Strawberry Fields Forever (Mon 1st July - Spot The Taylor Vertical)

[cem]

Date/Time: Monday 1st July 5pm onwards
Place: Green Room, B&F
Places: 12
Bottles: 18

The genesis of this fun tasting came when I opened a bottle of unknown 1924 with Harry recently. We both remarked that it had the structure of Taylor and was incredibly vibrant for a 100 year old port. I then swayed towards Fonseca until eventually once it fully opened Harry pointed to the strawberry finish which he confidently declared as redolent of Taylor.

The proposition is thus that a blind Taylor vertical should be arranged at the earliest juncture to ascertain the veracity of Harry’s claim!

The 6 vintages to test: 1955, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1977, 1985

I will provide all the Taylor and a minimum of 8 bottles in total.

1955 x 2
1963 x 2
1966 x 1
1970 x 1
1977 x 1
1985 x 1

Which leaves 10 non-Taylor bottles to be brought to make up 3 bottles from each vintage.

All will be served blind. Points awarded for guessing the Taylor in each vintage, followed by guessing the other producers served and WOTN naturally.

People already attending:

Cliff (55, 55, 63, 63, 66, 70, 77, 85)
Harry
Christopher (Guest of Cliff)
Alex B.
Charles (77)
Ian (70)
Julian (70, 85)
Martin (66, 77)
Neil C. (63)
Mike (TBD 55 or 66 or 70 or 77 or 85)

Vintages currently undeclared:
55 x 1
66 x 1
85 x 2

If you can come please put down the vintage (not the producer) of what you are bringing (a 1st or 2nd rank producer is preferable).

If you don’t have a non-Taylor from any of the vintages that’s not a bar from coming just note you don’t have one but wish to attend.



Draft of the placemats.

[CPR 1]

Sounds fun, yes please. I will bring a 77.

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

[idj123]

Yes, please Cliff, count me in.

[idj123]

And, I should say, happy to plump for 70.

[jdaw1]

Great theme. Yes please. I’ll bring a ’70, and something else to be decided.

[mcoulson]

May I join in please?

[cem]

Of course Martin

[nac]

Yes please.

[mcoulson]

So I've had a look and I'll bring a 77 and a 66

[nac]

I'll bring a 63.

[PhilW]

Love the idea for the tasting, but unlikely to be able to make the date (I only get back on the Sun).
Might be able to take a seat at last minute if any late drop, which hopefully won't happen ofc.

[Alex M]

Placeholder for yes please. Will get back to you with bottle availability. Right now it's 1970 or 1966.

[cem]

Love the idea for the tasting, but unlikely to be able to make the date (I only get back on the Sun).
Might be able to take a seat at last minute if any late drop, which hopefully won't happen ofc.

I'll stick you down as first reserve Phil if we reach the 12 then.

[jdaw1]

85 x 2

I can provide one or two ’70s and a few ’85s.

Are there any rules about which shippers may or may not be brought? Cliff providing all the Taylors, so presumably non-Cliff people must bring non-Taylors. Are there other constraints?

Should we ask somebody such as Glenn to act as co-ordinator? That is, we reveal possibilities to him; he selects from those possibilities to prevent too many overlaps (not necessarily preventing all) and to further such mischief as he thinks would be most amusing.

[cem]

There are no constraints, just that 1st or 2nd rank producers ought to be brought so the quality difference from a Taylor is not too stark/obvious. Happy to have Glenn as a coordinator or let chaos reign on the choices.

One person needs to organize the pouring so we don't know what is in what glass but has the list to identify them afterwards naturally. All bottles need to be poured at the same time and will need to be hidden away afterwards too.

- Okay I've just read your blinding techniques, so something of that ilk will be required.

Taking the San Pelligrino bottles as an example, I think it would be best if everyone decanted in the same method. I've found refrigerating the bottle overnight, then double decanting and back in the fridge in the morning for an evening pour works well to avoid being over oxidized. Whatever the method agreed if we all stick with it, that would be best.

[jdaw1]

- Okay I've just read your blinding techniques, so something of that ilk will be required.

Explanation of the blinding technique used for the 1958 horizontal (June 2014).

Taking the San Pelligrino bottles as an example, I think it would be best if everyone decanted in the same method. I've found refrigerating the bottle overnight, then double decanting and back in the fridge in the morning for an evening pour works well to avoid being over oxidized. Whatever the method agreed if we all stick with it, that would be best.

No. There is not to be a “method agreed”. You are the organiser. You are to command. The agreement of others might be welcome, at least slightly, but agreement is not necessary.

That said, I hope the organiser chooses a method that allows for some working-class folk’s inability to access a fridge during the day.

[cem]

Ahh good point on the fridge issue. Then let's just double decant an overnight refrigerated bottle in the morning and keep at room temperature.

[jdaw1]

Should we ask somebody such as Glenn to act as co-ordinator? That is, we reveal possibilities to him; he selects from those possibilities to prevent too many overlaps (not necessarily preventing all) and to further such mischief as he thinks would be most amusing.

Glenn, by WhatsApp:

I'm happy to serve as curator of the Port list for a tasting, if that is the ask.

[cem]

Thanks, I will be in touch. I will also organize a competent setup person who is not of the 12 to do the pouring, thus none of us will know what is in what glass until the end.

[jdaw1]

competent

This quotation contains an important adjective.

[flash_uk]

Yes please Cliff. I have candidates for 55, 66, 70, 77 and 85.

[cem]

Added you Mike.

Just to make this even madder, I've thought up a fun tie-breaker.

I'll ask Seckford to choose 1 bottle each of the missing intervening vintages from my stocks with them 1960, 1975, 1980, 1983 and then for them to decide how many should be Taylor and how many should not be Taylor i.e 0-4 Taylor bottles. Then to remove all labels and capsules and simply label the bottles as 1-4 in no particular order. And to send the actual information to a 3rd party of what each one is.

[Alex Bridgeman]

I'll ask Seckford to choose 1 bottle each of the missing intervening vintages from my stocks with them 1960, 1975, 1980, 1983 and then for them to decide how many should be Taylor and how many should not be Taylor i.e 0-4 Taylor bottles. Then to remove all labels and capsules and simply label the bottles as 1-4 in no particular order. And to send the actual information to a 3rd party of what each one is.

The third party being Glenn, I suggest.

[hadge]

I have a quick think, we could bring our ports in a unlabeled (the Sandeman labeling removed) Sandeman 20 year old bottle, so they are all the same, then print the shipper label from Julian's blind list on 80gram paper and then put the blank over the top. then when you bring it, it can go on the table for the Greek letter can be added by a 3rd party to each of them all.

the only challenge will be supply Clif with enough Sandeman bottles for his ports.

[flash_uk]

Some thoughts on blinding and bottles/decanters. The ’58 tasting in 2014 which utilised the blinding method outlined by JDAW, saw bottles arriving and being decanted into identical San Peligrino bottles, with a shipper tag then being hung onto the SP bottle. The use of identical SP bottles being necessary, because if the original bottle was visible (say a re-used Rioja bottle), then at least one attendee would know which port was behind the Greek on that bottle.

That was I suspect the best option for that tasting, as there were only 8 attendees and thus prepouring didn’t happen, and the bottles sat on the table for the duration of the tasting.

If prepouring were to happen, then really all that needs to happen is that the original bottle is camouflaged until it is prepoured. Say, using foil. If someone wanted to make some effort to discerne some features of the camouflaged bottle beneath the foil, they no doubt could - colour of glass at the neck, for example. That aside, using the foil method would mean only needing a single decant into a re-used bottle, and no need to orchestrate the same bottles everywhere, either on the day or in advance.

So procedure would be:
- arrive, cover bottle in foil and put the shipper tag on it
- follow rest of blinding procedure as outlined for the ‘58 tasting