ThePortForum.com

Overtired and emotional

The trouble is that there is a whole industry based on wide boys offering money to people for their claims. You can see it advertised on taxis and daytime TV. You would be suprised what people will say for a quick £150 - £300. That there is an industry in sourcing claims corrupts the whole process a...

Overtired and emotional

Broached a bottle on Thursday. Last night, it was awful, almost undrinkable. Tonight, at around 48 hours, much more agreeable, albeit simple and straightforward. I'll wait a year or two before the next tasting.

Overtired and emotional

I just Googled it....... http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 78,1413917

I was twenty years out, but the report was even better than I recalled.

Overtired and emotional

There was a story circulating years ago that a Russian tank crew stationed in Czecho sold their tank for a crate of vodka. It was supposed to have happened in the 60's, I think. There is, in that tale, heroic and unconquerable simpicity.

Overtired and emotional

Champagne is fine stuff, but, everywhere, it demands such a premium. Even when there are deals to be done, the white burgundy etc you can buy for the same price will be streets ahead in quality.

The odd time I have been in funds, I buy champagne, but other times, it just looks like real pain.....

Overtired and emotional

the sheer awfulness of human existence and dread of the future is overcome by a determination to live until those lovingly cellared wines reach maturity.

Overtired and emotional

My only acquaintance with this shipper has been through the Forum. However, this month, I have had a very pleasant introduction. My club in Manchester does not have an extensive cellar, but a recent purchase of this vintage is now on offer and at a very advantageous price. It is undoubtedly very you...

Overtired and emotional

I took the train to work today. Waiting to buy my ticket, I overheard a suit (tieless), carrying a beautiful briefcase, ask for a single return ticket. To his credit, the booking clerk/station master refrained from making the man wait until he worked out what he ought to say.

Overtired and emotional

For me, the sign came last autumn when Farr Vintners began again to e mail me after several years absence. AS in many sectors, very old mailing lists are being dredged up.

Overtired and emotional

Arguably the best means of avoiding mustiness is to refill the decanter as soon as it has been emptied.

Overtired and emotional

So far, my decanters have avoided disaster by being placed in a two pint measuring jug in a quiet corner. Once most water has run off, any residue tends to evaporate if left without stopper. That seems also to avoid any musty smells lingering, as noted elsewhere.

Overtired and emotional

Final glass on Tuesday remained very well balanced and agreeable. I did not expect it to last so well.

Overtired and emotional

Mrs H Your snoring was appalling last night. Kept me awake for hours...... Did you drink port last night..................Even Rocky (the cat) wondered what the noise was............ O & E I suffer from catarrh....... Sadly, Mrs H's love of vintage port was blunted years ago by the savage migrai...

Overtired and emotional

That has been an interesting experience. When I drew the cork there was a curious burnt whiff which blew away immediately on decanting. The colour was deeper, towards ruby, than I had expected for a wine of this age. Three hours later there was not a lot of fruit but immense power and depth. At this...

Overtired and emotional

Many thanks. I shall try to remember to track the various stages.

Overtired and emotional

Well, that was another thought. Say, over two or three evenings. Do you think that too ambitious?

Overtired and emotional

But if you killed of people who were in their 30's or 40's, what a treat we would all miss. Let your Madeiras achieve maturity; many live longer than most humans. An end to infanticide!

Overtired and emotional

I have just one bottle which I would like to drink soon. I would expect that it needs, say, five hours, but after looking at Alex's tasting note wonder if longer is advisable? The bottle has been well cellared, and has a good level, mid neck or so. Any advice?

Overtired and emotional

I have lived close to Salford all my life and pass through each day, and yet, I have never heard of John Cooper Clarke.

Overtired and emotional

It is probably not a good idea to taste, say, a 5 year old against a vintage. The paralells with with different grades of port are obvious and just as valid. If you can taste several vintages wines, then it is a great experience. The 10 and 15 year olds are pretty good, but, for me, the 5 year olds ...

Overtired and emotional

If the J L-L book is published, it will be the definitive work. I cannot recommend highly enough his "Wines of the Northern Rhone". His previous works are, I think, long out of print. Robert Parker's *wines of the Rhone" is pretty good but is too old now to be very useful for the Rhon...

Overtired and emotional

is it significant that there are so few female posters? Does that speak to port and masculinity or the geekiness of blogging and masculinity?

Overtired and emotional

It turned out nicely. The cork was beginning to fail, the failure disguised by an odd plastic seal, looking the same as the one in your picture. Tasted after a couple of hours, it was marred by a slight spirity finish, but after six hours its fruit was quite forward. It was, by evening, well balance...

Overtired and emotional

This is good service, if ever I saw it.

My bottle has a good level and a very sound capsule. It will be a disappointment if it has gone. Will report next week.

Thanks.

Overtired and emotional

Putting it another way, given that whenever you read in the press about something of which you have some knowledge, it is wrong, would you ever be wholly truthful to questions in the public arena. Whatever answer you give will be twisted out of recognition. You will say whatever you think will produ...

Overtired and emotional

Rocky as things were in August, Uncle Tom was clearly ahead of the pack. Perhaps Port Forum chaps should now be given positions of power and influence, akin to a Roman dictator when the going really got tough.

Uncle Tom = Cincinnatus?

Overtired and emotional

A lonely bottle has for some years awaited a fitting end; I had planned this for the coming weekend with some guests. The tasting note make me wonder whether this vintage (of this wine) is over the hill or whether it just needs a little extra care on decanting. Looked as if 6-8 hours would be a good...

Overtired and emotional

Normally I would not broach a vintage port less than fifteen years old, normally twenty. However, I heard that this one may mature early. Is it fair to conclude from your notes that it is better to give it a few years yet?

Overtired and emotional

Our collective jaw has dropped to the floor at the strange events enveloping the world, so that nothing one says could approach the meaningless drivel uttered by those sharing the blame for the cuurrent crisis.

Is this the first reference on this site to these evnts?

Overtired and emotional

If an individal gets something wrong, then he is probably more likely to acknowledge his error and correct it in private. In public life, is not the opposite inevitable?

Overtired and emotional

Good to read these notes. I have not had a bad bottle of this wine. Invariably seductive, deep, and charming.

Overtired and emotional

I drink because I love the stuff and enjoy the company of ther drinkers.

AS Churchill put it: "Alcohol has put more into me than it has taken out."

Overtired and emotional

It is fascinating how long a conversation can run with quite different understandings of what the 'question' means. Should the baseline be the point at which one is tempted to repeat the experience, or does one's baseline change as one becomes older and, with luck, more able to afford the better bot...

Overtired and emotional

Dow 77 has often been said to have a vegetal nose. Never saw it myself, but now we have proof!

Overtired and emotional

I think there is some confusion between recission and retraction. Recission is, in effect, the acceptance of a breach or misrepresentation which discharges or undermines a contract. As such, a recission is unconditional and final. A retraction is very much a subjective statement which could indeed b...

Overtired and emotional

Alex repeated a reliable piece of folklore, namely one glass of water for each glass of port. It is a trick which seldom fails.

Overtired and emotional

It is probably a question of how hungry you are. A French menu which contains an English translation tends to omit horse in English, even when it is on offer in French. I am incapable of touching a slug but will happily eat snails. I have eaten sheep's brains, but will under no circumstances eat fro...

Overtired and emotional

Interesting that you all seek a base line amoungst vintage ports which are supposed to be the summit of the port world. Where does that leave the rest?

Overtired and emotional

Always a problem to wrestle with. Hugh Johnson, rightly, in my view, suggests pecan or walnuts or a digestive biscuit (not shop bought). Anything more substantial, and I think that includes cheese, just seems to compete inelegantly with the depth and power of a vintage port. There are brutish wines,...

Overtired and emotional

It may be wishful thinking, but I feel that hangovers are caused by drinking poor stuff. Ergo, Port Forum members ought never to suffer them unless cruelly tricked or reckless. I associate hangovers with thumping headaches and nausea caused by 50 pence bottles of wine, and improvident drink mixing a...

Overtired and emotional

Julian

The current colour scheme is much easier on my defective eyes. (The colour chart hurt!)

Overtired and emotional

I have found the new scheme rather difficult to cope with, not in the sense of being unable to read the content, but in finding that the colours make me tire of reading quickly. I am red green colour blind; this may be a factor. Having said that, I would not criticise those who undertake the labour ...

Overtired and emotional

If Obama invites that woman to be his running mate, he had better hire a food taster.

Overtired and emotional

It was sad to read of the death, at just 63, of John Cossart. He had headed Henriques & Henriques since 1991. Their 10 and 15 year olds are a great entry to Madeira. Since his family has been in the trade for 200 years, let's hope the tradition continues. There is something about wine, and espec...

Overtired and emotional

Those who bag Munroes tend to develop an obsession for bagging them so Derek may well be doing a couple of dozen a year. What a thirst that could generate.

Overtired and emotional

Those who bag Munroes tend to develop an obsession for bagging them so Derek may well be doing a couple of dozen a year. What a thirst that could generate.

Overtired and emotional

A quick look over the Wine Society website, those of a couple of merchants, and a specialist provider of wine accessories showed little of interest to assist decanting. Only the specialist had a range of funnels, and they were clearly gift priced, being made of pewter, for example. What a surprising...

Overtired and emotional

My own tatste and experience favour much longer decanting than experts usually recommend. Having said that, last weekend I broached a bottle of Taylor 83, an underrated wine, I think, which 12 hours after decanting hit me with an unpleasant tannic smash. That abated quickly. The second night, it was...

Overtired and emotional

Now, if Andy can convinve Her Majesty's Government that a unit equals a bottle, then we are not just golden, we are FREE!

Drinkers of the world unite. you have nothing to lose but your chains!

Overtired and emotional

Congratulations on a great night, but are you going to tell Dawn Primarolo how many units of alcohol you consumed? Sounds like more than 5 a day.

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