The NY blackfriday/purple drink reviews

[g-man]

notes to go here.

Axel is joining in with a tBA!

how bout you london folks!

[Alex Bridgeman]

Depends what time you start / finish.

I'll probably be in bed and asleep by the time you reach the restaurant! But I'll make sure to toast you guys with a glass of something purple before I retire for the night.

So what time you finishing? I might be awake before you pack up...

[g-man]

we're starting at 2pm EST and finishing i dunno.

I already started last night witha cockburn 91 and a vesuvio 91.

the vesuvio blows away the cockburn by a mile.

[Chris Doty]

I've sadly never had the 91 Cockburn (according to my notes), but my lone experience with the 91 Vesuvio didn't really blow much wind up my dress

Consumed at a Vesuvio tasting led by John Symington on Feb 23 2010:
"Denser than all previous efforts. I got an almost meaty component on the nose (ground beef, anyone?) which was unexpected an interesting. This seemed better integrated than the 90, and while there is a clear spirit component in this one as well, the fruit and structure do a better job of containing it. Still not a 'wow' wine by any means, but solid enough for casual consumption. 86 points"

In fact, what was especially interesting about that tasting is how BADLY the Symingtons needed 1994 to be a hit (and boy was it!). The 92 was pretty weak, I don't think they released a 93, and they had made a fairly meaningful investment without having seen any return whatsoever (not even in terms of brand recognition). And then the 94 hit like a bolt of lightning and totally changed everything. Amazing wine, but I digress.

Anyway, glad the 91 drank well for you the other night -- next time I see AHB I'll see if he is up for revisiting some of the more obscure vesuvios that may have been overlooked at our formal event.

[g-man]

I must admit that this was by far one of the finest dow 70s I've ever had.

Pure ruby color, no signs of bricking at all.

What a pristine bottle, we popped,poured and decantered and it was truly a gem to drink.

A bit heavy to eat and drink that muhc for lunch, but hey it's the holidays!

and I have 2 cases of the cockbrn 91 chris, so whenever you want to taste.

[Chris Doty]

The Dow 70 was exactly why 1970 has the reputation it does. Bought at an online auction for 85usd, 41 years to the day since the grapes were harvested.

The Niepoort 83 colheita (the lst remnants of which I'm slowly sipping on now) was as fine a colheita as I've ever tasted around this age (I generally only seem to enjoys colheitas from the 60s - it's strange). Bravo

Great lunch, chaps. Wish we could do it every (other) friday!

[g-man]

at the tasting it sounded like you were just gonna be as busy as me coming up