Thursday March 10th, Crusting Pipe, London
Posted: 16:23 Fri 11 Mar 2011
A fun blind tasting last night, where we were looked after very well once more - and when I was reminded that if we want rib-eye on the bone we can order them in advance when we book the room!
It was a little confusing, with people dropping in, turning up late and leaving early, but all told there were 8 attendees who covered 12 bottles. The wines tasted were:
Graham 1980
Smith Woodhouse 1991
Vale Dona Maria 2003
Cavadina 1990
Colmaça 2003
Dow's Icon Reserve NV
Martinez 1970
Osborne 2005 LBV
Fonseca Guimaraens 1991 (from half bottle)
Croft 1982
Noval 1991
Of these 12 different ports, 8 were completely new to me. I can't remember when was the last time that I tried 8 new ports at an offline. Great fun!
I came to the conclusion that the 1991 ports are surprisingly forward and might be worth moving up the order on my drinking list. Apart from the corked Noval, these were all mature, secondary and very clearly ready for drinking. My WOTN was the Smith Woodhouse 1991 but the Martinez 1970 claimed the majority vote for that position.
The Dow's Icon Reserve was surprisingly good and generally well liked. The Colmaça was as tight as a duck's armpit and was just totally shut down and brutally tannic - who knows what that will turn out like? The Vale Dona Maria really impressed me and had a fabulous balance of sweet fruit and firm structure.
I do love these informal, blind, offlines.
Tom came up with a great idea for a future offline - a single blind offline where everyone participating knows which wines are being tasted but not which wine is in which glass. The challenge is then to match glass to wine and see how good we really are!
What a great idea!
It was a little confusing, with people dropping in, turning up late and leaving early, but all told there were 8 attendees who covered 12 bottles. The wines tasted were:
Graham 1980
Smith Woodhouse 1991
Vale Dona Maria 2003
Cavadina 1990
Colmaça 2003
Dow's Icon Reserve NV
Martinez 1970
Osborne 2005 LBV
Fonseca Guimaraens 1991 (from half bottle)
Croft 1982
Noval 1991
Of these 12 different ports, 8 were completely new to me. I can't remember when was the last time that I tried 8 new ports at an offline. Great fun!
I came to the conclusion that the 1991 ports are surprisingly forward and might be worth moving up the order on my drinking list. Apart from the corked Noval, these were all mature, secondary and very clearly ready for drinking. My WOTN was the Smith Woodhouse 1991 but the Martinez 1970 claimed the majority vote for that position.
The Dow's Icon Reserve was surprisingly good and generally well liked. The Colmaça was as tight as a duck's armpit and was just totally shut down and brutally tannic - who knows what that will turn out like? The Vale Dona Maria really impressed me and had a fabulous balance of sweet fruit and firm structure.
I do love these informal, blind, offlines.
Tom came up with a great idea for a future offline - a single blind offline where everyone participating knows which wines are being tasted but not which wine is in which glass. The challenge is then to match glass to wine and see how good we really are!
What a great idea!