New York, ¿Thu 03 Jan ’08?

[jdaw1]

Several new members and potential new members of TPF have said that they are unable to make the tasting on Tuesday 11th December 2007, so this thread is to try to find dates for the first NYC tasting in 2008.

Seth Rosenberg, by email, says that only Wednesdays or Thursdays work for him. So can people please comment on their availability on:

• Wednesday 2nd January 2008;
• Thursday 3rd January 2008;
• Wednesday 9th January 2008;
• Thursday 10th January 2008;
• Wednesday 16th January 2008;
• Thursday 17th January 2008?

Unless there’s a better plan, we’ll meet at the place that is becoming usual:

Same place:

my local French restaurant, Bistro Citron, NY 10024-5131, which is on the east side of Columbus Avenue between west 82nd and west 83rd streets. Good nosh, and the best fries in Manhattan.

Subway from downtown take the B or C to 81st street: don’t take the A or D as they are express from Columbus Circle to somewhere functionally equivalent to Canada.

[mzimberg]

I can not make the 2nd or 3rd of Jan. How about the 17th of Jan?

[jdaw1]

OK, I’ve extended the list of possible dates. Mid-January might not work for me, but we’ll see how the votes lie before deciding.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Extending the list of dates to Wednesday 13th or Thursday 14th of February would mean that I could join you all. Of those dates, Wednesday would be the preferable for me.

Alex

[Andy Velebil]

Yes, February would work out better for me. But i won't know for sure until probably mid-january (after we have shift change and I find out what days I have off)

[jdaw1]

February will be a different tasting. AHB can join us for that one. But let’s have December’s and agree January’s date before tackling that one.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Do I sense a monthly New York port tasting theme starting to appear?

[jdaw1]

Monthly-ish at least.

[g-man]

hmm i should be good whenever, but my schedule is a bit sporadic and I'm not quite sure what would happen after the new years.

I should be good with any of those dates.

[seth1917]

It's important to note my days off right now are wed-thu, but I can't be 100% sure that they will stay that way. My work schedule is both extremely strict and and the same time undetermined. I only know my days off for the next week each friday - and they could change from week to week - and I have no control over it at all. They have kept me on wed-thu off for about 2 months now, so hopefully they will keep it that way, but needless to say, it makes planning a real problem.

It would be great if we could plan for a wed or thu and I keep those days off, but I would hate for people to plan around me and then for my schedule to change - this is all just for full disclosure.

the one thing I do know is that I will have vacation from jan 13-19 and will be out of town.

[seth1917]

assuming that my days off don't change, I could do jan 2 or 3 or 9 or 10.

[mosesbotbol]

Only Fri's or Sat's work for me in NYC, unless it is a holiday.

[jfacciol]

Jan 2, 3 and 10 all work for me.

What about the theme?

Tawnies? 1970 VPs?

[EricD]

I will be away from Jan 20th for about a week, but it looks like I can pretty much make it on any of these dates.

I was thinking a tasting of 20-year-old tawnies might be fun. Any interest?

[jdaw1]

I can not make the 2nd or 3rd of Jan. How about the 17th of Jan?

Several others can make 2nd, 3rd, or 10th. Michael: can you make the 10th?

[mzimberg]

It is my niece's 4th birthday that day. Please keep me informed though, possibly I can stop by after?

[jdaw1]

Fourth birthdays aren’t usually late evening functions. Will the party be far away?

[mzimberg]

It will probably be in Manhattan so I should be able to attend at least part...

[jdaw1]

Code: Select all

          2nd 3rd 9th 10th 16th 17th
mzimberg   ✠˜  ✠˜   ?   ½   ?    ?
g-man      ✠”  ✠”   ✠”   ✠”   ✠”   ✠”
seth1917   ✠”  ✠”   ✠”   ✠”   ✠˜   ✠˜
jfacciol   ✠”  ✠”   ✠˜   ✠”   ✠˜   ✠˜
EricD      ✠”  ✠”   ✠˜   ✠”   ✠˜   ✠˜

Second or third work best for me, but tenth best for MZ. Those are the choices.

EricD has proposed a tawny tasting, and I believe that he has a good collection of bottles. I’m happy to pay ≤$120 to adopt one of his bottles. Assuming other are liked minded, Eric please propose a seven-bottle tasting drawn wholly or partly from your cellar.

[g-man]

Or perhaps a Colheita tasting,

That's one type of port I really have never tried and would make an interesting learning experience.

[jdaw1]

I’d love a Colheita tasting, for the same reason. Does someone have a good collection of adoptable bottles?

[EricD]

I think a Colheita tasting is definitely in order. The aged tawnies are generally pretty consistent, but the Colheitas show a great deal of variation, a lot of it depending on how long they were kept in the cask. That will make for a much more interesting tasting.

I don't have very many Colheitas on hand right now, but I know the best place to find them is in the Ironbound section of Newark. I think I shall make a trip there this weekend to see what I can find.

Right now I have 3 bottles I can contribute: Moreira 1966, Feist 1963, and Dalva 1952 Golden White (which was absolutely amazing when we had it at Vinologia in Oporto). I will let you all know what else I find on my trip to Newark.

I think it would be great if we can snag some Niepoort, Rocha and Delaforce Colheitas. The Delaforce come in 500 ml bottles. I've had the 1986 and thought it was exceptional.

[g-man]

When are you headed out there Eric?

I could probably go with you. I can pick up a few bottles myself too.

[jdaw1]

I have a Hutchinson’s Colheita 1937, which I can get at notice of a couple of weeks.

[Andy Velebil]

Eric,

If you open the Moreira 1966, I suggest opening it about 1-2 weeks prior to the offline. This sounds crazy, I know. But Jay, Roy, and I have all had this on different occassions and have all discovered it makes a rather large turn around and becomes a very good Colheita after being open that long. Prior to the long decant its not that good. I can't explain it and no one else can either....just one of the mysteries of life I guess.

[jfacciol]

I would be happy to adopt a colheita bottle as it is not something that I have collected yet.

[EricD]

Eric,

If you open the Moreira 1966, I suggest opening it about 1-2 weeks prior to the offline. This sounds crazy, I know. But Jay, Roy, and I have all had this on different occassions and have all discovered it makes a rather large turn around and becomes a very good Colheita after being open that long. Prior to the long decant its not that good. I can't explain it and no one else can either....just one of the mysteries of life I guess.

Andy, that's not a crazy suggestion at all, because I had a similar experience. It improved greatly after being open a week. But then that makes me wonder about how we might want to handle the other bottles.

With decanting a VP, there are lots of guidelines we can go by, but I can't think of how one might want to approach decanting/aerating an older Colheita, as cask age and bottling date tend to complicate the matter. For instance, a recently bottled Colheita probably wouldn't need any special treatment, but one that had been in the bottle 5-10 years probably would require decanting.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Alex Bridgeman]

The best person to give advice on decanting times for colheitas, especially old colheitas, might be Roy given the bottles he opened and served for his birthday. He's also the person I know who has drunk a wider range of colheita ports than anyone else I know.

Alex

[EricD]

I haven't had time to go to Newark yet, but I did pick up a few bottles that are currently up for adoption. Here's my current list of adoptable bottles:

1952 Dalva Golden White Colheita
1963 Feist Colheita
1966 Moreira Colheita
1979 Delaforce Colheita (500 ml)
1983 Rocha Colheita
1986 Delaforce Colheita (500 ml)

You can pm me if you are interested in adopting one for the January tasting.

[g-man]

I'll adopt

The Moreira 66
The Delaforce 79

One of which is Julian's for our upcoming tasting in Jan.

[EricD]

I finally made it to Newark today, so I have a few more Colheitas that will be up for adoption for the January tasting. My personal contribution will be the Dalva 1952 Golden White. Here's what I picked up today:

Andresen 1980 Colheita
Smith Woodhouse 1986 Colheita
Krohn 1990 Colheita
Messias 1990 Colheita

I'm a little skeptical of the Messias, having had (and not liked) the 1985 Messias VP. But who knows, the Colheita might be pretty good.

[jdaw1]

EricD:

1. The question of the date is becoming a bit of a farce. Everybody can make some dates, nobody can make all, and some don’t even know which they can do.
2. This tasting is going to be centred around your Colheitas, and your knowledge of Colheitas.

So after reading what’s already been said, please, you pick a date any date and see who’s in.

[EricD]

I will elect Thursday, January 3rd for Colheita-thon. Who thinks they can make it?

[jdaw1]

Thread title changed to ‟New York, ¿Thu 03 Jan ’08?”. I’m in.

[g-man]

Very likely Yay.

[Raveesh]

Yay. Also, eligible foster parent seeking adoption.

[jdaw1]

I declare four to be quorate.

[jdaw1]

Eric: let’s not do adoption for the Colheita tasting. You’re providing all the bottles, so why not tell us the bad news and we will split it n ways?

Also, location? Where do we want to do this? I’d like some variety, arguing against the usual 83rd Street venue.

[jfacciol]

Jan 3d sounds fine as does Julian's suggestion of just splitting the cost of the bottles. I agree that another venue would be fun but I can't recommend anything for next week. I admire Eric for coming on public transportation to Manhattan but I don't think I would do the reverse.

If we do a 1970 tasting sometime in 2008 (which I think would be interesting and for which I could supply all or most of the bottles, depending on what folks have), I would volunteer my home in Brooklyn, which is in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood and about a half-hour from mid-town Manhattan on the F line.

[jdaw1]

This post moved to new thread New York Late February or March-1970 VP Tasting, to keep this thread on-subject.

[EricD]

Eric: let’s not do adoption for the Colheita tasting. You’re providing all the bottles, so why not tell us the bad news and we will split it n ways?

Also, location? Where do we want to do this? I’d like some variety, arguing against the usual 83rd Street venue.

That's a good idea. Once we figure out how many people will be able to attend (I also have a friend who has expressed some interest in joining us) I'll decide which colheitas to bring and then I'll figure out the amount per person.

Can't think of any good venues right now. I'm actually fine with Citron since you have already established a relationship with them.

[g-man]

If you guys want a steakhouse, I know one of the general manager, bartender and waiter at the Palm on 50th and 8th.

But it's just a suggestion, it does get quite pricey food wise but they'll wave the corkage fee for me.

[jdaw1]

I thought Citron would do same for me, but last time they added a ‟table charge” of $100. So more than one string to our bow might be wise.

[Raveesh]

I like the idea of the Palm, sounds yummy!

[jdaw1]

Is that The Palm: New York West Side? Google Maps?

[g-man]

Yes it is the palm on the west side,
Shall we pick this as the location for our colheita tasting?

[jdaw1]

Works for me. But EricD is in charge of the Colheita tasting, so his call.

[jfacciol]

Palm would work fine for me also.

[g-man]

okay I put a call in and left the message with one of the waiters to see if we can bring 8 bottles.

Will post update when i get it.

I'm going to shoot for a 7 ol clock reservation for 6 people.

People attending are:

Eric
Julian
Jay
Raveesh
Steph
Jeff

Let me know if we're adding anymore people.

[jdaw1]

Eric: let us know what we’re having, both to invite others and for placemats.