The place
The Crusting Pipe, WC1
The dates
17 & 18 March 2009
The guests
AHB, UncleTom, Benread, JacobH, Christopher.
The fare
The usual.
The wines
1947 Rebello Valente
1963 Sandeman
1983 Kopke
1991 Churchill
1991 Gould Campbell
1992 Churchill LBV
1996 Vargellas
The first night was somewhat chaotic: I thought UncleTom had cancelled and therefore changed my arrival time to 8.30. It turns out that that wasn't the case and I had left Tom in the capable hands of the TCP staff and Churchill 1991 for a hour.
Sorry. Once Alex arrived, Tom and I had something to eat and we tried some of the Rebello Valente and Sandeman (both brought on account of being leakers) and the Churchill LBV and Vargellas (being two halves I grabbed as I was leaving the house. Further apologies ).I gather that, on the second night, Alex, Ben and Christopher consumed the rest of the Rebello Valente and Sandeman as well as trying the 1991 GC and 1983 Kopke.
An excellent warm up to the Vargellas vertical next week; even if drinking Port on St Patrick's day might be seen as somewhat unconventional
Wine of the night, for me, was the Sandeman 63 but it was also very interesting to try a Rebello Valente, especially from 1947; this was my first experience of this shipper. The two wines that I brought tasted pretty much as I expected and just emphasised the importance of giving youngish Vargellas enough time in the decanter.
The TCP staff were great and there's even a new vegetarian dish on the menu!
