ThePortForum.com

My heartfelt congratulations - it must be a real relief to finally have managed to achieve something that you have been trying to complete for so long. I am so pleased for you that the Dow '70 is showing well.

Oh yes, and well done on that divorce thingy.

Before we get too carried away, let me remind you of the two purposes of the Vargellas tasting: (1) to compare the difference made in bottling the 1967 vintage 2 years after harvest and 3 years after harvest; and (2) to relax in the company of other port lovers, to drink some fine port and to celebr...

Wolfgang,

Delighted you could join us on the forum. Keep an eye on the many informal small offlines that we organise from time to time. We use these as an opportunity to drink ports that we would not open if we were drinking on our own but enjoy opening to share.

Alex

At the 1970 tasting on 30 January 2009 in London, the Fonseca 1970 was badly corked.

I've seen or drunk current crusted ports from Dow, Fonseca (who started in 2001) and Grahams.

I've also drunk historic crusted bottlings from Martinez (bottled 1968) and Noval (bottled 1962).

Sadly, my drinking experience can't help answer the question about the possible gap in the 1990s.

That's an interesting line-up. I am looking forward to reading what you thought of those wines when compared to each other.

Stories of the troubles in Belfast remind me of the time I was locked into a pub in Portadown during marching season. Outside the pub we could hear a Fife and Drum band getting closer and then all hell broke loose with fighting and missiles being thrown around, police sirens going off and the occasi...

JacobH wrote:Perhaps we could do it as a Mature (60s-ish) v. Young (90s-ish) tasting?

Personally, I would prefer to try and find some other mature vintages of Vargellas that are not too pricey. For example, Ancient & Modern Wines have the 1972 for £40.

DRT wrote:Do you think we should include the Vargellas 1958?

Absolutely we should - just not this particular bottle!

No, please do not read too much into the lack of posting other than the fact that much port was consumed and good conversation was had. I should also thank Alex and Axel for their very kind hospitality in hosting my brief visit on my last trip to Germany while working for my soon-to-be-former employ...

Hi KSCO2

We look forward to sharing some ports - or at least some conversations about port - with you in the future.

From what little I know about the SAC, the fact that you have to travel frequently to the US must be a great help to the finances of indulging in fine wines and vintage ports!

Alex

Given the company, I would nominate a bottle of Vargellas 1964 as my contribution. Not sure of dates, however. I need to get my new job under my belt to understand what my travel and other commitments will be. The good news is that my office will be on the same train line as I use to get home from a...

benread wrote: How about a QDV offline theme!

Nice idea. I have a couple of bottles of mature vintages of Vargellas and it would be great to open them in like company.

Perhaps a young port, tasting of blackcurrant juice, doesn't count as alcohol.

I'm interested in trying a few colheitas, having relatively little experience with them. I do know that in my new role I will need to travel in to London once or twice a month, but I don't yet know when I will next be sent in. I probably have most chance of making a London offline towards the end of...

I've been a bit busy the last couple of days so was not able to post on the tasting until now. We started on time and found TCP packed. The three of us (Ben, Jacob and I) squeezed around one of the tables in the back and were initially told that we could not eat off the dinner menu unless we sat at ...

A first anniversary is a paper anniversary, so you should open a bottle of port which has a paper label or paper sello. Does that help you to decide? Hmm. Perhaps it doesn't, OK. I vote for the colheita only because you can drink them slightly chilled and that may be a welcome relief in the heat of ...

Are we into meaningless drivel yet?

Or perhaps a merchant ship which carries dairy products but doesn't go into deep water?

g-man wrote:I shall try such feat in the tropical jungles around Thailand during the honey moon!

will post pics =) have a great 2 weeks everybody!

Are you on honeymoon with Uncle Tom? I think he said he was in Thailand...

Placemats printed and (hopefully) accompanying me into London tomorrow.

I would also vote for not changing the initials of the person who made the first post. I don't tend to use the information on who the poster was, just read the note if I want to know what someone thought of the port. I vote to leave things alone on the initials of the poster. But linking to a name a...

KillerB wrote:Much as I would like to attend this, I'm sorry to say that I have to attend a funeral in Lancashire.

Sorry to hear that. Hope everything goes as well as it can on days like this.

The use of a funnel has to be trialled before being offered to everyone as a working concept - when I bought it I didn't have any miniature bottles with me (I realise this may come as a surprise to some who read this post, but I admit I was not properly prepared for this shopping trip into town) and...

In addition to a small number of the 60cl (I love that size) sample bottles, I have also invested 79p into a small food grade plastic funnel.