Tue 25 June 2019 - 2017 Vintage Ports

[flash_uk]

Alex, Tony - if you post or email me a list of ports I'll knock up some placemats.

[jdaw1]

Alex, Tony - if you post or email me a list of ports I'll knock up some placemats.

Or I can. And TN threads.

[Constandia]

I am both delighted and disappointed to have to withdraw from this one. The 2016 version of this was a wonderful tasting and I am gutted to no be able to compare with the 2017s, particularly with the back to back nature of the vintage declarations. But, I am delighted because we finally managed to exchange on our B&B purchase so I am completing this Thursday and welcome our first guests on Friday with all six rooms booked for 3 nights. In at the deep end, but just so glad to be swimming at all after the torturous process in getting to here. I hope it is a night of fine juice and look forward to reading the notes.

That's fantastic news Simon, wishing you all the best in your new venture. Cheers to that

[Alex Bridgeman]

Tony will be pulling together a food order shortly (based on the standard food order).

We have on hand the following bottles:
Bulas
Churchill
Churchill Quinta da Gricha
Cockburn
Croft
Croft
Dow
Fonseca
Graham
Graham Stone Terraces
La Rosa
Martha’s Port
Maynard
Maynard Organic
Niepoort
Pocas
Quevedo
Quinta da Sequeira
Quinta do Javali
Quinta do Noval
Quinta do Noval Nacional
Quinta do Vallado
Ramos Pinto
Ramos Pinto Quinta de Ervamoira
Skeffington
Taylor
Taylor Vargellas Vinha Velha
Vieira de Sousa
Warre

We are also hoping the following bottles we have been promised will arrive on time:
Burmester
Dalva
Kopke
Pintas
Quinta da Romaneira
Quinta das Lamelas
Quinta do Crasto
Quinta do Vesuvio
Quinta do Vesuvio, Capela da Quinta do Vesuvio

[Constandia]

Could I be added please? Certainly I've written many a note before now, and have just worked my way through 6 16s so lots of relevant practice

Hello, apologies for the late reply. I do hope you can still make it although it's a short notice- we have included you to the
attendees

[flash_uk]

Last year at the 2016 tasting we did sticky labels which worked very well I thought. Is that the plan again?

[jdaw1]

Thirty-nine in one go?! Please sir, consider the obvious suggestion?

I have much PostScript to do this evening. Will also do this.

[jdaw1]

Draft of the sticky labels and TN pages, entailing some additions to the list of Port House abbreviations.

Checking and comment welcomed.

Thirty-nine in one go?! Please sir, consider the obvious suggestion?

Even if it was only thirty-eight, nonetheless, consider the obvious suggestion!

[PhilW]

Regarding abbreviations:
- On the placemats you have "Croft Quinta da Roêda Sērikos" whereas in the abbreviations list we have "Croft Sērikos". Please clarify/correct for consistency. If "Croft Quinta da Roêda Sērikos" then would suggest CrRS would be more appropriate (per previous discussions on preferences for brevity vs clarity for ChAA and others), though clearly if "Croft Quinta da Sērikos" or "Croft Sērikos" then CrS appropriate.
- Regarding Maynard Organic - is there also a non-organic? If not, is this not just Maynard, which happens to be organic rather than a different wine? (edit: just seen that there is; MyO agreed). Also makes me realise that we seem to be missing NiB (Niepoort Bioma) from the abbreviations list.
- RPE on your sheets hasn't been added to the abbreviations list (also noting we need to do some tidying on the abbreviations list, there are a number of out-of-order items now).

[jdaw1]

- On the placemats you have "Croft Quinta da Roêda Sērikos" whereas in the abbreviations list we have "Croft Sērikos". Please clarify/correct for consistency. If "Croft Quinta da Roêda Sērikos" then would suggest CrRS would be more appropriate (per previous discussions on preferences for brevity vs clarity for ChAA and others), though clearly if "Croft Quinta da Sērikos" or "Croft Sērikos" then CrS appropriate.

There is an image at www.croftport.com/en/catalogue/roeda-se ... ikos-2017/:

So you could criticise my more-royalist-than-the-King use of diacritics (“Croft Quinta da Roêda Sērikos”), but I suspect that there will be plenty of Fladgate Partnership documents missing the macron.

Full name added to the abbreviations list.

Also makes me realise that we seem to be missing NiB (Niepoort Bioma) from the abbreviations list.
- RPE on your sheets hasn't been added to the abbreviations list

NiB and RPE are on the list. Did you add them?

(also noting we need to do some tidying on the abbreviations list, there are a number of out-of-order items now).

I vaguely recall having sorted by the dominant word of the full name.

[flash_uk]

Draft of the sticky labels and TN pages, entailing some additions to the list of Port House abbreviations.

Checking and comment welcomed.

Making sticky label sheets as one sheet per person is a good move, saving tedious effort cutting the label sheets into strips.

[PhilW]

Also makes me realise that we seem to be missing NiB (Niepoort Bioma) from the abbreviations list.
- RPE on your sheets hasn't been added to the abbreviations list

NiB and RPE are on the list. Did you add them?

I did.

[rich_n]

That is an extensive and very exciting list!

[jdaw1]

List of links that was here re-posted, with additions, later.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Thirty-nine in one go?! Please sir, consider the obvious suggestion?

I have much PostScript to do this evening. Will also do this.

Following some offline lobbying by JDAW I have come up with a plan which I’d like some comment on:

1) We are being given these bottles in order to create discussion and noise about them on TPF and elsewhere on the web, but primarily on TPF.

2) We could have bottles from as many as 40 different producers on the day. This will challenge even the most experienced of us if we are all expected to taste all the bottles.

3) We can and have managed to work our way through 20 bottles each on a night where we work hard.

4) I would like us to taste blind so we can be sure we do not suffer any sub-concious label bias.

So the plan is to divide the 40 bottles into 4 flights of 8-10 bottles. Each flight will consist of some wines from the larger producers and some from the independent producers.

Each person will be assigned a primary flight and a secondary flight which they will be encouraged to work their way through and join in on the discussion of our collective impressions on each of these wines. By combining primary and secondary flights judiciously, we can ensure that every wine is compared against every other wine by at least one person on the night.

AHB     A  b
TC      A  c
MPM     A  d
CPR     B  c
DRL     B  d
JDAW    C  d
Rich_n  B  a
WS1     C  a
DG      C  b
IDJ     D  a
Nick A  D  c

If everyone is happy with this suggestion, I'll set the bottles up either in bags or in foil so as to keep them blind.

[jdaw1]

Works for me.

I'll set the bottles up either in bags or in foil so as to keep them blind.

Presumably you will foil them all, putting the bottles into three ‘sets’: super-cuvée (Nacional; V. Vinha Velha; Capela; Stone Terraces; Sērikos); from the larger producers; from the independent producers.

Elizabeth then takes, for each letter A B C D, one or two super-cuvées and a mix of the two other sets, and affixes labels for that letter.

Since blind, the sticky labels should also be A0 … D9. Please confirm.

Edit: Sticky labels and TN pages updated for blind. Now includes bottle labels. Please check that I have the correct people.

[Alex Bridgeman]

DG is Dia on this occasion, not David. Otherwise all looks to be correct.

Is anyone able to print? I won’t be going near a printer before Tuesday.

And your interpretation of the plan looks wonderful, but won’t work since Tony has at least half of the bottles.

[flash_uk]

Is anyone able to print? I won’t be going near a printer before Tuesday.

I should be OK to print.

[flash_uk]

Do we have a start time for Tuesday? Is it the usual 6.30pm?

[jdaw1]

I should be OK to print.

The document uses both sizes of sticky labels: eight per A4; and sixty-five per A4.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Do we have a start time for Tuesday? Is it the usual 6.30pm?

Start time is 6.30pm

Three additional guidelines:
- spitting to be encouraged. This is a tasting, not one of our normal drinking evenings.
- small sample pours. This is a tasting, not one of our normal drinking evenings.
- no wine of the night voting. We are not trying to say which of these wines is the best or will be the best in 50 years. Instead we want to stimulate discussion and recognise different palates appreciate different aspects of different wines. All are welcome to score the wines individually in their notes. Often the differences in individual scores stimulates useful discussion - see the differences between Andy’s scores and mine as an example.

[rich_n]

Will there be the chance to taste specific wines at the end of the night? I'm looking to try 4 in particular to help with a personal purchasing decision (and would also love to try the other super-cuvees that won't be in my assigned flights). Since this is my first tasting I'll obviously follow whatever approach is deemed best but I am rather keen to ensure I taste some ports that I'm potentially going to look to add to my en primeur purchases so far.

[jdaw1]

- no wine of the night voting.

Vote-recorder pages removed from the document.

[DaveRL]

Will there be the chance to taste specific wines at the end of the night? I'm looking to try 4 in particular to help with a personal purchasing decision (and would also love to try the other super-cuvees that won't be in my assigned flights). Since this is my first tasting I'll obviously follow whatever approach is deemed best but I am rather keen to ensure I taste some ports that I'm potentially going to look to add to my en primeur purchases so far.

I'm also wondering if I can try specific wines after the blind session. Could be fun.

[DaveRL]

Do we have a start time for Tuesday? Is it the usual 6.30pm?

Start time is 6.30pm

Three additional guidelines:
- spitting to be encouraged. This is a tasting, not one of our normal drinking evenings.
- small sample pours. This is a tasting, not one of our normal drinking evenings.

Very sensible. Certainly understand. Might I mention Mrs L is laughing at my route to understanding, and approves that I am not trying and drinking 39 Ports in one night. She had wondered if I would make it out of the pub let alone get home.

[Alex Bridgeman]

We should have plenty of opportunity to taste specific wines after completing the blind tasting session.

[jdaw1]

The 2017s were tasted on Tuesday 25th June 2019, at The Boot & Flogger.

Many thanks to the many shippers who sent bottles, and to Alex for organising.
Links:

• Review of the event as a whole;
• The 2017s:
  1. Bulas 2017;
  2. Burmester 2017;
  3. Churchill 2017;
  4. Churchill Quinta da Gricha 2017;
  5. Cockburn 2017;
  6. Quinta do Crasto 2017;
  7. Croft 2017;
  8. Croft Quinta da Roêda Sērikos 2017;
  9. Dalva 2017;
  10. Dow 2017;
  11. Fonseca 2017;
  12. Graham 2017;
  13. Graham The Stone Terraces 2017;
  14. Quinta do Javali 2017;
  15. Kopke 2017;
  16. Quinta das Lamelas 2017;
  17. Martha 2017;
  18. Maynard 2017;
  19. Maynard Organic 2017;
  20. Niepoort 2017;
  21. Quinta do Noval 2017;
  22. Quinta do Noval Nacional 2017;
  23. Pintas 2017;
  24. Poças 2017;
  25. Portal 2017;
  26. Portal Muros 2017;
  27. Quevedo 2017;
  28. Ramos Pinto 2017;
  29. Ramos Pinto Quinta de Ervamoira 2017;
  30. Quinta da Romaneira 2017;
  31. La Rosa 2017;
  32. Quinta da Sequeira 2017;
  33. Skeffington 2017;
  34. Taylor 2017;
  35. Taylor Vargellas Vinha Velha 2017;
  36. Quinta do Vale Meão 2017;
  37. Quinta do Vallado Adelaide 2017;
  38. Quinta do Vesuvio 2017;
  39. Capela da Quinta do Vesuvio 2017;
  40. Vieira de Sousa 2017;
  41. Warre 2017;
• Sticky labels and TN pages (which caused some additions to the list of Port House abbreviations).
• Planing and arrangements.

[flash_uk]

I should be OK to print.

The document uses both sizes of sticky labels: eight per A4; and sixty-five per A4.

I was only going to print 65 per A4. Any reason to print the 8 per A4?

[jdaw1]

There are pictures in the threads for Cs, Jv, Mt, Ni, NN, Pi, Pt, PtM, Qv, VS.

[jdaw1]

Any reason to print the 8 per A4?

Perhaps mistakenly I had envisaged the labelling of wrapped bottles — the organiser to pronounce.

[jdaw1]

We have kindly been sent, amongst many other bottles, both Portal 2017 and Portal Quinta dos Muros 2017. A question about their relationship has been posed in the thread Quinta: do Portal; dos Muros.

[Alex Bridgeman]

An updated list of bottles we have on hand, now including Portal, Crasto and Pintas:
Bulas
Churchill
Churchill Quinta da Gricha
Cockburn
Croft
Croft Roêda Sērikos
Dow
Fonseca
Graham
Graham Stone Terraces
La Rosa
Martha’s Port
Maynard
Maynard Organic
Niepoort
Pintas
Poças
Portal
Portal Quinta dos Muros
Quevedo
Quinta da Sequeira
Quinta do Crasto
Quinta do Javali
Quinta do Noval
Quinta do Noval Nacional
Quinta do Vallado
Ramos Pinto
Ramos Pinto Quinta de Ervamoira
Skeffington
Taylor
Taylor Vargellas Vinha Velha
Vieira de Sousa
Warre

We are also hoping the following bottles we have been promised will arrive on time:
Burmester
Dalva
Kopke
Quinta da Romaneira
Quinta das Lamelas
Quinta do Vesuvio
Quinta do Vesuvio, Capela da Quinta do Vesuvio

[Alex Bridgeman]

Any reason to print the 8 per A4?

Perhaps mistakenly I had envisaged the labelling of wrapped bottles — the organiser to pronounce.

I will label each bottle.

[jdaw1]

Any reason to print the 8 per A4?

Perhaps mistakenly I had envisaged the labelling of wrapped bottles — the organiser to pronounce.

I will label each bottle.

The document updated to remove the 2×4 per /A4, but keep the 5×13 per /A4.

[forest26]

Hi

I am helping Alex put this together - If anyone wants anything different from their standard food order speak now as we will put the order in tomorrow morning.

Hopefully the parcels arrived at the B&F Friday.
Capela and Vesuvio are in. Kopke and Burmester should be with me in the afternoon

Dia and I are planning to be there from 12 to set up. Any help during the afternoon would be greatly appreciated - particularly if we are doing this blind.
Look forward to seeing you all.

Tony

[CPR 1]

Tony, I will pop over after lunch and help in the afternoon.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[jdaw1]

Dia and I are planning to be there from 12 to set up. Any help during the afternoon would be greatly appreciated - particularly if we are doing this blind.

Sorry work — always work.

I think it would be easier for you to have the large labels with you — wrap in foil, label. Can you print to the large labels in time? If you can I’ll put them back in.

[DaveRL]

I think I can get there for 12 or so.

[rich_n]

I haven't got a usual food order, where should I go to find out what to order? Happy to eat whatever is standard of course

Sent from my G8441 using Tapatalk

[jdaw1]

I haven't got a usual food order, where should I go to find out what to order? Happy to eat whatever is standard of course

We will be at The Boot & Flogger. Please select from its main menu.

[rich_n]

I haven't got a usual food order, where should I go to find out what to order? Happy to eat whatever is standard of course

We will be at The Boot & Flogger. Please select from its main menu.

Gammon, egg and chips sounds like an honest and solid option, thank you.

Sent from my G8441 using Tapatalk

[jdaw1]

Gammon, egg and chips sounds like an honest and solid option, thank you.

An excellent choice, with excellent reasoning. I’m delighted that our new recruits are of the highest calibre.

And I’ll assume that the failure to request black pudding was merely a newbie slip, soon to be corrected.

[forest26]

I think I can get there for 12 or so.

Hi Dave

You are welcome any time but It looks like the Journalists will not be tasting blind so there is less work to do.
We will need start to cover the bottles from around 4pm. Slight-of-hand may be required for the more obvious bottles !!

[jdaw1]

the Journalists

? Pray say more.

[rich_n]

Gammon, egg and chips sounds like an honest and solid option, thank you.

An excellent choice, with excellent reasoning. I’m delighted that our new recruits are of the highest calibre.

And I’ll assume that the failure to request black pudding was merely a newbie slip, soon to be corrected.

Yes indeed, but I have only just seen this and suspect it might be a little late to be demanding delicious blood pudding now...

[WS1]

I will try to be there by 5:00PM. looking fwd to the event.

regards

WS1

[flash_uk]

I should be OK to print.

The document uses both sizes of sticky labels: eight per A4; and sixty-five per A4.

I was only going to print 65 per A4. Any reason to print the 8 per A4?

Printing complete. Aiming to get there for about 6.

[rich_n]

Lovely to meet you all yesterday, I had a really enjoyable evening! I am also an idiot and forgot to add the ports to my notes so I don't know which ones are which

Did anyone who was tasting A and B flights note down which ports were which? If so, could you please post them on here?

[WS1]

A1 -> Graham Stone Terraces
A2 -> Graham
A3 -> Niepoort
A4 -> Churchill Quinta da Gricha
A5 -> Fonseca
A6 -> Maynards
A7 -> Portal
A8 -> Crasto
A9 -> Ramos Pinto Quinta de Ervamoira

B1 -> Noval
B2 -> Nacional
B3 -> Warre
B4 -> Bulas
B5 -> Cockburns
B6 -> Maynards organic
B7 -> Portal Quinta dos Muros
B8 -> Javal
B9 -> Skeffington
B10 -> Kopke

regards

WS1

[rich_n]

Amazing, thanks! My notes are no longer useless!