Dublin - 6th March 08

[DRT]

AHB and I made made arrangements to meet up with Erik from FTLOP and his friend in Dublin to taste some port and bring yet another Netherlander into the Offline fold. Unfortunately, Erik and his friend couldn't make it but AHB and I struggled on regardless.

AHB had arranged for a Vesuvio 97 and a Ramos Pinto 94 to be opened and decanted by the kind chaps at BBR in Dublin that morning so that he could pick them up ready to pour just before the offline. A very civilised start and the first time we have used "staff" to perform this tast for us

When I arrived at the airport I picked-up an email from Justin Kneeshaw, another FTLOP member, asking where we were meeting up. A couple of emails and a phone call later and we had our first Irishman at an Offline. What a truly internantional bunch we are. Perhaps we deserve a seat on the UN Security Council?

AHB and I kicked-off proceedings with a pint of Magners and Guinness respectively accompanied by steak and chips. Before we finished we were joined by Justin who instantly increased the Guinness count to two and also had himself a steak and chips. Port time.

First up was the task of decanting the unknown half bottle that Justin had kindly brought along. Especially kind as he was driving and therefore could not have much to drink and would be limited to the odd sip throughout the evening. AHB removed the brown/red wax from the top of the bottle using the edge of his trusty wooden box as an improvised hammer. I then extracted 2/3rds of the cork and pushed the remainder into the bottle. We then decanted into a clean pint pot using a collapsable funnel provided by Jdaw and a clean cotton hankerchief brought along by Justin. This was very much a team effort.

The cork immediately revealed that this half bottle contained Cockburn 1947. Very good. It was duly decanted and we were ready for the off.

As you might expect, AHB took extensive notes on the wines. Justin and I did not. I will leave AHB to describe the wines as (a) he has the notes and (b) I had a head full of snot so there is little point in me explaining what they all smelled and tasted like

Justin was great company and AHB have laid the ground for his attendance at future offlines, both in Dublin and the UK. The fact that he has more Cockburn 1947 in his cellar certainly assures him of a place at the table for a forthcoming Cockburn Vertical

A splendid evening in very good company.

Derek

[Alex Bridgeman]

It was a fun evening. We chose the Vesuvio '97 and the Ramos Pinto '94 as these were two ports that were reasonably priced by Berry's shop in Dublin, the Vesuvio I have only tasted once 18 months ago and wanted to revisit to see how it was doing. The Ramos Pinto was chosen because I had tried the '97 in London in October '07 and had been really impressed and so wanted to give the shipper another visit.

I can't believe how sociable Justyn was. He drove an hour to join us, bringing a half bottle that was clearly old but of unknown vintage and shipper and knew that he would not be able to drink a great deal of what was on offer since he was driving.

It was a great evening and a real pleasure to meet Justyn. The port he brought with him was just beautiful and we all agreed it would be wonderful if port could be left for 60 years to reach the heights that his half bottle had attained.

Wihtout doubt, my wine of the night was the 1947 Cockburn. It wasn't that the other two ports were poor, simply that they were so young and in comparison to the Cockburn they smelt and tasted raw and unintegrated.

I shall post my proper tasting notes in due course in the tasting notes forum.

Alex