Nacional.

You can also hire glasses and decanters from certain wine stores, which is very helpful if you don’t have much storage space. You hire, use, clean and return.

Honestly Rummy, with a big tasting like this one I usually just double decant and leave the stoppers off until I need to move the bottles. If you’re starting to taste at 12.00 I’d start decanting at about 08.00 and would decant Fonseca, Graham, Dow, Taylor first. The Pousada and Van Zeller I don’t k...

Bottle #1! Nice.

I’m definitely up for an 1878 horizontal. Just not next week. Sorry.

Out of interest, for those who stayed at the Cross Keys, how do you feel this worked compared to the Cricketers Arms? It was certainly easier to get a taxi from / to Saffron Walden.

The 2025 edition of the b.f.t. is being held in Church House, Westminster on Thursday 3rd April. Note that this year people and kit will need to be out of Church House (or in the loading bay) no later than 5pm. As in previous years, it is a trade only event and being a member of The Port Forum is, s...