ThePortForum.com

Since publishing Port Vintages late in 2018, omissions have been discovered, and readers have sent more information. An Addendum, or at least a draft of one, has been written.

There are two versions: Addendum_Printable.pdf is a 31 megabyte files with pictures at full resolution — use for printing; whereas Addendum_LowResolution.pdf is only 3.3 megabytes and intended for screens.

Currently the existence of the Addendum is is being broadcast only to my friends on ThePortForum.com, in the hope that their comments might improve the document before it reaches a wider audience. Later it will be announced to the mailing list, and elsewhere.

Comments welcomed; actionable comments even more so.

Thank you.

— JDAW.

Could I request that the addendum also be in a form of page additions as opposed to one whole document? For instance, separating suppliers such that the page could be added just into that section. Also might be necessary to separate by age for some of the longer supplier sections. I suspect the addition of 28 pages in and around this behemoth will do little to effect the physical structure over time.

akzy wrote: ↑21:35 Thu 19 Sep 2019 Also might be necessary to separate by age for some of the longer supplier sections.

On second thought, I think this is a terrible idea.

Regarding the Fonseca Guimaerens 1947 VP. Some years ago I bought 3 bottles. I've still got them (haven't opened one yet).

I shall look up where I bought them, and send some pictures if to JDAW.

The preface to Port Vintages hinted that there might be a publication of additions and errata. And some readers have attentively studied the whole book, a mere 390k words, and sent such corrections. So an Addendum is now published.

Links:

• Addendum_Printable.pdf (high resolution, for printing, 40.7 MB);
• Addendum_LowResolution.pdf (low resolution, for screens, 3.9 MB).

I suggest waiting a week before printing, until Sun 20th Oct 2019, to allow time for any further comment and corrections (the first draft was posted on ThePortForum; this is also being shown to FTLOP).

But further data is welcomed, whether sooner or later. Please do send any extra material, comment, criticism, unbridled praise, and — most important — invitations to taste Dow 1878.

Don’t print yet. Further data is about to come. (It never finishes.)

Hello lovers of Vintage Port, and readers of Port Vintages.

It has been awhile, and I’m happy to tell you of some good news.

As you doubtless recall, Port Vintages has an Addendum, with information newly come to light, and also repairing errors (the errors being much regretted). This is all in the Addendum, which has been updated. Hurray! The Addendum can be downloaded from www.jdawiseman.com/PortVintages/Port_Vi ... endum.html.

Please print onto acid-free paper, and enclose in the book.

Of course, even more information would be welcomed.

Enjoy it. Enjoy it with a glass. Stuff and nonsense to the self-restraint: enjoy it with a decanter. At least one.

Thanks very much for this! (A whole decanter might be a bit much for a Monday night but I am certainly enjoying it with a glass).

I’m not sure if here is the right place to ask but can I ask for some more information about the Constantino vintages? I have always really liked their labels (with the “Co” ligature in “Constantino’s” and the “Op” in “Oporto”, together with the epsilon-shaped “e” in “Vintage” on some of them). Do you know if they were used all the way through to the final vintages? One day I might buy one “for the label” and would be a bit sad if they rebranded in 1968 just before giving up on the brand.

JacobH wrote: ↑20:22 Mon 19 Oct 2020I’m not sure if here is the right place to ask but can I ask for some more information about the Constantino vintages?

I have not stinted my readers on information, nor pictures. What I have, has been shown.

That's fair enough. Thanks again for the Addendum. Now just to find someone who still owns a colour printer!

@ JacobH - property lawyers...

winesecretary wrote: ↑07:18 Tue 20 Oct 2020 @ JacobH - property lawyers...

Thanks! This reminds me that my chambers’ printers will do high-quality colour. Although, based on previous experience, I am not sure if it is possible to print anything on them without strictly complying with Sedley’s Law of Documents...

@jdaw1 - Thank you once again for this document, it is much appreciated and I have forwarded the link to the two people to whom I gave copies of The Book. I read it last night with some of a slightly disappointing Cockburn Crusting, bottled 1978.

Out of curiosity, is anyone aware of where (if anywhere) the original book can still be purchased?

slateshalehead wrote: ↑15:07 Tue 20 Oct 2020 Out of curiosity, is anyone aware of where (if anywhere) the original book can still be purchased?

I believe the only place it could ever be purchased was from jdaw1 directly.

slateshalehead wrote: ↑15:07 Tue 20 Oct 2020Out of curiosity, is anyone aware of where (if anywhere) the original book can still be purchased?

Sold out. Sorry — just not available.

There are background noises of a second edition, including the Addendum. So far these are merely background noises. But just in case, subscribe to the mailing list via PortVintages.com.

winesecretary wrote: ↑09:50 Tue 20 Oct 2020I read it last night with some of a slightly disappointing Cockburn Crusting, bottled 1978.

Unacceptable. Try again. Re-read it with a better bottle.

jdaw1 wrote: ↑21:38 Tue 20 Oct 2020

winesecretary wrote: ↑09:50 Tue 20 Oct 2020I read it last night with some of a slightly disappointing Cockburn Crusting, bottled 1978.

Unacceptable. Try again. Re-read it with a better bottle.

I’ve been reading it with a bottle of Graham 1963 (Grants of St James bottling). It’s a much better read.

Julian - I’ve got a PDF version which I’m reading on my screen, but it’s lacking that lovely tactile-ness of a book.

Is there any chance of you offering this in printed and bound format (for an appropriate but not excessive fee)?

AHB wrote: ↑22:04 Tue 20 Oct 2020 Is there any chance of you offering this in printed and leather-bound format (for an appropriate but not excessive fee)?

FTFY

You are probably talking thesis-binding rates for small runs, so circa fifty quid a copy...

... leather-bound extra.

One small addition that would be welcome, a job that used to be regarded in the publishing world as the most tedious of all chores, but for which there is probably now some very clever software; is a master index, giving the page numbers where every proper noun appears.

If you do a second ed. I'll also take the leather bound version thanks!

jdaw1 wrote: ↑18:19 Tue 20 Oct 2020

slateshalehead wrote: ↑15:07 Tue 20 Oct 2020Out of curiosity, is anyone aware of where (if anywhere) the original book can still be purchased?

Sold out. Sorry — just not available.

Unsurprisingly no second hand copies available on eBay or Amazon.
Plenty of copies of JDAW's magnum opus, "The Pig: A British History" though.

nac wrote: ↑14:31 Wed 21 Oct 2020

jdaw1 wrote: ↑18:19 Tue 20 Oct 2020

slateshalehead wrote: ↑15:07 Tue 20 Oct 2020Out of curiosity, is anyone aware of where (if anywhere) the original book can still be purchased?

Sold out. Sorry — just not available.

Unsurprisingly no second hand copies available on eBay or Amazon.
Plenty of copies of JDAW's magnum opus, "The Pig: A British History" though.

This is JDAW's previously published work. The books about pigs and other animals are by a different JW.

DRT wrote:

nac wrote: ↑14:31 Wed 21 Oct 2020

jdaw1 wrote: ↑18:19 Tue 20 Oct 2020

slateshalehead wrote: ↑15:07 Tue 20 Oct 2020Out of curiosity, is anyone aware of where (if anywhere) the original book can still be purchased?

Sold out. Sorry — just not available.

Unsurprisingly no second hand copies available on eBay or Amazon.
Plenty of copies of JDAW's magnum opus, "The Pig: A British History" though.

This is JDAW's previously published work. The books about pigs and other animals are by a different JW.

That's what he would have you believe. Have you ever seen both JWs in the same room together?

DRT wrote: ↑20:54 Wed 21 Oct 2020 This is JDAW's previously published work. The books about pigs and other animals are by a different JW.

Aah - did wonder about the daily commute from South London to Nottingham University...

DRT wrote: ↑20:54 Wed 21 Oct 2020This is JDAW's previously published work.

This is JDAW’s previously published book.

I own a copy of my namesake’s History of the British Pig, but did not write it. He did. Indeed, his book is one of the reasons I publish as “J. D. A. Wiseman”.

jdaw1 wrote: ↑17:37 Mon 19 Oct 2020Hello lovers of Vintage Port, and readers of Port Vintages.

It has been awhile, and I’m happy to tell you of some good news.

As you doubtless recall, Port Vintages has an Addendum, with information newly come to light, and also repairing errors (the errors being much regretted). This is all in the Addendum, which has been updated. Hurray! The Addendum can be downloaded from www.jdawiseman.com/PortVintages/Port_Vi ... endum.html.

Please print onto acid-free paper, and enclose in the book.

Of course, even more information would be welcomed.

Enjoy it. Enjoy it with a glass. Stuff and nonsense to the self-restraint: enjoy it with a decanter. At least one.

Another update, gaining a bottling by Grants of St James’s of Graham 1963.

And here I am having literally just re-read the now-previous version with a delicious fig-and-prune scented p'n'p half of 1980 Gould Campbell. Clearly I will have to go again. Submissions as to the appropriate wine for the occasion (Dow 1878 being lacking) welcomed.

winesecretary wrote: ↑21:37 Mon 26 Oct 2020And here I am having literally just re-read the now-previous version with a delicious fig-and-prune scented p'n'p half of 1980 Gould Campbell. Clearly I will have to go again. Submissions as to the appropriate wine for the occasion (Dow 1878 being lacking) welcomed.

The only change is the mentioned bottling of G63. So a small sip of something would suffice.

jdaw1 wrote: ↑22:06 Mon 26 Oct 2020 The only change is the mentioned bottling of G63. So a small sip of something would suffice.

Think I've got a number of bottlings that aren't included. Will email you details and hi-res photos.

Julian - whilst looking something up in The Book last night (whilst sampling a particularly pleasant GB70) noticed that there doesn't seem to be a chapter/section on Churchill. Have I missed it or is this an omission? If an omission will it be included in a later Addendum?

nac wrote: ↑15:21 Wed 28 Oct 2020Julian - whilst looking something up in The Book last night (whilst sampling a particularly pleasant GB70) noticed that there doesn't seem to be a chapter/section on Churchill. Have I missed it or is this an omission? If an omission will it be included in a later Addendum?

At some point in writing the book I found myself gathering evidence that Graham had declared 1994. Evidence was everywhere, including merchants wine lists later available from the likes of archive.org.

This was silly. So a cutoff date was introduced, being the year in which was scrapped the rule about through Gaia. After 1986 there were many more producers, some seemingly temporary or inconsistent. Hence each chapter’s ≥1987s are presented as a small summary.

Further, there were chapters only for those shippers with ‘enough’ evidence. As examples, this threshold was not reached by J. H. Andresen, nor by Poças, nor Messias.

Clearly, these two criteria affect Churchill. If ever there is to be a second edition, the Other Shippers chapter might gain some history of Churchill.

Were you able to identify a particular reason or reasons why there was insufficient evidence for certain shippers like the three you mentioned? Or is it simply an accident of history?

JacobH wrote: ↑21:20 Wed 28 Oct 2020Were you able to identify a particular reason or reasons why there was insufficient evidence for certain shippers like the three you mentioned? Or is it simply an accident of history?

No, I did not study that question. Many of my sources were of this island, so likely biased in favour of names selling to here.