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At the LBV tasting on Thursday 8th May 2008 we discussed the next non-emergency tasting.

• Theme: a double-horizontal of 1983 and 1985. Several houses, each house in both years.
• Date: September. Precise date TBD.
• Location: the home of differentdave in Melville, Long Island.

Edit on 30 Aug 2008: due to differentdave’s house not being fully built, tasting moved to Brooklyn and thread re-titled.

1983 Cockburn
Dow
Ferreira Quinta do Seixo
Gould Campbell
Graham
Noval Quinta do Silva
Offley
Taylor
Warre

1985 Burmester (maybe)
Cockburn
Delaforce
Dow
Ferreira
Fonseca
Gould Campbell
Graham
Kopke
Quarles Harris
Smith Woodhouse
Taylor
Warre

if I can make this, I promise to pick up the nacional with my secret spending fund the mrs. doesn't know about.

So Jay by himself has, in both 1983 and 1985, Taylor, Warre, Graham, Gould Campbell, and Dow. That would be another cracking tasting!

It would be my pleasure to supply the ports. Now we need about eight tasters.

Draft of placemats, made as a test of the new stars feature.

The View as HTML version is entertainingly terrible.

I can easily get one or two extra people to attend (my neighbor likes his wines) if need be.

Then what we need next is a date. What are people’s constraints?

Jay: at some stage you’re going to have to choose a price for these bottles. Would you like me to do the Wine-Searcher dance for you?

I'll work out a proposed price in the next day or two.

I prefer a saturday if possible as I have Organic chemistry classes during the weekdays.

Can I propose possibly a BBQ?

I can get some meats ..

Organic chemistry? Do I sense a new career.

I also vote for a weekend day.

Assuming that we choose the ten bottles that Julian suggested and split the bottle costs eight ways, the cost per person would be $100.00 for the port.

jfacciol wrote:Assuming that we choose the ten bottles that Julian suggested and split the bottle costs eight ways, the cost per person would be $100.00 for the port.

$800 for those ten bottles is, again, generous pricing.

We might or might not be joined by one of my drinking chums, assuming that’s OK with the host. He has very little experience of port.

We ought to be making progress in choosing a date. My last weekend of September is now blocked, otherwise I’m available.

G-man: please would you communicate with DifferentDave by some means to which he is likely to reply, both for dates and to confirm his house as the location.

Hw about Saturday September 13th at 6 p.m.
I can bar-be-cue at my house.
My house is still under construction, should be done by mid august (was supposed to b done next week)
I was thinkig of doing a variety of meats and fishes and let people pick and choose what they wanted to eat.
If anyone has any preferences on fish or cuts of meat or other food requests let me know as we get closer please let me know.

How is the construction looking??

happy to chip in for the food too if u need anything.

We have no kitchen, no bathroom and no walls or floor on main floor, so it looks kinda log cabin-ish.
I do have a new deck in he back yards and a working bar-be-cue so aside from having to use bathroom upstairs we could in theory have it at anytime.
As for cost of food, I will pick up all the eats and work out a per head price.
How are the wedding plans coming?

Wedding expensive, time consuming and parent dealing =)

Think Saturday 13th September works for me: have sought approval from the boss.

September 13 is fine with me.

So far we seem to have four attendees (David, Jeff, Jay and Julian). Anyone else? We are planning on having enough bottles for eight.

jfacciol wrote:September 13 is fine with me.

So far we seem to have four attendees (David, Jeff, Jay and Julian). Anyone else? We are planning on having enough bottles for eight.

My sober half will be there too.

I would like to attend if possible..
I have most of the '83 and '85 vintages!

I'm pretty sure I will be able to attend as well.

I am glad to see that Sean C has most of the 1983s and 1985s. I hope that he can step into my shoes and supply the bulk of the port.

The more I have thought about it, the less likely that I would go as far as Melville for a tasting.

I certainly would not drive and I don't look forward to a return LIRR trip and then the subway (hats off to Eric for doing this trip to northern NJ from NYC).

My apologies to all but I think that I will sit this one out.

Jay: Would it help if I were to carry your luggage, liquid and non-liquid?

More seriously team, what 1983s and 1985s do we have within reach (i.e., not in the UK)? I have 1985 Graham’s, 1985 Nacional, and 1985 Warre, but not a single bottle of 1983.

I have the line up for Fonseca.

How about an '84? I picked up a 1984 Messisas in Austin this weekend; this fits right in the middle...

If I can get SeanC to go, I will as well.

Also have Dow '85, Fonseca '83, Ramos '85, Ferreira '85, and a couple of others I can not recall off-hand.

Perhaps we can limit it to a 85 tasting instead if we have trouble digging up the bottles?

Or are we still aiming for Julian's suggestion of

Taylor, Warre, Graham, Gould Campbell, and Dow.

Actually, you know what would be an interesting tasting,
having a port vs. molly dooker tasting. Differentdave being a huge fan of the dookers.

The dookers have been known as intensely jammy, high alcoholic (16+%), sweet types of wines.

A gateway wine for port drinkers perhaps? =)

g-man wrote:Perhaps we can limit it to a 85 tasting instead if we have trouble digging up the bottles?

Or are we still aiming for Julian's suggestion of

Taylor, Warre, Graham, Gould Campbell, and Dow.

I am very keen to do a 1983 versus 1985 double horizontal, but am not especially fussed which houses. Perhaps some of big reputation, some lesser.

And no thanks to the Molly Dooker idea: MD is good, but the object was to have a port tasting.

Supposedly I've a Dow and a Warres 85 in the basement. I'll have to go check. I'm in the midst of migrating my inventory to something better than Excel. I can make it on September 13th, but I don't relish transportation back. Perhaps we can adjust for 2 participants per bottle?

We’re staying chez DifferentDave: the journey back is the following day.

I currently have the following 83's: Dow, Cockburn & Noval Nacional.

WHile my house is not large by any stech of the imagination I would be more than happy to have any and all people who want to sleep it off/crash for a few hours to do so. I have 2 spare bedrooms and hopefully couches on main floor and in basement by time of tasting. We can also pick up or drop off people at the LIRR as needed.

I do not have port from 83/85 however I could secure a bottle if given the house and year needed.

How bout a preview of the food line up? =)

I think between us, we could actually source alot of the major houses

Or as Julian mentioned, perhaps 2-3 major houses
vs. 2-3 smaller houses.

As a suggestion

Taylor 83, 85
Fonseca 83, 85
Warres 83, 85
Gould Campbell 83, 85
Cockburn 83, 85

? How's that?

Sean, What bottles can you source?

We would be happy to chip in for your bottles.

I can chip in the Fonseca 83, 85

I believe between eric and julian we can get the nacional 83 and 85 ...

If we want to keep it a "lower" key, we can do a

Taylor and Fonseca Show down with perhaps a showing of the lesser houses from smith woodhouse or sandeman?

Or between sushi north and eric D we have the dow 83 and 85 ..

Can people please post what they have so we can determine what tasting this will be?

So far I know I can put up the Fonseca 83 and 85
...

From previous post we ahve the dow 83 and 85 ...

Construction is taking a tab bit longer than anticipated (they were supposed to be done by end of July). We still do not have a kitchen, a bathroom, etc. Those should all be in place within the coming weeks. However since the kitchen, bathroom and basement cannot be set up all the dishes, furniture, boxes, etc still reside in the two spare bedrooms and the shed. Therefore I do not think we could accommodate overnight guests in the near future.
So in summary the tasting can be on for Sept 13 at my house (after all the back deck, deck table and charis and bar-be-que all work) however you will need to leave at end of night. We do live near the LIRR and my wife (who does not drink) can drive any and all to train station before/afterwards.

Sorry for the wrinkle.

So we have lost most of the port and most of the venue. I declare that planning for this tasting is going terribly.

I’m not keen on post-port trains. And Eric will have to reach Outer Mongolia or somewhere (a suburb of УлаанбааÑ”šÃÂ°Ã‘€ called something like New Jersey), so probably he also won’t be keen.

What to do? Time to seize ancient powers (aka take charge). This tasting is to be remanhattanised. My task is to find a venue.

Port:

• Nacional:
  • 1983 Eric;
  • 1985 JDAW;
• Fonseca:
  • 1983 Jeff;
  • 1985 Jeff;
• Dow:
  • 1983 Eric;
  • 1985 SushiNorth;
• Warre:
  • 1983 ?;
  • 1985 JDAW;
• Graham:
  • 1983 ?;
  • 1985 JDAW.

If we are just JDAW + Jeff + Eric + SushiNorth then Nacional and Fonseca and Dow will suffice. (Note for record: I am willing to be insulted with Nacional and Fonseca and Dow any day of the week.) If Different Dave is willing to leave his building site for the evening, we’ll need one extra pair: W83 or G83 anybody?

jdaw1 wrote:And Eric will have to reach Outer Mongolia

Funny you should mention that. One of the reasons I stopped speaking up is that my schedule is a bit up in the air at the moment. Work apparently has me traipsing across Asia for two weeks, and I'm not sure exactly when I leave.

Wait, it gets better. Shortly after I return I'm headed off to Berlin, and likely other European destinations (TBD). So while I would certainly like to attend another tasting, I cannot be depended upon until early November.

Wow, is sept 13th a friday?

You have those pitched black decanters julian?

would make an excellent opportunity to discuss the merits of Nacional Myth or Magic.

Now that the tasting has returned to NYC, I would like to rejoin. In my cellar at home I only have Dow 83 but could get many other 1983s with a couple of weeks notice.
Perhaps I could substitute for Eric on the Dow 83. Otherwise, I would be happy to adopt a bottle.

Julian, if my home would meet the group's needs, I would be happy to host another tasting. My wife will be away on Saturday evening.

Works for me — extremely well.

Dissenters? (DifferentDave: when your home is built and sorted, we would happily accept any future re-offer of hospitality.)

marvelous idea ...

pizza and port again ? =)

Are woman allowed at this tasting btw?

And if we are decided on Jay's apartment, Jay would you mind if I ask Subir and another friend Molly(if first criteria of woman allowed) to attend?

I can vouch that Subir and Molly are fine folks.

My calendar is clear; with the exception that i need to be in chinatown at 6am the next morning, then capable of being in the butt of a lion by 1pm.

What that means:
I have an Dow's 85, Warres 85, and easy access to Grahams 83.

Butt of the lion is easy, you just have to stand there and occasionally lift a leg, I've done more on worst =)

* Nacional:
o 1983 Eric;
o 1985 JDAW;
* Fonseca:
o 1983 Jeff;
o 1985 Jeff;
* Dow:
o 1983 Jay F;
o 1985 SushiNorth;
* Warre:
o 1983 ?;
o 1985 JDAW; -- Adoptable?
* Graham:
o 1983 SushiNorth;
o 1985 JDAW. -- Adoptable?

As long as someone is a port lover (or wants to become better informed) and is good company, I see no gender issues.

It sounds as if we have seven attendees: Julian, Jeff, Eric, Jay, Sushinorth, Subir (whom I also met at the LBV tasting and was good company), and Molly (if both Jeff and Julian vouch for someone, that is enough for me).

If we drop the Warres, we have eight bottles and seven attendees. I know that I am on the "sober" end of the spectrum, so I leave it to others to comment on whether a bottle plus a bit is enough.

Oh and my wife steph will be joining as well.

With Steph we are definitely eight. If Differentdave joins us, we are nine. So it sounds as if we do need the 1983 Warre or another 83/85 combo.