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Delaforce 1963 cork:

Delaforce 1963 bottle:

Cockburn 1963 bottle:

Cockburn 1963 cork and capsule

Paperwork.

Glasses from the side-ish:

Glasses from above:

Left-to-right: PMD, SRG, AHB (not in red jacket!), MRZ, JDAW, HEG. Camera held by SC.

That’s a shame because:

1. I’d like to meet you; and
2. your name begins with a “J†.

My wine of the night, though that vote was far from unanimous. A great colour of mature port, dark red, with neither purple nor brown. Nosing of an unspecified spice, and of chocolate. The spice strongly present in the mid-palate, though this feature identified by AHB (I think misidentified) as “bit...

It’s Fonseca from a great vintage. Is that enough? Do I really need to say more? OK, here goes. A lovely dark red, very similar to that of the Taylor 1963 , and a touch lighter on the nose. In the mouth starting with very very large fruit, and—like the Graham 1963 —great sticky mouthfeel that roll...

A very fine port indeed, and my number three of this horizontal. The Graham was mid-red, with surprisingly little to the nose. But the mouthfeel was a huge sticky perfectly-melded sugar-and-fruit thing that lasted ages and ages and longer in the mouth. Great stuff. Alas I have but one more bottle of...

I had trouble deciding whether the Noval 1963 was great or ordinary. Middling red to the eye. I, supported by SC, found lavender and sugar. PMD and SRG found black cherries. The taste started rich and fruity, and fatty unctuousness. Lovely. But the aftertaste was mostly alcohol. Some people had this...

I have had very little experience of OBV. Indeed, the only sample of it that I could recall was an OBV 1972 drunk eight days previously. Mid-red, nosing of rich well-melded sugar. The initial taste is lovely, heavy soft fruit, which promptly disappeared to be replaced with crude alcohol. Great at th...

The darkest red, and nosing strongly of mint. Much much drier than the others, HEG correctly saying “almonds†. Too dry for my taste, though the dryness particularly liked by SC.

Ahhh, slight embarrassment. It had no label. Nor did the one AHB took away. But I have just retrieved the ones hidden at the top-back of the rack, and one of these similar-looking bottles has a decent amount of label, saying that it is Quinta do Noval, but shipped by Hedges and Butler. I don’t think...

Ahhh, slight embarrassment. It had no label. Nor did the one AHB took away. But I have just retrieved the ones hidden at the top-back of the rack, and one of these similar-looking bottles has a decent amount of label, saying that it is Quinta do Noval, but shipped by Hedges and Butler. I don’t think...

Very pink, and quite pale. A big nose heavy with spice. Loved the nose. SRG found “smokey† (yes, maybe, a bit) and HEG found “marzipan† (exactly right: marzipan!). In the mouth big, with good length, Simon’s smoke, spice and well-melded sugar, liquorice. An excellent junior Taylor.

Mid-deep red, a most satisfactory colour. I took no note on the nose, but loved the mouthfeel: huge long sticky red sugar. A slightly junior Fonseca, almost. And I’m having another bottle next weekend: hurray!

Very pale pink. Thin nose, that SRG thought contained “woodiness†. Thin glace cherries, light, and little aftertaste. Nothing wrong with it: just a never-large Cockburn grown old.

The results of the experiment are described here.

This not-Noval Hedges and Butler 1963 started by confusing me: Benson and Hedges? Lambert and Butler? But eventually I mastered the name. Not the port though: overall very spirity. To behold light pink fading to yellow, and translucent. Heat. Alcohol. Spirity. Not favoured at all, not in this compan...

Noval , part of a 1963 horizontal At my father’s in Sussex, on Saturday 2nd February 2008. Links to relevant threads: Review of evening as a whole ; Hedges and Butler 1963 magnum ; Cockburn 1963 ; Croft 1963 ; Delaforce 1963 ; Dow 1963 ; Fonseca 1963 ; Graham 1963 ; Offley Boa Vista 1963 ; Taylor 1...

1963 Taylor , part of a 1963 horizontal At my father’s in Sussex, on Saturday 2nd February 2008. Links to relevant threads: Review of evening as a whole ; Hedges and Butler 1963 magnum ; Cockburn 1963 ; Croft 1963 ; Delaforce 1963 ; Dow 1963 ; Fonseca 1963 ; Graham 1963 ; Offley Boa Vista 1963 ; Ta...

1963 Offley Boa Vista , part of a 1963 horizontal At my father’s in Sussex, on Saturday 2nd February 2008. Links to relevant threads: Review of evening as a whole ; Hedges and Butler 1963 magnum ; Cockburn 1963 ; Croft 1963 ; Delaforce 1963 ; Dow 1963 ; Fonseca 1963 ; Graham 1963 ; Offley Boa Vista...