JDAW (1947 Barros; also 1952 Barros; also Vintage Character, Quinta do Infantado, bottled October 1996).
Looks good. Indeed, looks so good that I have asked my cellar keepers to bring my four bottles in to Manhattan. (And if needed I have another O&O to hand.)
(Request to g-man: when copying lists, please use the ‘Quote’ button to copy the BB code, rather than copying the plained output text.)
Bring your wife to the tasting, telling her that you just want to stop by to say 'hi' and then you can go on to your other activities.
We'll supply her with enough Port that she won't be able to contradict you the next morning when you tell her that you did, in fact, go on to your other activity! And we'll provide you with 7 witnesses who will all swear that you did, in fact, leave the tasting earlier than the rest of us though none of us can recall at precisely what time you left.
Or become terribly ill. So ill that you are unable to go to the other function with the wife and instead will just stay at home and watch television. Then, perhaps three minutes after she leaves, start to feel better and decide go out ‟just for one, for medical purposes only, with some friends”.
To make it plausible the following day you can feign a headache and extreme tiredness.
jdaw1 wrote:Or become terribly ill. So ill that you are unable to go to the other function with the wife and instead will just stay at home and watch television. Then, perhaps three minutes after she leaves, start to feel better and decide go out ‟just for one, for medical purposes only, with some friends”.
To make it plausible the following day you can feign a headache and extreme tiredness.
yea you just gotta remember to brush the teeth before you hit the sack =)
Disclosure: Distributor of Quevedo wines and Quinta do Gomariz
looking at the pale color of my bottle,
I'm scared and would rather pop and pour.
Tho, i don't know how that's going to work with decanting out sediments if the only time I get is before I head to work.
I was going to bring a funnel and coffee filters to the restaurant.
Disclosure: Distributor of Quevedo wines and Quinta do Gomariz
In my brief experience so far, I have found that pop & pour tends to work pretty well for my palate, especially as the Port gets older. It is particularly true for tawnies, and though none of these qualify some of them may be old enough that it holds true anyway.
I'm sure I'll be happy with whatever the more experienced among us determine is correct enough for our purposes.
I will be teaching downtown that evening until about 9:30 PM but if you are likely to still be at the restaurant up through 10PM, I would love to pop in with a dessert Port and to say hello and have a taste together. (I will look at the list so I don't duplicate anyone's). (Luckily I am on the #2 and 3 line so it won't take long to get to the restaurant)
John in NYC
"Burgundy makes you think of silly things: Bordeaux makes you talk about them, and Champagne makes you do them."-Brillat-Savarin
Jay: I used to have two types of INAO/ISO3591 glass. Some with the rolled edge, and some with a thinner edge. They became muddled one tasting, and then my muddled set became muddled with your two boxes of rolled-edges. If you have the time and enthusiasm, please could I recover my (slightly-better) thinner-edge glasses put all of them in the box you’re bringing, and I’ll keep those and part with rollers. Thank you.
Another bottle I forgot: idiot! But don’t get too excited.
The front label wrote:Porto
Vintage Character
Meio Seco
!
Quinta do Infantado
The back label wrote:This high quality Porto was made from Organically grown grapes, respecting both ecological cycles and the environment. After a completely natural maturation in casks, 7.000 bottles were Estate Bottled on October 1996, without filtering nor fining.
!
Bottle No. 6655
I used to have two types of INAO/ISO3591 glass. Some with the rolled edge, and some with a thinner edge. They became muddled one tasting, and then my muddled set became muddled with your two boxes of rolled-edges. If you have the time and enthusiasm, please could I recover my (slightly-better) thinner-edge glasses put all of them in the box you’re bringing, and I’ll keep those and part with rollers.
Ah, homework. I will certainly try to separate the glasses if I can detect the difference.
As for decanting times. I would guess that pop-and-pour for the two 1800's Ports. That way you can evaluate them over a couple of hours and se where they go. Better to air on the side of caution in case they don't hold up all that well once opened.
As for the others, I'd say between 2-4 hours. Better to go a little shorter and slowly taste them over several hours and see how they open up then decant for too long and not catch them at their prime.
Commendation for the pun assuming that you meant to substitute ‟air” for ‟err”.
Look, in the past 4 days I've work in the neighborhood of 65+ hours...no Port...I'm tired, cranky, and don't give a rats arse about spelling correctly at the moment...then again, maybe because I just finished a 1/2 bottle of VP after only intending to have one or two glasses ma have something to do with that
Vintage Character, Quinta do Infantado, bottled October 1996 (JDAW).
My strongly-held view is that I have no idea. Perhaps four hours for all of them?
I haven't had any of these. Given the age and the fact that these are from lower league producers (for VP) I would be tempted to pop-pour-taste one at a time over an hour or two and then watch them evolve throughout the evening.
Derek
"The first duty of Port is to be red" Ernest H. Cockburn
That's such an unusual lineup of vintages, its hard to advise!
However, I'm beginning to suspect that after decanting, warm conditions are the death of mature ports, and that they may evolve better if they are kept fairly cold..
- am experimenting..!
Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
jdaw1 wrote:But at the Cockburn tasting Miguel insisted on a longer decant for the oldies, and was right. I don’t know either.
But I think Miguel was advising on those specific Cockburn vintages, not old and fragile wines in general. Don't throw away your former approach to such things based on one experience! You have 7 people and 9 bottles so there is plenty to allow you to decant and taste a glass and leave another glass in the decanter for Round 2 a few hours later. This could be turned into a useful experiment if you decant all of them and then serve as 2 flights which are 3-4 hours apart.
jdaw1 wrote:What about a 12-year-old vintage character? Surely somebody can say something helpful about that?
I would give it at least 4 hours but would not expect too much from it. I have some old Vinatge Character that I use to rinse decanters
Derek
"The first duty of Port is to be red" Ernest H. Cockburn
Given the generous offer from our hostess to halve the corkage fee or waive it if we order something of the same value (=9 x $12.50 = $112.50) from the wine list, can we post here and discuss any port options there may be available? I would much rather pay $112.50 and get something than pay simply to open our own bottles.
Alex
Top Ports in 2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2025: Quevedo 1972 Colheita, b.2024. Just as good as Niepoort 1900!
Wine list seemingly devoid of port. Unless several bottles of our port prove undrinkable, we already have enough to stave off the most urgent symptoms of thirst. (Nine bottles, six people, time limited.) Anybody for an extra Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose?
Wine list seemingly devoid of port. Unless several bottles of our port prove undrinkable, we already have enough to stave off the most urgent symptoms of thirst. (Nine bottles, six people, time limited.) Anybody for an extra Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose?
Pop and pour? How are we supposed to do this at a restaurant? Are we going to whip out coffee filters, cheesecloth and funnels? Somehow, I don't see it. And I certainly would not trust the waiter or sommelier to do a proper job in decanting. My expectation would that we would be either drinking a lot of sediment or missing a lot of port.
On a separate note, Julian's idea would work fine but I am more tempted by the 20 year old tawnies.
I agree with Jay, pop and pour should be clarified.
I meant along the lines of, right before people swing out to the restaurant, to decant and pour back into bottles.
As with my bottle, I've already stood it up so the sediment is probably at the bottom, but I'll keep it at a cooler temperature and probably decant to filter sediment before i head out to owrk.
Disclosure: Distributor of Quevedo wines and Quinta do Gomariz
jfacciol wrote:On a separate note, Julian's idea would work fine but I am more tempted by the 20 year old tawnies.
I vote for a bottle of the Taylor 20-yr old at $120. Granted that's an outrageous price for the bottle, but we're already opening possibly 9 bottles of VP so having some tawny would be nice.
I'm not a wine drinker, so I have no vote if you choose to purchase a bottle of wine.
. i just told my wife i would be out that night and she reminded me 
. 
cufflinks, of course.
