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To celebrate the Quinquagenary of AHB, he arranged a horizontal of 1963s in Wokingham at The Cantley House Hotel (evenings of Friday 11^th and Saturday 12^th October 2013) and The Walter Arms (lunch on Saturday 12^th), and two evening Champagne tastings for our better halves. Sadly the venue was not able to accommodate all AHB would have liked to have invited. Diaries had been blocked since early 2012, and bottles had been gathered for most of a decade before that. A splendid weekend indeed.
• Placemats (and parameters by which constructed).

Evening, Friday 11^th October 2013 at The Cantley House Hotel


• 1963 Viera de Souza;
• 1963 Quarles Harris;
• 1963 Gould Campbell;
• 1963 Cockburn;
• 1963 Graham;

• 1963 Krohn;
• 1963 Poças;
• 1963 Morgan;
• 1963 Avery;
• 1963 Fonseca;

• 1963 Rebello Valente;
• 1963 Quinta de la Rosa;
• 1963 Sandeman;
• 1963 Dalva;
• 1963 Constantino.

Four bottles were added:
• 2010 Niepoort Coche Branco;
• 1966 Château Batailley (magnum);
• 1863 Burmester;
• 1977 Warre (tappitt hen).


Afternoon, Saturday 12^th October 2013 at The Walter Arms


• 1963 Quinta do Sibio;
• 1963 Real Vinicola;
• 1963 Real Companhia Velha;
• 1963 Adams;
• 1963 Royal Oporto;

• 1963 Dolamore;
• 1963 Berry Bros & Rudd;
• 1963 Taylor;
• 1963 Croft;
• 1963 Niepoort;

• 1963 Mackenzie;
• 1963 Feuerheerd;
• 1963 Offley;
• 1963 Martinez.


Evening, Saturday 12^th October 2013 at The Cantley House Hotel


• 1963 Messias Quinta do Cachão;
• 1963 Warre;
• 1963 Dow;
• 1963 Quinta do Noval;
• 1963 Quinta do Noval Nacional;

• 1963 J. H. Andresen;
• 1963 Borges & Irmão;
• 1963 Delaforce;
• 1963 Pinto dos Santos;
• 1963 Cavendish;

• 1963 Gonzalez Byass;
• 1963 Cálem;
• 1963 Cálem Quinta da Foz;
• 1963 Burmester;
• 1963 Ferreira.

One bottle was added:
• Martinez Crusted bottled 1973;


• Placemats.

Evening, Friday 11^th October 2013 at The Cantley House Hotel (‟Is Patience Worthwhile?”)

• NV Moët & Chandon, Purchased recently;
• NV Moët & Chandon, Cellared 1 year;
• NV Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top, Purchased recently;
• NV Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top, Cellared 2 years;
• NV Etienne Dumont, Purchased recently;
• NV Etienne Dumont, Cellared 3 years.

Evening, Saturday 12^th October 2013 at The Cantley House Hotel (‟Champagne: The Whole Spectrum”)

• NV Duval Leroy Blanc de Blanc, Sainsbury;
• NV Waitrose Own Label Blanc de Noir;
• Mystery bottle;
• NV Krug;
• NV Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top;
• 2002 Heidsieck Monopole Gold Top;
• 2000 Nicolas Feuillatte;
• 1996 Pol Roger.

A fascinating first session. Or, more accurately, fascinating first sessions. Some blossomed from mediocre to lovely (most obviously Fonseca); others fell from sublime to mediocre (Krohn). The early and the late evenings were quite different.

Which added complexity to the voting. I said explicitly that I was voting the wines as they were at 21:30, when Krohn was a joy. But had I voted as of midnight, Kh would not have made the medal table, whereas the likes of Fonseca would have.

Good showings also from Gould Campbell, Constantino, Sandeman and de la Rosa, Cockburn.

A fine evening. Next up, coming soon, lunch.

Happy birthday Alex, good to see you celebrated in style.

Happy Birthday! And holy cow, THAT is a lineup.

Pictures of bottles and capsules have been posted. Credit: most of these were taken by Andy V, a few by Axel P. More pictures coming to this thread.

Friday evening, all poured.

Saturday lunch, all poured.


(No such picture for Saturday evening, as that was mostly delivered to seated people.)

Friday evening glasses:

jdaw1 wrote:

Glasses, Friday evening, by JDAW

Glasses, Friday evening, by ADV

Glasses, Friday evening, by RAH

Glasses, Saturday lunch, by JDAW

Glasses, Saturday lunch, by ADV

Glasses, Saturday lunch, by RAH

Glasses, Saturday evening, by JDAW

Glasses, Saturday evening, by RAH (two of the three pages)
X

This was a fabulous weekend. 43 different vintage ports. 1 South African "port". One vintage from 1863. One 1973 crusted. My first ever Tappit Hen (amongst many other 'firsts'). The major firsts being the collection of 'significant others' (which may or may not prove ultimately to have been a good idea!) and none of us leaving to catch thev10.xx from London xxxxxx!

AHB's hospitality, planning and organisation are all to be applauded - LOUDLY!

My wines of the weekend were Dow, Noval National and Croft. And I recall a comment to the effect that one attendee had experienced the Dow recently being even better. Wow.

There were no 'Dotyisms' for a change, but quote of the weekend must be 'a Tappit Hen is the perfect size for 14 men - who have just shared 16 bottles of port and need a quiet nightcap'!

Thank you Alex. Enjoy your birthday next weekend.




Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Friday evening:

Saturday lunch:

Saturday evening:

The voting for the weekend needs a wider picture than phpBB can easily accommodate, so right-click and open in a new tab.

Some links:
• Review which includes links to the Champagnes; Placemats and their Parameters;
• Fri evening 1963s: VS QH GC Ck G | Kh Pç Mg Av F | RV Rs S Dl Cn;
• Sat aftern’n 1963s: Sb RVi RCV Ad RO | Dm BBR T Cr Ni | Mk Fd O Mz;
• Sat evening 1963s: MC W D N NN | A B&I Df PS Cv | GB Cá CáF B Fr;
• Others: 1863 Burmester, 1977 Warre (tappitt hen), Martinez Crusted bottled 1973, 2010 Niepoort Coche Branco, 1966 Château Batailley (magnum).

Likewise with the NN 1931 there are two kinds of people on this planet: Those who have been at Alexs monumental 1963 tasting and those who wanted to be.

I enjoyed extremely good company, lots of good food (the british cuisine is not too bad after all) and, yeah, a couple of good wines as well.

An unmisseable weekend sponsored by an extremely generous organiser.

Axel

A excellent weekend indeed.

Thank you to Alex and Elizabeth for such wonderful and generous hospitality. This weekend was exactly what Vintage Port is made for, to be shared with friends who appreciate fine company and fine wine.

Thank you also to the girls for the geekery of tasting and rating the Champagnes. Whether or not it was a good idea to provide an environment where girls can conspire against boys will only be known in the fullness of time

Indeed what a fabulous weekend Jan and I had and can I echo Derek's comments in thanking Alex and Elizabeth for their wonderful and generous hospitality.

It was great to be reminded of what I have been missing over the the past year and I really must make more of an effort from now on as I had forgotten how much enjoyment can be had with good food, great wine and exemplary company.

A big thank you to everyone who came to help me celebrate my 50th birthday. I wish more people could have attended but sadly I was limited on space (and some bottles). I've been collecting 1963 vintage ports for some time in preparation for this event with the Sandeman we drank having been bought from Berry Brothers in April 1996. This particular vertical could not have been put together without considerable help from several people who managed to flush out bottles from various places. In particular my thanks go to Axel, Julian and Andy for the bottles they managed to source.

Julian also provided sterling service in producing placemats which ended up running to 440 pages and in acting as a counterpoint to my planning to help make sure things went smoothly over the weekend.

I also want to thank people for the wonderful presents I (and Elizabeth) received. What impressed me and touched me so much was the thought and personal consideration which had gone into the gifts. People had really thought about what would be meaningful to me and that was very kind.

So thank you to everyone who was with me last weekend, and big thank you to everyone who wasn't able to be with me but who has sent me birthday wishes. My actual birthday is on the 20th, so that day I will raise a glass to you all and to the friendships that have been made through our shared love of Port.

And now I have so many pages of tasting notes to type up...

I’ve done my notes hint to others so can now make thanks. That was a fantastic weekend. Probably the best 1963 horizontal between here and eternity, and I was there. Whoopee for me! All weekends should be like that. A big event, with lots of moving pieces, and it all worked, and worked deliciously.

And Mrs W., who might have expected a weekend of watching middle-aged men drink port (surely a supreme joy for a damsel?), also had a wonderful time, and has made two new friends.

Thank you Alex.

Decanting times for the bottles were:
Friday
1400 Warre 1977 Tappit Hen
1450 Fonseca
1515 Avery
1515 Graham
1530 Constantino
1530 Cockburn
1545 Gould Campbell
1550 Sandeman
1600 Quarles Harris
1605 Krohn
1615 Morgan
1630 Rebello Valente
1630 Quinta de la Rosa
1630 Dalva
1645 Poças
1645 Viera de Souza

Saturday
1045 Noval Nacional
1045 Dow
1045 Taylor
1100 BB&R
1100 Feuerheerd
1110 Martinez
1110 Gonzalez Byass
1120 Niepoort
1115 Calem
1120 Foz
1125 Croft
1130 Warre
1130 Noval
1135 Ferreira
1145 Cachao
1145 Pinto dos Santos
1120 Cavendish
1145 Andresen
1150 Burmester
1150 Delaforce
1155 Offley
1200 Mackenzie
1205 Royal Oporto
1210 Real Vinicola
1210 Real Companhia Velha
1210 Sibio
1215 Adams
1215 Borges
1215 Dolomore

jdaw1 wrote:Three bottles were added:
• 1966 Château Batailley (magnum);
• 1863 Burmester;
• 1977 Warre (tappitt hen).

Looking at my notes I realise there was a 4th bottle added at dinner on Friday night. This was the Coche 2010 white wine from Niepoort.

AHB wrote:This was the Coche 2010 white wine from Niepoort.

Not seen by me!

jdaw1 wrote:

AHB wrote:This was the Coche 2010 white wine from Niepoort.

Not seen by me!

I think the bottle was in front of your wife for much of the time we were waiting for our table. Perhaps you could document her impressions of the wine?

AHB wrote:I think the bottle was in front of your wife for much of the time we were waiting for our table. Perhaps you could document her impressions of the wine?

She did not taste it.

jdaw1 wrote:

AHB wrote:I think the bottle was in front of your wife for much of the time we were waiting for our table. Perhaps you could document her impressions of the wine?

She did not taste it.

Shame. Lovely stuff.

jdaw1 wrote:

AHB wrote:I think the bottle was in front of your wife for much of the time we were waiting for our table. Perhaps you could document her impressions of the wine?

She did not taste it.

I think Jo had some but she is now asleep so I will make an educated guess that she thought "it was very nice".

I've made it home, a little later than planned due to a faulty sensor on a big 747-400 plane. A little jet lag but doing well, though I'm craving some Port at the moment...wonder why

I too cannot thank Alex and Elizabeth (and everyone else) for such a fantastic weekend. So many good laughs were had while sharing in some fantastic and very educational Ports and dry wines. My hat goes off the partners of my fellow Port drinkers. They were true troopers to put up with so much of our crazy Port discussions (and the Champagne was darn tasty too). Words really can't describe what was one of the most epic weekends ever. So I'll simply say again....Thank you Alex and Elizabeth

(I'll start getting my notes up in due course as time allows)

Am glad it went well, sounds like it was a spectacular weekend as hoped. Just wanted to say thank you to those people who have forwarded photos of the bottles/capsules through for inclusion in the VPID; 1963 is now going to be pretty well represented!

AHB wrote:This was the Coche 2010 white wine from Niepoort.

This was brought by Andy/ Christopher. An extremely good wine. I did not write down a tasting note. As Dirks top white wine should be: Very, very good and full.

Axel

Axel P wrote:

AHB wrote:This was the Coche 2010 white wine from Niepoort.

This was brought by Andy/ Christopher. An extremely good wine. I did not write down a tasting note. As Dirks top white wine should be: Very, very good and full.

Axel

I brought this with a little help in acquiring it from a well regarded chap. I've posted a TN. Julian can you make a link to it?

Wow -- what a smashing weekend!

Happy 50th birthday Alex, and thank you ever so much for putting on such a marvelous/generous/well organized/etc etc etc etc tasting!

It was great to see everyone again, even amidst the jetlag (I only returned to New York last night, having spent the last 10+ days in Greece and Romania).

What a treat to assess so many wines from the heralded '63 vintage at the same time, and in such company.

Thanks again Alex and Elizabeth - I hope to repay the hospitality on this side of the Atlantic sometime soon!

Thank you Alex for this fantastic event as part of your 50th birthday celebrations! It was brilliant! After just having gone through all my tasting notes of the opened 44 different 1963 ports and put them on the port tasting section I am a bit puzzled what I should write as a review of the overall event. Most noteably it was great fun and superbly organised. Also it was hard work trying/drinking all this port and I must say on Saturday late evening I was happy that we were through the line up.
Quality wise I must say I am still fond of the overal quality of 1963 vintage ports. However it is also noticeable that the taste experience is these days heavyly biased to the provenance of the bt of port from this vintage. Most ports have already started or are about to start to lighten up in color and hence I feel they should be in most cases no longer cellared but rather enjoyed over the coming years. Some will still last several decades (e.g. like Fonseca, Noval Nacional, Taylor) provided they were kept well and are contined to be stored well. Some others however I am not so sure. My personal favourite of the 1963 vintage (I cannot afford Nacional ) Grahams did not show well on this tasting but usually still does provided coming from a good bt. But sadly also starts to loosen its color; hence I will put my stashed away case back in my reach.
Suprises for me of the weekend were Dolamore, Viera de Souza and Sibio. Fantastic ports which I did not know before at all! Despite I knew how good old Avery ports are the 1963 was still a bit of a suprise since the first Avery VP without reference to the shipper. The oddity of the event was for me the Quinta de la Rosa (Sandeman) bt. Really great!
Thank you very much again for this great tasting!

regards

WS1