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A vertical of Delaforce was held in The Bung Hole on Tuesday 24th April 2012.

Links:

• Review of the evening as a whole;
• Aperitif:
  • 1975 Delaforce;
• Sheet One:
  • 1960 Delaforce;
  • 1963 Delaforce;
  • 1966 Delaforce;
  • 1970 Delaforce;
  • 1974 Delaforce Quinta da Côrte;
  • 1977 Delaforce;
• Sheet Two:
  • 1980 Delaforce Côrte;
  • 1982 Delaforce;
  • 1984 Delaforce Quinta da Côrte;
  • 1985 Delaforce;
  • 1987 Delaforce Quinta da Côrte;
  • 1991 Delaforce Côrte;
• Sheet Three:
  • 1992 Delaforce;
  • 1994 Delaforce;
  • 1997 Delaforce Côrte;
  • 2000 Delaforce;
  • 2003 Delaforce;
  • 2007 Delaforce;
• Placemats;
• Planning and arrangements.

A splendid evening.

Thank you to Axel and Julian for the organisation; Tom, Axel, Alex (and perhaps others?) for contributing the Ports, and; Nick for joining us as our guest.

My overall impression of Delaforce is that the wines of the 1960s are very good, whilst those from the 1970s and 1980s are variable but mostly weak or bad examples of VP. Thankfully, the wines produced in the last two decades have been higher quality and are hopefully going to turn out to be as good as those from the 1960s.

Derek

DRT wrote:Tom, Axel, Alex (and perhaps others?) for contributing the Ports

And Wolfgang.

DRT wrote:My overall impression of Delaforce is that the wines of the 1960s are very good, whilst those from the 1970s and 1980s are variable but mostly weak or bad examples of VP

Derek, how was the 1977? We had it at a 1977 horizontal in 2008 where it was one of the positive surprises of the evening.

jdaw1 wrote:

DRT wrote:Tom, Axel, Alex (and perhaps others?) for contributing the Ports

And Wolfgang.

And, of course, g-man for very kindly donating the 74.

DRT wrote:whilst those from the 1970s and 1980s are variable but mostly weak or bad examples of VP.

Setting aside the flawed bottles, i had a much more favourable impression of these than you. They are light and may not make old bones (and are certainly not blockbuster ports) but several of them made nice quaffing ports that were elegantly mature and had some attractive characteristics. Hat-tip (surprisingly) to the 1975 and 1982 in particular.

The 60s were indeed lovely ports, which for me bore some resemblance to the Croft style.

The 92 was also extremely good, and i think could turn out to be a much "bigger" port than those that preceded.

The venue worked very well i thought, and it was very nice to meet Nick

RonnieRoots wrote:Derek, how was the 1977? We had it at a 1977 horizontal in 2008 where it was one of the positive surprises of the evening.

The 1977 was a slightly compromised bottle i thought - possibly the fault of the cork, which dropped very easily before the tip of the corkscrew even penetrated. We did have a bottle of this back in January that we all thought was rather good (review here), though AHB scored it very low!

A thoroughly enjoyable evening, when I got my head down and raced through my note taking as quickly as I could - I actually finished working through all the wines!! It was good to meet Nick.

My impressions of the ports is very similar to Derek's. I loved the 1960, 1963 and 1966 but was disappointed that the 1970, 1977 and 1991 were spoiled bottles. I was also very impressed by the 2007, 2000 and 1994 and think these might become very enjoyable wines in 10-20 years time.

My thanks to all who contributed time or wine to the tasting and to having an enjoyable evening, despite my fairly early departure.

I too was impressed with 1994 and bought an OWC about 5 years ago. No rush to drink them

that color on the 70 and 77 looks quite unappetizing.

geez! that is a proper tasting now.

how come you guys didn't utilize the standard port tasting glasses though or is it just a trick fo the lens?

That's a very impressive array of glasses!

Winner, the 1960, with 23½ votes.
Second, 1963, with 15 votes.
Third, 1966, with 14 votes.
Fourth, 1992, with 10½ votes.
All others received ≤2 votes.

jdaw1 wrote:A vertical of Delaforce was held in The Bung Hole on Tuesday 24th April 2012.

Links:

• Review of the evening as a whole;
• Aperitif:
  • 1975 Delaforce;
• Sheet One:
  • 1960 Delaforce;
  • 1963 Delaforce;
  • 1966 Delaforce;
  • 1970 Delaforce;
  • 1974 Delaforce Quinta da Côrte;
  • 1977 Delaforce;
• Sheet Two:
  • 1980 Delaforce Côrte;
  • 1982 Delaforce;
  • 1984 Delaforce Quinta da Côrte;
  • 1985 Delaforce;
  • 1987 Delaforce Quinta da Côrte;
  • 1991 Delaforce Côrte;
• Sheet Three:
  • 1992 Delaforce;
  • 1994 Delaforce;
  • 1997 Delaforce Côrte;
  • 2000 Delaforce;
  • 2003 Delaforce;
  • 2007 Delaforce;
• Placemats;
• Planning and arrangements.

The tasting note threads have pictures of bottles and corks. (A few were too out-of-focus, alas.)

g-man wrote:how come you guys didn't utilize the standard port tasting glasses though or is it just a trick fo the lens?

The wine glasses of The Bung Hole are a good size for a port tasting, even though larger than the INAO glass.

jdaw1 wrote:

g-man wrote:how come you guys didn't utilize the standard port tasting glasses though or is it just a trick fo the lens?

The wine glasses of The Bung Hole are a good size for a port tasting, even though larger than the INAO glass.

They are an even better size for sharing a bottle between 4-6 people!

Thanks for everyone who was involved in organising this tasting and for Nick Delaforce for coming.

This was a fascinating evening and a great chance to try some (for the UK) quite rare Ports. Unusually for these big vertical tastings, I was struck by how consistent the Delaforce house-style has been between 1960 and 2007: eucalyptus and tobacco on the nose; lots of orange in the mouth and a dryish finish. With a few exceptions, the Delaforce seems quite a gentle and light vintage port, perhaps in the style of Sandeman, but none the worse for that since even in the unusual years (e.g. 1982) some very good wines being produced. I wouldn’t be unhappy to have a big stack of any of these tucked away in my cellar.

I do like the placemats for the corks. Gives it a real professional touch.

Andy Velebil wrote:I do like the placemats for the corks. Gives it a real professional touch.

RAYC’s suggestion.

Did anybody take a good note of the extra tawny supplied by THRA? If yes, I’ll add a TN thread.

I have a note (but, perhaps, not a Good Note) of it which I will try to post in due course. (It was the Quinta de Marrocos 10-year-old tawny, by the way.)