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As many of you know, my wife does crossword puzzles. Lots of them. And she's good at it. So every year she goes to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament which is now being held at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott in NYC. I get to tag along for a couple of days of fun in NYC, which presents one of those rare opportunities for me to join the NYC tasters for a tasting.

For 2010, the tournament is Friday, February 19 through Sunday, February 21st. We'll probably be in town on Wednesday or Thursday, but I'm assuming that Friday the 19th would be the best night for a tasting.

The 2010 edition is the 33rd annual ACPT, which conveniently means that the first one was held in 1977. I detect a theme!

I realize that I'm starting this early, but I wanted to get people thinking about it and making arrangements.

Edit: DATE CHANGE from 2/26 to 2/19.

we have suggested themes and no takers in the ny thread =)

Yes, but that thread is for this year isn't it?

Glenn E. wrote:Yes, but that thread is for this year isn't it?

we also in possession of a sandeman's 60s-70s tasting that can be inserted at anytime.

Ah, well I did the math wrong anyway (if 2010 is the 33rd tournament, the first one was 32 years ago, so 1978) so any of the above would be fine.

I can't contribute to a Sandeman tasting, though, because I have none. But I could adopt, which is probably wisest for this type of trip anyway because any bottle shipped in an airliner's luggage bay would need at least a week (and probably two) to settle down again.

Done,

Let's set this date for teh sandeman's tasting

I believe, but will have to verify the cellar, that I have

60, 63, 66, 70, 77

Sounds like an excellent starting point!

I'll do some research and see what, if anything, I can procure for a reasonable price. If I can find something, it will probably make the most sense to have it shipped to you in NYC so that it doesn't have to spend time in an airplane hold shortly before being opened.

There are a lot of options for 60s and 70s Sandeman Vintage Ports, even in the US. Wine-Searcher.com lists:
The hole at 1930 is a mysterious "Very Choice Old" bottle in France, and the hole at 1989 is a Sandeman 10-yr old bottled in 1989. Which is interesting in its own right, but not really appropriate for this tasting.

I would suggest the 1972 just for its rarity, but according to the website (winerz.com) "This bottle is a special order item and may take up to six weeks to ship. (most likely three weeks) Please feel free to call to confirm availability and ship date." I can check on it if you'd like. Other than that I'm open to just about anything including simply adopting one of your already present bottles.

72 soudns interesting,

shoot me a pm if you're going to call.
otherwise I'll give it a ring.

wha'ts the 1940?

g-man wrote:72 soudns interesting,

shoot me a pm if you're going to call.
otherwise I'll give it a ring.

You go ahead and call. I'd probably want to have it shipped directly to you anyway even if I bought it, so you might as well do the ordering to make things easier. I'll happily split costs for all bottles, it will just be easier that way so that I don't have to carry them on the airplane or re-ship them to you.

g-man wrote:wha'ts the 1940?

I'm not completely sure. Vintage Wine Gifts is in London, so it's probably not something we can aquire easily for this tasting.

Vintage Wine Gifts wrote: 9.Sandeman 1940-50's £109.97

This port was bottled by Appointment to King George VI ('36-'52) and is deep and rich with nice weight and a dry liquorice finish. Drink now - 2013. A super anniversary gift. This vintage port is shipped in a deluxe silk lined hinged presentation box with four wine accessories (corkscrew, wine pourer, drip stopper & wine stopper) [worth £14.99] at no extra cost.

okay called and left a message..

let's see what they say.

g-man wrote:okay called and left a message..

let's see what they say.

mmm they never called back...

maybe they no have?

g-man wrote:

g-man wrote:okay called and left a message..

let's see what they say.

mmm they never called back...

maybe they no have?

My guess would be that they're simply posting everything on their distributor's list, which is a frustratingly common tactic on the east coast. Any time you see something like "takes 1 week to procure" or "call to confirm availability" you're most likely looking at a listing that isn't actually at the store. Personally, I think the practice should be banned because all it does is create numerous listings at multiple stores for the exact same bottle.

I'm missing the sandeman 63.

But I'm going to look out for other vintages too.

Anything you think we should add to this line up Glenn?

We have
Sandeman, 60, 66, 70, 77

I'm not that familiar with Sandeman, but just at first glance it seems like we should have a '63, too. I'll do some TN reading and see what's available at reasonable prices.

Well it seems that our best bet is to go with what we have, plus a 1963. Adding a 1955 would be nice if one can be located in the US, but going younger than 1977 doesn't seem to be advisable based on the TNs that I've read. Even 1977 seems to be pushing it, but since you already have one we might as well include it.

At this point I think we need to be concerned about group size as well. Being a lightweight, I see no need to procure more than 5 bottles unless we're going to have more than 6-7 people. But at this point I'm not sure what to add beyond the "core 5" anyway, so I think we need to figure out exactly how many people we're expecting before we put too much effort into finding more bottles.

What say ye?

Glenn E. wrote:Well it seems that our best bet is to go with what we have, plus a 1963. Adding a 1955 would be nice if one can be located in the US, but going younger than 1977 doesn't seem to be advisable based on the TNs that I've read. Even 1977 seems to be pushing it, but since you already have one we might as well include it.

At this point I think we need to be concerned about group size as well. Being a lightweight, I see no need to procure more than 5 bottles unless we're going to have more than 6-7 people. But at this point I'm not sure what to add beyond the "core 5" anyway, so I think we need to figure out exactly how many people we're expecting before we put too much effort into finding more bottles.

What say ye?

A fellow drinker has offered a very suitable location if we're a small group, I can ask him if his offer still stands.

I'm fine with one of our prior locations as well - Nick & Stef's or Uncle Jack's. Those were both great as far as I'm concerned... I was more worried about getting the right number of bottles for the number of people (or vice versa) than the actual where part of the equation.

72 sandeman was a hoax ..

we still need a 63 sandeman

I spy a 50 sandeman for 299$

Bah, that sucks.

I still haven't found a '63 Sandeman for a good price. There seem to be a few floating around, but I'm not sure I want to pay $250 for one. There's a cheap one at Wine Consigners, but I'm not sure I trust bottles from them so I'll keep looking!

I now have a +1 for the tasting. A friend of ours is going to come with us to NYC. He's one of my converts that I've been working on, and I think he'll enjoy a real tasting.

Sandeman 63 picked up.

g-man wrote:Sandeman 63 picked up.

Excellent!

Can one of you PM me the total cost/number of attendees so that I can clue in my +1 and also start saving myself?

*** ALERT ***

PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE CHANGED THE DATE. I don't know what happened, but thankfully we checked the date yet again while we were purchasing our airline tickets today and the tournament is a week earlier than I originally thought. The correct dates are February 19-21, so this tasting will need to be Friday, February 19th. We will be arriving on Wednesday, February 17th and staying through Sunday, February 21st.

It's possible that the dates hadn't been posted when I first started this thread and so I just assumed it would be the last weekend of the month like it was this year, but the website now lists the dates as February 19-21 so that's when we'll be there.

Have port will travel =)

I'm bumping this as we head into the new year with Glenn to be visiting in 2 1/2 months.

Correct me if i'm wrong.

Theme: Sandeman lineup
Vintages: 60, 63, 66, 70, 77
Date: 2/19/2010
Attendees: Glenn, Glenn + 1, G-man, SushiNorth
Cost: ~$100-~$130/person (if we have 5 people, range is because I'm not sure of the price we paid) + whatever you eat.
Location: We can try Palm west side.
Time: Dinner time.

Looks good to me!

Do you have a list of the usual suspects in order to expand the size of our gathering? Not that 3-4 of us would be a problem, but it'd be fun to see some of the other NYC Port drinkers again this year.

Scratch my +1. He's going to spend a night on the town doing touristy things since this is his first trip to NYC.

Theme: Sandeman lineup
Vintages: 60, 63, 66, 70, 77
Date: 2/19/2010
Attendees: Glenn, G-man, SushiNorth
Cost: 60-105/person (depending on attendees) + cost of food.
Location: Palm west side.
Time: Dinner time.

g-man wrote:Correct me if i'm wrong.

Theme: Sandeman lineup
Vintages: 60, 63, 66, 70, 77
Date: 2/19/2010
Attendees: Glenn, G-man, SushiNorth
Cost: ~$100-~$130/person (if we have 5 people, range is because I'm not sure of the price we paid) + whatever you eat.
Location: We can try Palm west side.
Time: Dinner time.

I'm happy doing something if it's the 3 of us Glenn. I'm asking around for more people though.

I'm also fine with just the 3 of us (in which case we might want to adjust the number of bottles?), but it would be a sad day in NYC if we could only scrounge up 3 people for a Port tasting!

Gman,

As of this a.m. Blicker Pierce had 5 bottles of the 1963 Sandeman for $175 which considering the age, is a very solid price.

1963 Sandeman Vintage Port 5 x 750mL -- $175 WS96 bn, crc, no label, (branded cork)

They are a great resource too. Good luck.

Roy Hersh wrote:Gman,

As of this a.m. Blicker Pierce had 5 bottles of the 1963 Sandeman for $175 which considering the age, is a very solid price.

1963 Sandeman Vintage Port 5 x 750mL -- $175 WS96 bn, crc, no label, (branded cork)

They are a great resource too. Good luck.

Thanks for the heads up Roy. For this tasting, the '63 is already in hand, so we're good. Here's the lineup:
February 19th - Restaurant TBD, NYC.
Sandeman 1960
Sandeman 1963
Sandeman 1966
Sandeman 1970
Sandeman 1977

We have 3 people definitely attending, I believe that puts us well into "too much port." I would like to get 8 people for this tasting (at about $65/psn for alcohol), 6 people would be a bare minimum (at about $85/psn for alcohol). Below that number, we should reduce the number of bottles. As always, food is separate, we generally pick places that come to $50-70/psn.

Please inquire amongst any Port drinkers in NY you may know who might be interested.

Let's do the palm west side
http://www.thepalm.com/sitemain.cfm?site_id=22

they've always been accommodating for me.

I have a potential recruit in NYC that I will contact... I'll send him an email and have him check out this thread.

Got another friend that came to a few previous tastings that's showing interest.

No luck; my recruit no longer lives in NYC.

Palm West looks great!

am i included in this? i think i killed that brain cell.

TBird wrote:am i included in this? i think i killed that brain cell.

You are included if you are around on the 19th

FYI - 2 cases of glasses ordered from Marjorie Lumm, they should be here in time.

SushiNorth wrote:FYI - 2 cases of glasses ordered from Marjorie Lumm, they should be here in time.

Wash them before first use but you knew that.

Hi everybody and a belated happy new year!

I won't know until mid-week of the 19th because I am back in grad school and have to see how up to date I am with the major papers that are due the 22nd (ugh!). I know you need a number now for costing purposes so I had better say no. If by mid-week that week I think I am caught up enough, I will check in with you again to inquire about being a last minute entry.

I hope all is well with everyone!

Julian, how are you enjoying living in Paris? I love that city very much.

SushiNorth: placemats thee or me?

(Yes KillerB, I know. But usage and rhyme align.)

jdaw1 wrote:SushiNorth: placemats thee or me?

(Yes KillerB, I know. But usage and rhyme align.)

I'll take care of them; a smaller attendance will affect the lineup.

+1: Rich D.

That's 4 confirmed, and 3 maybes (TBird, JohnInNYC, and one other I'm talking with).

SushiNorth wrote:+1: Rich D.

That's 4 confirmed, and 3 maybes (TBird, JohnInNYC, and one other I'm talking with).

Excellent!

i'm about 99% YES! will know more very soon!

102$ /person for the booze with 5 people.

I'm going to twist some arms for another confirmation.

sooo, looks like Sushi and I might have pulled a Killerb on our stash of sandeman 77s

please count me in!

g-man wrote:sooo, looks like Sushi and I might have pulled a Killerb on our stash of sandeman 77s

You drank them all by "accident"?

Is the $102/person with or without the Sandeman '77? (I'm guessing without, as averaging $100/bottle for this age would be pretty darn good.)

Current roster:
Confirmed (5): Glenn E., g-man, SushiNorth, TBird, Rich D.
Possible: JohninNYC, 2 others.

I'd like to see us get up to 6 or 7 for this tasting, so please keep asking around. g-man is going to make reserves for us, so that's taken care of. I'll assemble placemats shortly.