Tue 28 Feb 2023, B&F, Decanting Experiment

[winesecretary]

Hummus and Melba Toast as starter
Chicken main
Fries

Thank you

[BRPetrie]

Soup then Bangers & Mash for me!

[Alex Bridgeman]

I've taken the liberty of updating the attendee list to add DGR

[jdaw1]

Food orders please, from the B&F menu.

Mike, Ian, Darrel: food please.

Current draft of the food order.

[Alex Bridgeman]

CEM will be joining us. I’ve added him to the list of attendees.

His meal choice is:
Mackerel starter
Chicken with a side of chips as main
Cheese plate for dessert

He will be bringing a bottle of full bodied red.

[winesecretary]

DGR food order

Smoked salmon
Sirloin steak blue (really extremely extremely rare, pat the steak warmly as it walks out of the kitchen), bearnaise sauce, fries, salad

[flash_uk]

Please:

Duck liver pâté
Sirloin rare with a fried egg
Fries
Green beans and shallots

Many thanks.

[jdaw1]

Food order done and sent.

[CPR 1]

Alas team I must apologise, due to logistical difficulties I can not provide the Cr77 Magnum. As a replacement I can offer a magnum of F77 if that is acceptable to the team?

If so I will split this 3 ways given we are 8

1 decanted with nothing other than a funnel
2 decanted through new muslin
3 decanted with nothing and put straight in fridge

[winesecretary]

I am sure I speak for all attending when I say that I do not believe any of us will object to a magnum of Fonseca 1977, in any guise you care to produce it.

[jdaw1]

I am sure I speak for all attending when I say that I do not believe any of us will object to a magnum of Fonseca 1977, in any guise you care to produce it.

I have never, and I suspect that none of us have ever, in any way, objected to a magnum of Fonseca 1977.

Placemats updated.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Please could we also have placemats to keep track of the full bodied red wines.

CEM will bring a bottle of full bodied red wine

[winesecretary]

Are we sighted on the red wine?

[jdaw1]

Are we sighted on the red wine?

Slight preference for the administrative simplicity of sighted.

Are there three reds (GEAG, CEM, AHB)?

[jdaw1]

Please could we also have placemats to keep track of the full bodied red wines.

Done.

[winesecretary]

Four reds as DGR is also bringing one.

[jdaw1]

Four reds as DGR is also bringing one.

Placemats updated — please could somebody check.

[flash_uk]

Alas team I must apologise, due to logistical difficulties I can not provide the Cr77 Magnum. As a replacement I can offer a magnum of F77 if that is acceptable to the team?

If so I will split this 3 ways given we are 8

1 decanted with nothing other than a funnel
2 decanted through new muslin
3 decanted with nothing and put straight in fridge

Can I just check what the finally agreed decanting protocol is?

Julian suggested a protocol here, where bottle is gently swirled to distribute sediment, then split x ways, then each split is decanted in a different pre-determined fashion.

Alex here suggested freepour until sediment appears, discard sediment part for the purposes of the experiment, then split the freepoured juice x ways, then each split is decanted in a different pre-determined fashion.

Charles in the post I'm replying to doesn't clearly specify "swirl first" or "freepour and discard sediment"

I venture my preference for the Julian protocol, as I was thinking that the experiment was to explore how to best decant a bottle of port that has sediment in it. Fully accept that Alex's protocol is for an experiment for how to best decant a port that has been freepoured first, to exclude heavy sediment. And Charles's protocol has all the tight definition of a Pfizer trial.

[jdaw1]

Each bringer of a magnum does their own version of the experiment. So there will be variations of protocol.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Are we sighted on the red wine?

Slight preference for the administrative simplicity of sighted.

Are there three reds (GEAG, CEM, AHB)?

I wasn’t planning to bring one, although I can if required.

[jdaw1]

I wasn’t planning to bring one, although I can if required.

Not required.

Placemats updated — please could somebody check.

[winesecretary]

GEAG CEM DGR bringing reds.

Julian you already have mine in your possession. Darrel's is 2001 McGregor Vineyards Black Russian Red, Finger Lakes, NY.

[jdaw1]

Placemats printed.

[CPR 1]

F77

[jdaw1]

Hello, beautiful.

[jdaw1]

Making decanter labels for my four. Alex: do you need likewise? Charles?

Too late: I’m done with that task.

[jdaw1]

[jdaw1]

[jdaw1]

[jdaw1]

Opened 21:45. Bottle top covered with a coffee filter, to keep out insects.

Good quality recorking by the Symingtons.

[Glenn E.]

Beautiful, and the proper size for a GC77.

[BRPetrie]

Okay to arrive six-ish as usual this eve?

[PhilW]

Opened 21:45. Bottle top covered with a coffee filter, to keep out insects.

Sound like you need to bury the bodies, not leave them in your cellar.
Obviously there should also be a "Bottle top covered with muslin" bottle for comparison, also.
Sadly no chance for last-minute attendance this evening.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Okay to arrive six-ish as usual this eve?

I am assuming so.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Late release magnum

BD11D1F0-2AB4-4666-8331-FDC72EFAD3CA.jpeg (98.73 KiB) Viewed 7353 times

Front label

B43B8920-1A14-4186-914C-A2A787197408.jpeg (81.74 KiB) Viewed 7353 times

Back label

AC61EE5B-187B-4129-A743-2CD80CD9B559.jpeg (124.87 KiB) Viewed 7353 times

Recorked before release

25300C6E-E447-4CCC-9A21-387B16A97DB0.jpeg (99.6 KiB) Viewed 7353 times

Magnum opened at 00.00 and decanted at 11.30. All freehand decanted, then one portion untouched, one through muslin, one through coffee filter paper and one through s/s coffee filter.

[idj123]

Apologies all that I have had to drop out of today’s tasting on account of family circumstances but hopefully I should be available again for the next one. Enjoy!

[flash_uk]

I'll likely get to the B&F for 1845-ish

[Alex Bridgeman]

The wines we experimented on were:
1977 Dow, from magnum
1977 Fonseca, from magnum
1977 Gould Campbell