UPDATE 25 April 2019
A date has been set, we will convene on 25th June 2019 to taste, discuss and debate as many 2017 Vintage Ports as producers are willing to provide. If you would like to attend, please let me know. Attendance requires you to post some tasting notes and thoughts on each of the wines you taste. The only reason producers are willing to provide us with tasting samples is to enable us to share our thoughts and impressions with the wine consumers who will be buying these wines.
Last year we had the opportunity to taste a number of 2016 Vintage Ports. At the time we discussed that it would be rather nice if we arranged a similar but larger opportunity to taste a range of 2017 Vintage Ports in the second half of this year.
I'm happy to (help Tony) organise this, but would like some thoughts from the team on preferred dates. From the list I put out to help DRT arrange the 1966 horizontal it looks like the potential dates are:
w/c 15 Jul
w/c 22 Jul
w/c 29 Jul
w/c 9 Sep
w/c 7 Oct (but DRT not available on the Tuesday)
w/c 14 Oct (PW not available on the Tuesday)
w/c 11 Nov
Initial offerings from the bigger houses tend to be issued for orders to be placed before the end of July but the smaller houses and independents tend to be focused slightly later in the year. On balance, and to get as large a selection of final blends as we can, I would prefer w/c 9 Sep.
Any thoughts on
(a) do we do this — is there enough interest from the team?
(b) if we do it, does w/c 9 Sep work for those interested?
Thanks all.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
AHB wrote: On balance, and to get as large a selection of final blends as we can, I would prefer w/c 9 Sep.
Any thoughts on
(a) do we do this — is there enough interest from the team?
(b) if we do it, does w/c 9 Sep work for those interested?
I think you may have forgotten that DRT has fixed the '66s for Sep 10.
Poo. I missed that one.
We could still go with the same week, and I like early September as it gives us the chance to invite a few people from the press who might want the chance to taste a wide range of 2017 Vintage Ports, although if Decanter do a tasting for an article, their tasting is likely to be in the summer.
Let me give it some thought...
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
A reminder for the organisers - Spring means cask samples, Autumn means finished wines that have been released to retail. These have different acquisition and logistical challenges.
"The first duty of Port is to be red" Ernest H. Cockburn
14 October is Columbus Day in the US, which my company oddly grants as a holiday. I might possibly be able to attend on that day, then fly home on Tuesday and only miss 1 day of work.
I will keep an eye on this thread and start looking into flights if things work out.
Glenn E. wrote: ↑05:26 Fri 29 Mar 2019
14 October is Columbus Day in the US, which my company oddly grants as a holiday. I might possibly be able to attend on that day, then fly home on Tuesday and only miss 1 day of work.
I will keep an eye on this thread and start looking into flights if things work out.
That gives me a real conflict. Talking to a couple of wine writers who have articles regularly published in Decanter and World of Fine Wine, they said that if we arranged a tasting in late May to late June and they were able to attend, the timing would feed perfectly into an October published article dealing with the new Vintage of Port arriving on the UK market in the winter. They were very excited about the idea as they believe we would be much more likely to get a good range of Ports from the smaller producers than a Decanter tasting.
But having Glenn in the UK would be a very good reason to arrange a tasting in October... What to do, what to do?
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
I am away for most of May so cannot 'support' a May date - probably too early in the cycle to accumulate samples. June could work quite well... it would inform buying decisions / press etc. so the shippers will be more inclined to support.
There would be advantages in imposing a particular rule on attendees. Attendees must post tasting notes within a week of the tasting. those not willing to commit to doing that may not attend.
Glenn E. wrote: ↑18:40 Fri 12 Apr 2019
"A June date" is too nebulous to research flights. Please be more specific, quickly.
Tell me your preference and we’ll try to work around you.
It doesn't look like June is feasible for me. Carry on. I'll hope that a 14 October version also comes into being soon enough for me to arrange tickets, which gives you a couple of months to plan.
