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Many thanks to Tom for hosting us on 13th December 2018 in the White Horse in Newport for our annual Christmas get-together. 9 of us were able to make it and we had a good evening with a much better success rate than we did last year.

I have finally (as in over 7 years later) posted tasting notes and created threads for the wines we tasted. Those wines were:

1. Bottled by Bailey Brothers of Wakefield, identified from the cork as from the 1920 vintage but no shipper branded - but believed to be Dow
2. Davy's Crusted Port landed 1977
3. Martinez 1927
4. Graham, believed 1955
5. Cockburn 1935
6. Constantino 1935
7. Gonzales Byass 1932
8. Croft 195?
9. Quinta do Noval 1931
10. Unbranded cork, bottled by Mitcheltomb & Sons; believed to be from the second half of 19th century
11. Niepoort 2017 cask sample
12. Warre 1970
13. Churchill 1982

Review thread

Organisation thread

The wine of the night vote had the unknown 1920 from Bailey Brothers of Wakefield favourite with 16 points. In second place was the Graham 1955 with 13 points. In third place was the Quinta do Noval 1931 with 9 points and the elderly Mitcheltomb was in fourth with 8 points. Also scoring were the Cockburn 1935 (4 points), the Constantino 1935 (3 points) and the Martinez 1927 (1 point). Wines 11-13 were not eligible for the WotN vote.

Sourced via Cheffin's Auction House from a Cambridge College cellar. Low shoulder fill. Shipper confirmed by the cork. Vintage was believed but could not be confirmed by the cork.

Deep red with a mature tone; 70% opaque. The nose is slightly closed, a swirl accentuates the alcohol but under this is a fresh sea-salt aroma. Nicely textured on the palate, smooth and silky with a sweet and poised entry bringing rich fruit with good depth. Still quite youthful and with a nice Christmas cake multiplicity of flavours. Some heat shows on the finish, bringing a dry tone before a lingering sweet cherry takes over. Great length. Served blind, this was guessed to be Fonseca 1948. 89/100.