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Dear all,

I would like to organise a 1980 horizontal. Since there was already one Wokingham in May 2008 the location for this one will be Levekusen in Germany. I think 30 years after release it is the perfect time to find out what is what and see how the vintage is like. The tasting will include:

Nacional
Dow
Warre
Grahams
Niepoort
Taylor
Fonseca
Smith Woodhouse
Quarles Harris
Sandemann
Gould Campell
Offley
Royal Oporto
Borges
Calem da Foz
Delaforce Quinta da Corte
Croft Quinta da Roeda
Ferreira
Messias Cachao
Ramos Pinto

Despite it is far away I thought it is a good idea to find out interest and in order to have enough time to eventally be able to complete the line up


confirmed interests (will become attendees if they do not pull out before and the event goes ahead as planned):

Dirk & Nina
Joao M.
Wolfgang S.
Axel P.
Martin R.
Rob. C.
Viola C.
Ralf L.
Janek S.
Sascha S.
Christopher P.
Richard V.
Dirk B.

regards

WS1

I will join the tasting

Axel +3, please.

Axel

My opportunities to travel to Germany are quite limited these days, but I'm interested as a possibility. What would be the nearest airport for Leverkusen?

Hi Alex,

the nearest airport is Cologne. There are various airlines who go there from various London airports. Other alternatives, a bit further away are Dusseldorf, Dortmund and Frankfurt (furthest; you would need then also to use the very fast train to Cologne ).

Hope to see you there

regards

WS1

Wolfgang - great initiative with a vintage that deserves more attention - please put me down.
VJR

with pleasure, updated with interested people.

Hmmmm we are already 9 interested people if there no changes; I fear the tasting fills up quicker than I thought.

regards

WS1

Port of Interest - oh go on then, put me down. No, not like a dog or even a heckler, but as I'd like to go.

and updated.

With that much notice how could I refuse...please include me on this one.

updated with RAYC and Cookie; the tasting seems to fill up ~ 1 year in advance; like that

Next task: choose a date.

Also, when you have time, please do post pictures of the labels of the Nacional, Offley, Royal Oporto, Borges, Cálem Foz, Delaforce Quinta da Corte, and Messias Cachão. Thank you.

Love the idea Wolfgang. A bit hard for me to plan that far ahead, but can we put me down for +1?

Long time no see btw -- let's try to hit up TCP sometime soon.

Hi Chris,

have included you in the List. Also updated the list of Ports to include Calem. BTW the tasting may also include a second bt of Calem da Foz. My initial bt was sourced in Portugal (bt has never left the country) , but then I found another one in Tokyo, which a good friend of mine bought for me and send it to me via the shipping way during winter.
We then can see if transport may/can make a difference.

Hi Julian,

will take pictures and put them the next time I am near to the bts; They are lying somewhere in my cellar in Germany.

regards

WS1

WS1 wrote:Hi Julian,

will take pictures and put them the next time I am near to the bts; They are lying somewhere in my cellar in Germany.

Thank you.

Hi Julian,

I am afraid so far no news on the pictures to be taken. But I will make sure that they will be taken. The ports are already in Axel's cellar near Leverkusen. Though there is also good news; we got a date and the venue, Bayercasino Leverkusen, confirmed. The date is the 17th of February next year. The tasting is likely to start ~6:30 PM. Further details will follow later.

To all confirmed interets,

can you please let me know if you can make it on this date?

regards

WS1

To encourage picture-tasting, I have prepared the first draft of the placemats (link broken as date change has caused a change in the filename).

• The organisers need to give some thought as to the ordering of the ports.
• There will be how many bottles of Cálem Quinta do Foz?
• Some names are missing.
• I have not included decanter labels, nor any sticky labels. If wrong, instruct.

WS1 wrote:To all confirmed interets,

can you please let me know if you can make it on this date?

I won't know for sure if I can make it until much nearer the time as I do not (yet) have any plans to be in Bonn the week of 17th Feb. Can I request that I be made a provisional attendee and anyone who can confirm their attendance be given priority over me?

Wolfgang - 17th February is good for me, though i will have a slight concern if i end up as the only non-German speaker!

Is there a recommended hotel?

I was the only non-speaker of German at the Niepoort vertical, and a triumph of polite accommodation of a guest events proceeded in English. I thanked everybody at the end of the evening.

The tasting is in the Bayer Gastronomie Kasino Leverkusen. Stay there.

Hi there,

apologies for any confusion, but due to organisatorial problems (colision with the essentia do vinho) the the tasting needs to be moved probably by a week. So new provisional date the 24th of February.

regards

WS1

Still good by me.

May be worth a PM in case people have forgotten that they signed up!

You'd better change my status to provisional and let anyone who can confirm take priority over me.

Hi Alex,

will do. Once more sorry for the confusion/trouble caused.

regards

WS1

Hi there,

trouble/confusion is now sorted out; the date of the 2nd of March is confirmed with the Bayer Casino. Apologies for the confusion caused. Over the next 4-8 weeks can please all people who raised interest in the past get back to me and let me know if they are still interested.

regards

WS1

Renamed draft of the placemats.

still good by me...though getting closer to the Barcelona marathon...

¿Is there any estimate of what this would cost for a drinker without suitable bottles?

Just retasted the Niepoort 1980 as this was the only big wine of the lineup from 1927 to 2009, which was not showing well (despite 85 and 97). Fantastic port, now beginning to show what it really can do. Looking much forward to these.

Axel

jdaw1 wrote:¿Is there any estimate of what this would cost for a drinker without suitable bottles?

Apologies for the delay in my response; yes there is; the cost is expected to be ~150€ or (~ 130£s) including dinner.

regards

WS1

Updated draft of the placemats.

• In German, courtesy of Rita L. (who might join a Leverkusen Colheita tasting).

Wolfgang,

my +3 would be:

Vio
Martin
Joao Machete

How about Dirk N?

Julian, will Rita join this tasting or is there a Colheita tasting that we are not aware of?

Axel

Hi,

after initial planning and review of cost I am afraid to announce that the cost for the tasting will be 185€ or 150£s. This includes dinner, room fee, water, glasses. Can please everbody on the current attendee list let me know if they are still on for this tasting?
Would like to finalise over the next week the planning for this tasting.

Please let me know

regards

WS1

The current draft of the placemats has several attendees named as somebody’s ‟+n”. As and when there is better information, please post same.

Bump

Are placemats finalised?

Am i needed to print?

I await instructions. There are lacunae, about which I have requested guidance, but none have been forthcoming.

The .ps file is available by changing an extension from .pdf to .ps.

Sorry Jdaw, wines are unchanged. Persons are:

Dirk & Nina
Joao M.
Wolfgang S.
Axel P.
Martin R.
Rob. C.
Viola C.
Ralf L.
Janek S.
Sascha S.
Christopher P.
Richard V.
Dirk B.

Many thanks in advance

Axel

Hi Julian,

apologies for not paying attention. On top of Axel's information (names) can you please exchange the Calem with Ramos Pinto? After checking our sources (kindly provided by Derek and you) and other sources we are still not sure if a Calem vintage port was bottled in 1980. We definitely have Calem da Foz (via Tokyo) and out of Portugal direct. Will also amend the starting thread.
Thanks in advance

regards

WS1

WS1 wrote:we are still not sure if a Calem vintage port was bottled in 1980. We definitely have Calem da Foz (via Tokyo) and out of Portugal direct.

I’ve never been quite sure whether Cálem is / was generally a single-quinta wine? I know that secondary years seemed to mostly be under the Foz label but I did wonder if major declarations were mostly SQVP too, even if not labelled as such.

Updated draft of the placemats.

Please check carefully, and very soon. I won’t be able to update once leave for work Friday morning. So please check before I do, and post or email requested alterations.

Re-updated draft of the placemats.

WS1 wrote:On top of Axel's information (names) can you please exchange the Calem with Ramos Pinto? After checking our sources (kindly provided by Derek and you) and other sources we are still not sure if a Calem vintage port was bottled in 1980. We definitely have Calem da Foz (via Tokyo) and out of Portugal direct.

I think that Axel requested something different. Please check latest, consult with Axel, and get me fuller instructions (be very clear) by 06:50am London-time on Friday.

Also, do you want them in a different order? Again, clear instructions by 06:50am London-time on Friday.

Hi Julian,

thanks a lot, that will work.

regards

WS1

It seems that things are now OK. If not, please correct within a few minutes.

Edit: too late. Print; drink; enjoy.

jdaw1 wrote:Also, when you have time, please do post pictures of the labels of the Nacional, Offley, Royal Oporto, Borges, Cálem Foz, Delaforce Quinta da Corte, and Messias Cachão. Thank you.

Please.

BTW, I can’t see my home email from work (all relevant contact details).

jdaw1 wrote:

jdaw1 wrote:Also, when you have time, please do post pictures of the labels of the Nacional, Offley, Royal Oporto, Borges, Cálem Foz, Delaforce Quinta da Corte, and Messias Cachão. Thank you.

Please.

Perhaps Rob could be made responsible for returning with appropriate photos?

One has already been sent to my work email thank you. More are apparently en route.

I have started a thread to hold the Review of evening as a whole, which in turn links to tasting-note threads. Doubtless other TN threads might be needed, and perhaps deletions. Please PM me what needs doing. When the list seems to be final, I’ll post links to all in all the threads, as usual.