Tuesday 13 November - a smattering of Graham and Malvedos

[RAYC]

Julian,

+ SCP
+ Malvedos 78

I'll advise which bottle to credit SCP in due course.

Am happy to have first bash over the weekend if you are getting fed-up with changes!

[jdaw1]

+ Malvedos 78

Space will be getting tighter, the radius dropping from an already-tight 116.261 to an even-tighter 115.326. Are you yet ready to accept 4×A4?

[RAYC]

This shouldn't require any amendment to the existing A3 page (other than working out how to order ports so that we have old-young consistency - either left to right in columns or top to bottom in rows - don't know which is preferred).

The A4 page can be put on A3, with a 2-3-2 format at left hand side (i can either guillotine the remainder of the A3 page that isn't needed or simply arrange layout so that the other A3 page is placed on top). The layout of the two A3 sheets would then fit nicely when placed alongside each other.

4xA4 is better avoided, if possible, given the size of table and number of attendees. (plus 22 doesn't divide by 4 particularly well). But i don't want to be unduly awkward.

Probably better if i do a hand drawing and email you. You can then tell me if it's impossible!

[jdaw1]

Sixteen on A4 is best in four rows.

My understanding is that you want a ‘combined’ effect, so that the top-left is the oldest, getting younger across the top row, then back to left side of second row, and so on.

Is that correct?

Do you have a larger paper size? I could do a different page size, perhaps non-standard which you then trim.

[RAYC]

Let's make this easy! (i.e. i stop making comments without knowing what i am talking about)

We have 22 ports

Happy for this to be 2 x A3 or 4 x A4, or 2 x A3 with one page being trimmed / tucked under the other, or whatever in your long experience of making these looks good!

A combined effect might be nice, but could be columnar (LH column oldest - RH column youngest) rather than by row (i don't have a strong feeling either way - except for at Tom's olympic tasting, is columnar how we usually do it?)

You are good at these, you hereby have authority to make whatever decisions you think fit and i'll shut up!

(but we should include Malvedos in the title)

[RAYC]

Please credit 1970 to SCP

[jdaw1]

We have 22 ports

ET23?

[RAYC]

We have 22 ports

ET23?

I still count 22...

[jdaw1]

OK. I have a plan. It is a cunning plan.

I still count 22...

But for how long?

[PhilW]

OK. I have a plan. It is a cunning plan.

Does it involve one participant with six sheets of A4 with bottle-size rings, and 13 other participants with a sheet of A4 each and a set of thimbles?

[jdaw1]

Not quite. The extra bottles entailed by the plan wouldn’t fit on just six sheets of A4.

[PhilW]

Not quite. The extra bottles entailed by the plan wouldn’t fit on just six sheets of A4.

I wonder how many sheets it would take for a Melchizedek, oddly enough I don't have one to measure the diameter of...

[jdaw1]

I wonder how many sheets it would take for a Melchizedek

To the best of my knowledge, despite the show 15L G94 in the lodge, Graham haven’t bottled above 9L.

[jdaw1]

Simon

Are you left or right handed?

[jdaw1]

Updated draft of the placemats.

• +SCP;
• +GM78;
• There is a bug in the calculation of where to place the person’s name. This will be fixed later this evening. (Musing how to do it. A recently added feature, jolly useful, rather broke the old calculation.)
• Please comment otherwise.

[jdaw1]

Updated draft of the placemats.

• Bug fixed.
• +‟Malevdos” in the centred header.

Two A3 pages, right being only partly filled so going under left.


TN sheets run in date order, with five or six on each.

Happily, SCP is right handed. Indeed, everybody at this tasting is right handed.

[RAYC]

Very nice - thank you.

Minor comments:

- Date/location and theme headers seem to be the other way around than usual. Would probably prefer theme heading in centre

- should the theme heading be in the gap between the 60 and 63 rather than 55 and 60? Don't feel strongly.

- do you want to retain initials on right hand page?

In addition, on reflection it occurred to me that 85 crusted was bottled before both the 1985 VP and the 1984 VP. Given this extra bottle age, where should it appear in the line-up? (i'm tempted to leave where it is, or possibly before the 85 VP only if preferred by jdaw1, but any purists should shout)

NB i will aim to print on Sunday night, when i can do so without detection....!

[RAYC]

I wonder how many sheets it would take for a Melchizedek

To the best of my knowledge, despite the show 15L G94 in the lodge, Graham haven’t bottled above 9L.

A 15litre bottle of G2000 was sold at Christie's this week!

[jdaw1]

Updated draft of the placemats.

• - Date/location and theme headers seem to be the other way around than usual. Would probably prefer theme heading in centre

• In addition, on reflection it occurred to me that 85 crusted was bottled before both the 1985 VP and the 1984 VP. Given this extra bottle age, where should it appear in the line-up? (i'm tempted to leave where it is, or possibly before the 85 VP only if preferred by jdaw1, but any purists should shout)

  The 1985s switched.

Not done:

- should the theme heading be in the gap between the 60 and 63 rather than 55 and 60? Don't feel strongly.

Maybe it should, but software doesn’t do that easily.

Not done:

- do you want to retain initials on right hand page?

Yes.

[jdaw1]

A 15litre bottle of G2000 was sold at Christie's this week!

Silly: I knew that, and then forgot it.

[jdaw1]

Updated draft of the placemats.

• Done

  - should the theme heading be in the gap between the 60 and 63 rather than 55 and 60?

  
  Also see

  Very rarely one might want the centre heading non-centred (e.g.). This can be controlled with HeaderFooterCenterRelativeX, which is the centre of the HeaderCenterText, 0 being at the left margin, 1 being at the right, and 0.5 in the centre.

  Also see the organisation thread for the tasting of a smattering of Graham.

Edit: the pre-pour sheets are in a non-obvious order. Hmm: that’s not easy to fix. So, this time at least, tough.

[griff]

Could I trouble people for decanting advice for the 77? Past experience has been fairly long (24 hours plus) demonstrating benefit. Any thoughts?

Gentlemen?

[DRT]

Sorry, I missed this first time around. I agree that G77 benefits from a long decant - it can be very hot and disjointed in the first few hours. 24 hours doesn't sound like a bad plan to me.

[jdaw1]

The parameters used are in the thread Parameters for the placemat software.

[RAYC]

Updated draft of the placemats.

• Done

  - should the theme heading be in the gap between the 60 and 63 rather than 55 and 60?

  
  Also see

  Very rarely one might want the centre heading non-centred (e.g.). This can be controlled with HeaderFooterCenterRelativeX, which is the centre of the HeaderCenterText, 0 being at the left margin, 1 being at the right, and 0.5 in the centre.

  Also see the organisation thread for the tasting of a smattering of Graham.

Edit: the pre-pour sheets are in a non-obvious order. Hmm: that’s not easy to fix. So, this time at least, tough.

very good - many thanks!

[griff]

Sorry, I missed this first time around. I agree that G77 benefits from a long decant - it can be very hot and disjointed in the first few hours. 24 hours doesn't sound like a bad plan to me.

Thank you. Will do.

[griff]

Updated draft of the placemats.

• Done

  - should the theme heading be in the gap between the 60 and 63 rather than 55 and 60?

  
  Also see

  Very rarely one might want the centre heading non-centred (e.g.). This can be controlled with HeaderFooterCenterRelativeX, which is the centre of the HeaderCenterText, 0 being at the left margin, 1 being at the right, and 0.5 in the centre.

  Also see the organisation thread for the tasting of a smattering of Graham.

Edit: the pre-pour sheets are in a non-obvious order. Hmm: that’s not easy to fix. So, this time at least, tough.

For me this surpasses even the Olympic event as a picture.

[jdaw1]

For me this surpasses even the Olympic event as a picture.

A Cockburn vertical in 2008 also had good placemats:

[griff]

In quantity certainly but perhaps not in quality. I have a preference for the Graham placemats due to both the variety of bottlings shown as well as the more innovative use of the second sheet.

[RAYC]

For me this surpasses even the Olympic event as a picture.

A Cockburn vertical in 2008 also had good placemats

I wasn't there, but the photos do make me slightly nostalgic about that tunnel at TCP! (even with the damp-stained walls...)

[jdaw1]

Fonseca Guimaraens, and some Fonseca, Mon 04 April 2011:

The formatting of the Graham’s placemats echo that of the Guimaraens.

[DRT]

Perhaps the best A3 of vintages we have ever had. (Plus Ck70 and Ck77 from the page that followed)

Should we do it again?

[DRT]

I just showed the Somelier at my hotel what I will be drinking tomorrow evening. He almost fell over.

I am very much looking forward to this tasting.

[jdaw1]

Did you explain that you would be helped? Or did he think that you would be drinking all 17¼ litres yourself. (He is the sommelier at your hotel he has probably seen you in action before.)

[Alex Bridgeman]

I have just made a late decision to stay in London tomorrow night. See you all at about 7pm.

[jdaw1]

Tuesday 13th November 2012, A Smattering of Graham and Malvedos (placemats, planning and arrangements).

!
• The layout on the A3 glasses pages was unusual. The problem was a shortage of table space. We just didn’t have room for 2×A3 each, but the 22 glasses wouldn’t quite fit on 1×A3 + 1×A4. So two A3s were to be used, the right one to be trimmed and the whole held together with double-sided sticky tape. That meant !

[RAYC]

I have just made a late decision to stay in London tomorrow night. See you all at about 7pm.

Is that because you divided 23 by 14 and realised this could be some task (even allowing for a couple of duffers), or because you now need to be on parade on Wednesday morning...?

[DRT]

I have just made a late decision to stay in London tomorrow night. See you all at about 7pm.

Is that because you divided 23 by 14 and realised this could be some task (even allowing for a couple of duffers), or because you now need to be on parade on Wednesday morning...?

23/14 rounded down is 1 bottle per person. Anyone who has been in training shouldn't have a problem with that.

[griff]

77 decanted at 9pm last night in case I forget. The hue is darker than I remember.

[RAYC]

If you can (and you remember), please bring cork!

[Cynthia J]

The placemats are a thing of beauty and joy... I am impressed! My two bottles of mystery port and I have arrived safely in London - I assume we will be tasting those off-piste? Or if you choose not to open them tonight someone can put them in a cellar somewhere for another occasion. See you tonight!

[jdaw1]

The placemats are a thing of beauty and joy

Please may I add that to the placemat manual page?

[Cynthia J]

Please may I add that to the placemat manual page?

Absolutely. Wonderful tasting last night too - congratulations again to Rob on his birthday as well as organising a great event, it was great to see everyone again. Thank you!

[RAYC]

Links:

• Review of the events as a whole;
• 1942 Graham;
• 1955 Graham;
• 1960 Graham;
• 1963 Graham;
• 1965 Graham Malvedos;
• 1966 Graham;
• 1968 Graham Malvedos;
• 1970 Graham;
• 1975 Graham;
• 1976 Graham Malvedos;
• 1977 Graham;
• 1978 Graham;
• 1979 Graham Malvedos (Magnum);
• 1980 Graham;
• 1983 Graham;
• 1984 Graham Malvedos;
• 1985 Graham Crusted;
• 1985 Graham;
• 1987 Graham Malvedos;
• 1990 Graham Malvedos;
• 1991 Graham;
• 1994 Graham;
• Planning and arrangements;
• Placemats.

[jdaw1]

I was just about to make the threads: thank you.