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The FTLOP Port Harvest Tour runs from Sept 28 through Oct 5 this year. As this year is the 50th anniversary of my birth, my wife and I plan to join the tour and also spend time in London beforehand.

In the past there have been post-Harvest Tour tastings in London. But my wife is an accountant and will already be asking for a major exception in order to be on vacation during month-end close (which, for non-accountants, occurs during the first two weeks of the subsequent month), so I would like to start planning this year's coordinated tasting to occur BEFORE the Harvest Tour.

We currently plan to travel on either Sept 18 or 19, which would make it possible to attend a tasting on the weekend of Sept 20-21 or early in the week of Sept 22-26. We intend to fly to Porto during that week, probably no earlier than Wednesday, so Monday or Tuesday night would work.

Date chosen: Tuesday, Sept 23rd, The Bung Hole

Theme: Variety is the Spice of Life (bring a bottle to share, white/tawny/ruby all welcome)

Interest list:

1. Glenn E. - 1952 Dalva Golden White Colheita
1.a. SCP-DFS (likely won't drink, but will want to meet everyone) attending Richard III
2. djewesbury - 1985 Graham VP
3. PhilW - 1969 Taylor Quinta de Vargellas VP
4. idj123 - 1964 Pocas Colheita, 1985 Taylor for head-to-head with F85
5. flash_uk - 1966 Graham VP
6. AW77 - 1985 Fonseca VP
7. RAYC - bike troubles in the Pyrenees.
8. WS1 - 1964 Taylor Single Harvest Tawny
9. CPR 1 = 1977 Smith Woodhouse VP

Very interested, please, thank you.

Depending on dates, yes please.

I should be ok for those dates and it would be good to meet with you; please count me in.

DRT wrote:Depending on dates, yes please.

+1.

w/c 22nd Sep might be difficult for me, but I am certainly interested in meeting up if my weekday work-diary allows.

On the other hand, have you and your wife ever considered staying in a fine English country house hotel that proved a popular venue for some last October?

It looks lovely, but I suspect that my wife will want to be in London for touristy reasons.

DRT wrote:Depending on dates, yes please.

Same for me

If there's any spaces after the great and the good, I'd like to take part.

Ian

If this was the Monday or Tuesday, would very much like to attend, and would be delighted to meet you Glenn.

I suspect Monday or Tuesday. Our schedule is fairly flexible, having not yet been created, and actually centers primarily around this tasting. So the schedule that fits the most locals will likely be the winner.

This meeting would be a good opportunity to attend my maiden tasting at the Bung Hole.
So I would like to come.
Since I have to fly in from Cologne, could we fix a definite date in the next few days?

Bunghole maidens are always welcome.

15th to 18th September would work for me but this is Glenn's gig and his flight plans will influence the date.

DRT wrote:Bunghole maidens are always welcome.

Thanks.
By the way: is there any initiation ritual for maidens? Like being anointed with G70?

AW77 wrote:

DRT wrote:Bunghole maidens are always welcome.

Thanks.
By the way: is there any initiation ritual for maidens? Like being anointed with G70?

I believe it's mandatory.

DRT wrote:Bunghole maidens are always welcome.

Derek! And sober too!

DRT wrote:Bunghole maidens are always welcome.

15th to 18th September would work for me but this is Glenn's gig and his flight plans will influence the date.

Andy's plans as well.

Sadly, I arrive on Saturday 20th September, so 15-18 is right out.

But perhaps the key plan influencing the date is this: which evening will SCP-DFS be seeing Martin Freeman in Richard III? Dispute not with her: she is lunatic.

That'd be Tuesday, September 23rd. So provided that works for everyone else, that's the date! I've texted Andy for confirmation.

Andy's out due to his travel plans. I believe we need to have people re-confirm so that we know which of us can actually make it.

If the date is Tuesday, 9/23, who can actually make it?

Glenn E. wrote:If the date is Tuesday, 9/23, who can actually make it?

Not me, I'll be with Andy.

DRT wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:If the date is Tuesday, 9/23, who can actually make it?

Not me, I'll be with Andy.

Are you on one of Roy's Douro tours? I'm jealous!

I'm around, works for me.

DRT wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:If the date is Tuesday, 9/23, who can actually make it?

Not me, I'll be with Andy.

As long as you don't drink my Garrafeira, you'll be forgiven.

Glenn E. wrote:As long as you don't drink my Garrafeira, you'll be forgiven.

It will be waiting for you at TBH

djewesbury wrote:

DRT wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:If the date is Tuesday, 9/23, who can actually make it?

Not me, I'll be with Andy.

Are you on one of Roy's Douro tours? I'm jealous!

No, that tour doesn't start until 9/28 and is the reason that I'll be in London for this tasting.

Should I take this as confirmation that you can make it on 9/23?

DRT wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:As long as you don't drink my Garrafeira, you'll be forgiven.

It will be waiting for you at TBH

Provided Jean-Pierre gets it to you first, of course. I emailed him again today.

Glenn E. wrote:

djewesbury wrote:

DRT wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:If the date is Tuesday, 9/23, who can actually make it?

Not me, I'll be with Andy.

Are you on one of Roy's Douro tours? I'm jealous!

No, that tour doesn't start until 9/28 and is the reason that I'll be in London for this tasting.

Should I take this as confirmation that you can make it on 9/23?

My calendar says "Faculty Induction - all day"
Let's say I'm a 'hopeful'!

I could make it on the 23rd of September.

I think there might be lots of people who can't make this.

Could it be changed to a Post-Harvest Tour Tasting?

I can't make the 23rd.

When do you travel over to Portugal?

DRT wrote:I think there might be lots of people who can't make this.

Could it be changed to a Post-Harvest Tour Tasting?

No, as explained in the first post. Or rather, if such a change is needed then I will not be involved.

AHB wrote:When do you travel over to Portugal?

Thursday, 9/25. We're limited by BA's flight schedule. They only fly to and from Porto on Sundays and Thursdays.

We return through London - albeit very briefly - on the Sunday that the Harvest Tour ends.

Glenn E. wrote:Thursday, 9/25. We're limited by BA's flight schedule. They only fly to and from Porto on Sundays and Thursdays.

I didn't realise that BA flew to Oporto at all! I don't know when their flights restarted, but Heathrow Terminal 5 is so much easier for me than Gatwick with TAP. Wish I'd known earlier.

If PhilW and jdaw1 could either confirm or withdraw, I would appreciate it.

I'll be at TBH on Tuesday night regardless, as our plans are pretty well fixed at this point in time. We already have a quorum with myself, idj123, flash_uk, AW77, and djewesbury hopeful, so anyone else at this point would simply be a bonus.

Could someone more local to TBH than Seattle make appropriate arrangements with TBH for a room, etc? Those attending should probably start thinking about a theme if we want one other than "bring a bottle to share with some guy from Seattle."

DRT wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:If the date is Tuesday, 9/23, who can actually make it?

Not me, I'll be with Andy.

Not me, I’ll be with Derek.

Glenn E. wrote:If PhilW and jdaw1 could either confirm or withdraw, I would appreciate it.

Yes, I would still be ok for the 23rd Sept.[/quote]

Tomorrow I will phone the Bung Hole to book. But as I will be out of the country on Tuesday 23^rd September 2014, I should give somebody else’s contact details. Whose? Please volunteer. Or, even better volunteer to book it yourself, and then do so by calling +44 20 7831 8365 and saying that it is for a Port tasting. Ask for the ‘Function Room’. They know us.

For first timers: The Bung Hole, 57 High Holborn, London WC1V 6DT, +44 20 7831 8365 (streetmap.co.uk, maps.google.co.uk, bing.com).

Flights booked. Who want's to have lunch with me on the 24th?

AW77 wrote:Flights booked. Who want's to have lunch with me on the 24th?

This is Week 1 of the Autumn Semester. I'm teaching a new module next semester and don't have an idea of the timetable yet.. Hence my inclusion being dependent on that. Nothing would please me more, however, than lunch with you on the 24th somewhere appropriately congenial!

djewesbury wrote:

AW77 wrote:Flights booked. Who want's to have lunch with me on the 24th?

This is Week 1 of the Autumn Semester. I'm teaching a new module next semester and don't have an idea of the timetable yet.. Hence my inclusion being dependent on that. Nothing would please me more, however, than lunch with you on the 24th somewhere appropriately congenial!

Thank's. I know you're a good sport.
How about Rules Restaurant? Last time I went there (in 2012) they served Taylor's Vargellas by the glass.

AW77 wrote:

djewesbury wrote:

AW77 wrote:Flights booked. Who want's to have lunch with me on the 24th?

This is Week 1 of the Autumn Semester. I'm teaching a new module next semester and don't have an idea of the timetable yet.. Hence my inclusion being dependent on that. Nothing would please me more, however, than lunch with you on the 24th somewhere appropriately congenial!

Thank's. I know you're a good sport.
How about Rules Restaurant? Last time I went there (in 2012) they served Taylor's Vargellas by the glass.

THIS IS AMAZING! I was going to include a link to Rules in my last message and thought I wouldn't bother as I wasn't sure about being able to go..
Yes, Rules on the 24th.
You are a mindreader.

djewesbury wrote: THIS IS AMAZING! I was going to include a link to Rules in my last message and thought I wouldn't bother as I wasn't sure about being able to go..
Yes, Rules on the 24th.
You are a mindreader.

I'm not a mind-reader, I simply know what's good.

AW77 wrote:

djewesbury wrote: THIS IS AMAZING! I was going to include a link to Rules in my last message and thought I wouldn't bother as I wasn't sure about being able to go..
Yes, Rules on the 24th.
You are a mindreader.

I'm not a mind-reader, I simply know what's good.

Owen would be able to tell us the Peter Wimsey novel that mentions Rules - Whose Body? Strong Poison? I can't actually remember. But I think he takes Harriet Vane there so I think it must be Strong Poison.

EDIT: Yes, Strong Poison, but not Harriet Vane, but Miss Murchison, his accomplice from the Typing School and secret lady-detective agency run by his friend Miss Climpson.

jdaw1 wrote:Tomorrow I will phone the Bung Hole to book. But as I will be out of the country on Tuesday 23^rd September 2014, I should give somebody else’s contact details. Whose? Please volunteer. Or, even better volunteer to book it yourself, and then do so by calling +44 20 7831 8365 and saying that it is for a Port tasting. Ask for the ‘Function Room’. They know us.

For first timers: The Bung Hole, 57 High Holborn, London WC1V 6DT, +44 20 7831 8365 (streetmap.co.uk, maps.google.co.uk, bing.com).

My contact details in London are not yet known, though the room may be reserved in my name if so desired.

AW77 wrote:Flights booked. Who want's to have lunch with me on the 24th?

Lunch at Rules on the 24th is now part of the official plan. SCP-DFS will be joining us also.

Just so we are certain, we are talking about this Rules, correct?

Glenn E. wrote:Just so we are certain, we are talking about this Rules, correct?

But of course..

Could we make it 12 o'clock at Rules? My flight leaves Stansted at 4.30 p.m., so 12 o'clock would hopefully leave us enough time.

jdaw1 wrote:Tomorrow I will phone the Bung Hole to book. But as I will be out of the country on Tuesday 23^rd September 2014, I should give somebody else’s contact details. Whose? Please volunteer. Or, even better volunteer to book it yourself, and then do so by calling +44 20 7831 8365 and saying that it is for a Port tasting. Ask for the ‘Function Room’. They know us.

I'll take care of it, and will book this afternoon.

AW77 wrote:Could we make it 12 o'clock at Rules? My flight leaves Stansted at 4.30 p.m., so 12 o'clock would hopefully leave us enough time.

12 o'clock lunch, if hoping for arrival at Stansted in time for a 4.30 flight would suggest to me that you should check the train times and work backwards to see how much time you actually have..

djewesbury wrote:12 o'clock lunch, if hoping for arrival at Stansted in time for a 4.30 flight would suggest to me that you should check the train times and work backwards to see how much time you actually have..

Not from your phone.

jdaw1 wrote:

djewesbury wrote:12 o'clock lunch, if hoping for arrival at Stansted in time for a 4.30 flight would suggest to me that you should check the train times and work backwards to see how much time you actually have..

Not from your phone.

Thank you JDAW