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Christies, in describing [url=http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5140083]lot 15 of sale 7641[/url], wrote:Unknown Shippers Believed Vintage 1955
Assorted capsules, mostly damaged. Unlabelled. Levels top-shoulder or better

JDAW, in a PM to AHB, wrote:To recap, in a form that we might choose to quote on , AHB and JDAW have agreed to share a lot of twelve bottles of port, described as being unlabelled mixed shippers, believed 1955. I have sorted these bottles into fill order, and labelled them 1 to 12, best being 1 and worst being 12, are have notes as follows. (All level measurements were done by eye and guess, without a rule: imprecision is guaranteed.)

Propose a split of:

1. Capsule unbranded black, perhaps same as 5 or 7 or both. Skirt of capsule removed, but glass too dark to see branding, if there be any. Level about +10mm above bottom neck.

2. Green glass; level BN+8mm. Cork says Taylor 1955.

3. Unique capsule with decorative circular pattern of dots. Brown glass. Capsule was to cut to show Taylor, and 19?5, the missing digit being hidden by a fold in the glass. BN+7mm.

4. Unique red capsule marked with ‟J H & ? Brooke Ltd”. BN+3mm. A little capsule cutting suggests an unbranded cork.

5. Capsule metallic with black at sides, perhaps the same as 1 and 7. Black glass too dark to see branding. BN+2mm.

6. No capsule. BN+2mm. Top half of cork appears reflectively silver; bottom half either not branded or not branded clearly. There might be runes or something written horizontally.

7. Capsule grey metal with patches of black. Maybe same as 1 and 5. Like those two, glass too dark to see cork.

8. BN+0. Remains of seemingly-unique capsule says ‟Adam's 1955”, though bits of some letters are missing.

9. An interesting bottle. Brown glass, with a line around the bottom of the shoulder. On cork I can read ‟Vint!”, which doesn't help, and the patches either side of the cork appear burnt -- maybe port has seeped around branding. Beige capsule might say 1900, or 19?00 though the latter would make no sense. If 1900 level not so bad at 1mm below base of neck.

10. Remains of sides of black wax capsule. BN-9mm. Green glass; no visible branding.

11. Green glass. BN-11mm. No visible brand. Capsule ‟!BRAEY AB!” who is probably a bottler.

12. Bottle shorter than others, with squarer shoulders and a line around bottom shoulder. Green glass. Mid shoulder, something like BN-14mm. No branding visible.

• 1, 2, 6, 7, 10 and 12;
• 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 11.

DRT wrote:9 being the clincher and based on an assumption that cost was split equally.

Glenn E. wrote:I voted for 1,2,6,7,10,12 for two reasons.

1. Of the two positively identified bottles is in this set, this lot contains the 1955 Taylor. Yummy. Adams who?
2. Unlike ajfeather, I think it is an advantage to have 2 of the possible set of 3. That way once you open one, you have a second in reserve.

Bottles 3 and 9 are the counterweights in the other set, and 3 could be a 1945 Taylor. But I tend to be conservative and like knowing exactly what bottle #2 is.

AHB wrote:Adams was a UK shipper who tended to buy cheaper vintage ports for labelling as Buyer's Own Brand. For example, the 1963 Adams is a Royal Oporto wine. Who knows what the 1955 Adams will be , but it is likely that it will be something similar. We can but hope that in 1955 Adam's did something different and bought a parcel of Fonseca wine...

AHB wrote:Bottle number 10 was opened this evening and found to be Taylor 1948.

jdaw1 wrote:12. Bottle shorter than others, with squarer shoulders and a line around bottom shoulder. Green glass. Mid shoulder, something like BN-14mm. No branding visible.

jdaw1 wrote:

JDAW, in a PM to AHB, wrote:11. Green glass. BN-11mm. No visible brand. Capsule ‟!BRAEY AB!” who is probably a bottler.

jdaw1 wrote:

JDAW, in a PM to AHB, wrote:9. An interesting bottle. Brown glass, with a line around the bottom of the shoulder. On cork I can read ‟Vint!”, which doesn't help, and the patches either side of the cork appear burnt -- maybe port has seeped around branding. Beige capsule might say 1900, or 19?00 though the latter would make no sense. If 1900 level not so bad at 1mm below base of neck.

jdaw1 wrote:

JDAW, in a PM to AHB, wrote:5. Capsule metallic with black at sides, perhaps the same as 1 and 7. Black glass too dark to see branding. BN+2mm.

AHB wrote:Who said that? It wasn't me!

Are you sure you were at the Bell on the 15th...there are a lot of conversations that you recall that I don't

AHB wrote:None of the bottles that I contributed were from this batch. I still have 4 of my bottles left (from the 6 that I received) and my note earlier in the thread indiactes that Julian should still have 3 of his bottles unless he offered one to someone as a contribution to the tasting.

DRT wrote:I am not passing judgement, but I was probably the most sober I have ever been at a port tasting on Thursday. My memory of the evening is very clear. Perhaps the blood-loss towards the end of the evening was a contributing factor?

AHB wrote:

DRT wrote:I am not passing judgement, but I was probably the most sober I have ever been at a port tasting on Thursday. My memory of the evening is very clear. Perhaps the blood-loss towards the end of the evening was a contributing factor?

You mean that by bleeding out some of the alcohol in your bloodstream, you managed to hold on to your sobriety? Is this a technique you plan to use again in the future?