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Booked the Trip,

will be in town may 6th.

anyone up for dinner/port?

Absolutely! Don't forget we have the Sandeman vertical on May 13 - you need to talk to Axel if you want to get on the waitlist.

But if you can't make this offline (or even if you can) we'll raid our cellars to welcome you to the UK in the style you would expect and hope for.

envious of the sandmen's tasting but I'd probably would have 2 other guests with me so very unlikely to make the list =)

i'll post details when they're firmed up.

that way i can also pack some bottles to bring over

g-man wrote:envious of the sandmen's tasting but I'd probably would have 2 other guests with me so very unlikely to make the list =)

Buy them tickets for a show, or the opera, or a local pub.

the wife would not be too pleased with me =)

1 night of decadence vs the rest of the trip with a pissed off wife.

tough choice.

Choose dates such that the tasting is just before returning home. Or put both of you on the waitlist.

jdaw1 wrote:Choose dates such that the tasting is just before returning home. Or put both of you on the waitlist.

the flip side of the argument is that it allows you guys in the uk to have multiple tastings in may (and potentially one in paris) =)

I'm sure we'll be able to come up with some sort of plan. Do you plan to tour the UK at all? Or just stay in London?

AHB wrote:I'm sure we'll be able to come up with some sort of plan. Do you plan to tour the UK at all? Or just stay in London?

mostly london,

I toured the uk when i was working out there for 3 months.

Hang on. Did I read this thread correctly? g-man comes to the UK and we ignore the obvious conclusion that this means at least a weekend of events, and suggest he tags along to an already organised tasting?

When are you going to be around? Do you have any firm dates?

JacobH wrote:Hang on. Did I read this thread correctly? g-man comes to the UK and we ignore the obvious conclusion that this means at least a weekend of events, and suggest he tags along to an already organised tasting?

When are you going to be around? Do you have any firm dates?

well the organised tasting does sound incredible =)

we're trying to work out the flights right now.

Okay, it's shaping up to be 29th and 30th in london
then the first week of may in portugal.

You may find 29th April is tough to get accommodation in London as that is the day of the Royal Wedding. Also, as that is only a 3 day week in the UK due to Monday and Friday being public holidays, we will probably find it very difficult to organise a well attended offline on either of those days.

Is there any chance of you being in London on different days? If not, we'll do the best we can but it may not be very impressive.

AHB wrote:You may find 29th April is tough to get accommodation in London as that is the day of the Royal Wedding. Also, as that is only a 3 day week in the UK due to Monday and Friday being public holidays, we will probably find it very difficult to organise a well attended offline on either of those days.

Is there any chance of you being in London on different days? If not, we'll do the best we can but it may not be very impressive.

oh i dind't realize

we'll keep it in mind

maybe i might goto portugal first =)

OMG WHEN DID THE TAXES AND FEES COST > COST OF THE FLIGHT??????

Things that used to be included in the cost of the flight, like jet fuel, seem to have moved into ‟fees”.

g-man wrote:OMG WHEN DID THE TAXES AND FEES COST > COST OF THE FLIGHT??????

Since about April 1995, when I flew to Dublin for £1 and the next month the government realised they wereissing one of the pleasures of life from their list of things to tax. Now you have to pay tax on alcohol, tobacco, holidays and sex.

AHB wrote:

g-man wrote:OMG WHEN DID THE TAXES AND FEES COST > COST OF THE FLIGHT??????

Since about April 1995, when I flew to Dublin for £1 and the next month the government realised they wereissing one of the pleasures of life from their list of things to tax. Now you have to pay tax on alcohol, tobacco, holidays and sex.

Apart from on the Isle of Man, where sex is tax free.

Updated the date!

booked the flights already!

I plan to be in London on Friday May 6 to meet up with G-Man. Anyone else up for a Friday night offline to welcome G-Man to the UK?

Suggested theme - see how many of G-Man's bottles he collected from Seckford's can be drunk in one evening; or bring a blind bottle of port to share

Sounds good to me. What time do you plan starting? We could arrange a little Port-Cruise around the City...

JacobH wrote:Sounds good to me. What time do you plan starting? We could arrange a little Port-Cruise around the City...

with teh exception of walking around the food court of harrod's mid day, the wife and i with a friend have nothing at all planned.

Do visit BBR.

jdaw1 wrote:Do visit BBR.

if you pick a theme, I'll happily purchase a bottle from bbr to bring to the tasting.

I think as you’re the guest you are more than welcome to choose the theme!

Theme:

Something to cure a red eye from london and flying out the very next morning to portugal port tasting

Sounds like a traditional "bring a blind bottle of vintage port to share" and then we can all make fools of ourselves guessing what the bottles are.

Who else is in? So far it is Jeff, Jacob and I ( ).

I suggest we meet at The Crusting Pipe at 5:30pm. I'll book The Office if it's free and we stay as fewer than 7.

Jeff - if you can, call ahead to Berry Brothers and see if you can make an appointment to have someone show you round the shop and tell you a little of its history. Mention both TPF and FTLOP and tell Berry's that you've been recommended to visit by both groups of port lovers. It would help if you take a look at their wine list and buy some port to collect the day of your visit and requested tour. (Tours are complimentary and for goodness sake, don't tip the sales assistant who shows you round.)

Other port places to visit - Portal restaurant, but that's a bit pricey; Vinopolis is worth a few hours of your time; then there's that port / wine bar next to Charing Cross station that 've been into once and can never remember the name - Jacob knows it though and might post to help me out.

Oh yes, and the Don restaurant close to Canon Street station and my office in London. Take a look at their website. The restaurant is in Sandeman's old London bottling plant and is quite a place with an eye-wateringly expensive wine list. Still, if you fancy lunch there on Friday May 6th then say so here and I can meet up with you guys for a quick lunch in the bistro.

AHB wrote:Who else is in? So far it is Jeff, Jacob and I ( ).

I’ll accept either possibility. One by grammatical logical; the other by custom.

When I visited NY the New Yorkers had a spread of Smith Woodhouse for me. Surely the subjects of Her Majesty could do as well for this visitor? Surely there is a minor house of which there could be a vertical in a minor key?

Btw, I'll have to be + 2 as my wife and wine drinking friend will be along (BBR sounds like a great idea, will probably pick up a few bottles for the dinner then)

Does bbr really only have 21 bottles on their port list? the youngest seemingly a dow 94?

or if you guys are interested,

i have 1974 and 1975 california port style wines i can pack and ship.

g-man wrote:i have 1974 and 1975 california port style wines i can pack and ship.

BBR better.

Unfortunately I am planning to take advantage of the run of public holidays to go on extended holiday out of the UK - although my plans are not yet set I think it rules me out of this one.

For wine-based entertainment, I can recommend "The Sampler" up in Islington as well. If you are in the vicinity of Berry's, Fortnums is also worth a look and has a nice selection of douro wines and port at surprisingly reasonable prices. Their own label vintage and lbv is good as well (either Passadouro or Secundum for the vp, I can't recall).

The easiest way to browse BBR for port is to go to the "buy wine" tab, click "browse wine", select the "16% to 30%" option from the grey column on the left and then sort the results by vintage. This pulls up their old madeiras and ports, as well as other bits and bobs (rivesaltes etc.). Currently they have some Croft '63, Gould '70 and Warre '80, though prices do not tend to be cheap (Taylor/Fonseca are particularly dear at BBR). Worth also calling the shop itself by phone - sometimes they have the odd bottle that is not listed on the main site, and i know for a fact they have a couple of mags of Vesuvio '94 at the moment.

EDIT: looks like the Sampler has a Kensington branch as well now, though have not been. Link below - they have a nice selection available for sampling and would be worth phoning both ahead of time (or checking back on the website) to see what bottles they have at the time of your visit (and when opened) http://www.thesampler.co.uk/store/

If we wanted to go a little down the theme route, I was wondering about suggesting the next informal tasting be themed around bringing a bottle of the Symingtons’ ‟double-barrelled” shippers: Quarles Harris, Smith Woodhouse and Gould Campbell, since they often do better at blind tasting than more major houses.

[url=http://www.theportforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4606&p=40280#p40280]here[/url] g-man wrote:I originally had the SW 80 and 83 rated very highly however once teh fonseca came out, they were both dropped by at least a level of complexity.

Still, some good ports, but the price is rightly so as the SW is unfortunately no first rate.

Might want to avoid basing it around SW!

Ok, scrap that idea! (Albeit that I am slightly concerned about RAYC’s knowledge of other posters’ posts.)

Called bbr, they do have some Symingtons’ ‟double-barrelled” shippers: Quarles Harris, Smith Woodhouse and Gould Campbell

Jeff +2, JGH, AHB

On that basis, we could put together a decent selection of 5-6 vintages from a shipper, or a decent horizontal of a particular year, or just choose a bottle and serve it blind - in which case I think I have chosen my bottle!

Jeff, and preference? Fonseca vertical? 1977 horizontal?

AHB wrote:Jeff +2, JGH, AHB

On that basis, we could put together a decent selection of 5-6 vintages from a shipper, or a decent horizontal of a particular year, or just choose a bottle and serve it blind - in which case I think I have chosen my bottle!

Jeff, and preference? Fonseca vertical? 1977 horizontal?

nope no preference at all, good ol' wine searcher showed me where to hopefully pick up a few bottles for the day. A blind would be a fun exercise though.

AHB wrote:then there's that port / wine bar next to Charing Cross station that 've been into once and can never remember the name - Jacob knows it though and might post to help me out.

That’s Gordon’s; a great place, certainly worth visiting. Please add any other good venues to the Port in London thread!

Jeff,

Is 6th May still your plan for a London tasting? Saw on your "organizing" post you plan to be in Porto from 6th May unless I mis-understood you?

Still hoping I may just make 6th May if so. We get home from holiday late on 5th May.

yes, still plan to be
UK the night of the 6th to meet up with you guys

and 7th i'm flying out to portugal

the 6th keeps getting stuck in my head cuz it's my bday =)

I was looking at my diary for the next couple of weeks and spotted that I will be in London on May 6th - isn't that convenient!

So who is coming to meet up with Jeff for his very brief visit to the UK?

Venue: The Meeting Room, The Crusting Pipe, Covent Garden
Time: 5:30pm to about 11pm
Confirmed Attendees: Jeff+2, JGH, AHB
Possible Attendees: THRA

Theme seems to be "Bring a blind bottle to share"

I'll book the meeting room right now.

I am a possible. I will probably not know for certain until the day before as we only get back from holiday on 5th May.

First draft of the placemats.

• More details needed about JGH’s other +1.

jdaw1 wrote:First draft of the placemats.

• More details needed about JGH’s other +1.

Ok; will confirm.

If anyone fancies a pre-tasting warm-up at Gordon’s, let me know. It’s only a couple of minutes’ walk from the Crusting Pipe.

My error: JHG’s other +1.

Should first names be used?

Updated draft of the placemats.

• JGH≠JHG, but confusion possible. So Ports named with first names.
• More details needed about Jeff’s other +1.
• Food menu to be added, when May menu published.

Count me in..!

Tom

Updated draft of the placemats.

• +THRA.

I would like to attend please.