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This post to hold arrangements as and when agreed. Authorship of this post changed by jdaw1 from jdaw1 to WS1.

Date: Tuesday 3^rd June 2014.

Venue: the Function Room in The Bung Hole (57 High Holborn, London WC1V 6DT, tel +44 20 7831 8365, streetmap.co.uk, maps.google.co.uk).

People:

1. OJMQ;
2. uncle tom;
3. JDAW;
4. AHB;
5. WPS;
6. IDJ;
7. BMHR;
8. PW.

Wait list and possibilities and definitely-not-and-very-unhappy-about-it:

1. DJ;
2. MPM.

Theme: “Blind 1958s for Oscar Quevedo”.

1958s:

1. 1958 Constatino(uncle tom);
2. 1958 Dow (IDJ);
3. 1958 Martinez (WPS);
4. 1958 Quinta do Noval (JDAW adopting from IDJ);
5. 1958 Delaforce (to be adopted from PW);
6. 1958 Warre(AHB);
7. 1958 Burmester(to be adopted from BMHR).

Current draft of the placemats.



Blinding plan

Decanting is into decanters labelled with


Two people then over-staple with blank cards. They leave, and two different people over-staple with decanter labels made from

Oscar Quevedo will be in London for the London Wine Fair. He has asked whether people would be available for “a get-together on Tuesday, June 3rd”.

• Theme, or random bottles?
• Blind, or sighted?

Thank you Julian for opening up the discussion.

In my opinion, I'd go for a theme and certainly blind!

oscar quevedo wrote:I'd go for a theme and certainly blind!

Suggest a theme, such that we could each bring a blinded bottle within that theme.

I have booked the Function Room. A count of glasses should be phoned in a few days before the event.

I am free on the evening of June 3rd and would love to see Oscar again.

My suggested theme - "Bring an interesting bottle of port to share with other port lovers. And bring a(nother) bottle of Vintage Port if the interesting bottle might not be very nice. Don't tell anyone what you're bringing."

I would be very keen. And plenty of time to ponder what to bring

Can you please put me down as a tentative; DrDirk is visiting me this week (4th -8th of June) and need to be careful about overdoing it!

As a theme I would like to suggest 58s. This should be really fun.

regards

WS1

Damn! I can't make this. We have examinations and assessments for the final year students that week. Oscar, have a good evening, and let me know if you'll be in Belfast again this November / December, we could organise an evening...

I like the idea of the 58s too, served blind.

Daniel, not sure if this year I'm able to make it Belfast, my wife is pregnant and we expect the baby in October. I may have to skip Belfast this year. Let me know if you come to Portugal soon.

Congratulations Oscar! I've sent you a PM about Porto.

What 1958s do we have? I have none.

I also have zero 58s.

I'm in for this and I can offer up D58 or N58 on this theme. Be good to see Oscar again

Ian

idj123 wrote:I'm in for this and I can offer up D58 or N58 on this theme. Be good to see Oscar again

Please may I adopt the other?

JDAW, you may although I still have my fingers crossed that the N58 is in drinking order!

I have a few 58s, but I think uncle Tom has more. I think I have some Delaforce, Warre, Noval (not sure though) and Martinez. Since the Martinez is very rare I suggest to bring this. You may remember that EDN brought one last year....

http://www.theportforum.com/viewtopic.p ... ead#unread


We should definitely have the english bottled Delaforce 58 (orginially from uncle Tom´s stash). Lovely port for AHB and my taste. JDAW's taste would dictate to comment: "This should have been drunk a long time ago....".
Dow 58 is also great as is Warre. Suggest though we bring the bts well in advance to the Bunghole and let them rest standing up. Also the ports should be opened 3hours before the tasting and then just decanted into equal empty bts to make the tasting blind. 58s are not such a strong year as 60 or 63 and therefore need less time in the decanter but benefit from this careful opening technique.

regards

WS1

A '58 horizontal is a great idea. I think I have Warre at home so will bring that (unless someone has already volunteered the Warre).

Thank you to JDAW for nudging me about this. I have, as he pointed out, been MIA of recent. However, the date of this works very well as my mother in law is staying so child care not an issue!

1958 is an issue though, so unless an adoption can be arranged I may have to request special dispensation to go off piste!


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I was a little hasty at signalling availability...if I'd actually looked at my diary I would have realised I was in New York that week! Please reverse me from the list

Tentative, pending approval; would need to adopt.

Have called in the cavalary (alerted uncle Tom ) in order to avoid a complete "white wash" on my 58s in my cellar.

Hence I am sure we will have a nice 58 selcetion ready when Oscar will be in town!

regards

WS1

First post updated with placemats and blinding plan.

Does anybody happen to know how many (and which) Houses declared 1958? Mayson's book has very few details and I'd be interested to know what we're not covering in this tasting.

Have you checked this? Not sure how accurate or complete it is.

idj123 wrote:Does anybody happen to know how many (and which) Houses declared 1958?

1958s: Burmester; Butler Nephew; Cálem; Cálem Quinta da Foz; Constantino; Delaforce; Dow; Ferreira; Fonseca Guimaraens; Graham Malvedos; Kopke; Krohn; Mackenzie; Martinez; Quarles Harris; Quinta do Noval; Quinta do Noval Nacional; Royal Oporto; Sandeman; Taylor Quinta de Vargellas; Tuke Holdsworth; Warre. And perhaps others (for which my database has only 1 or 2 references).

Sounds like we're well short then-we need to up our game!

idj123 wrote:Sounds like we're well short then-we need to up our game!

Take charge. I’m quite willing to change authorship of the first post to you, and you do stuff. Take charge!

PhilW wrote:Tentative, pending approval; would need to adopt.

Permission granted, attendance confirmed.

Logistics: I'm unlikely to be in London again before this date; I could potentially obtain another '58 from elsewhere, but could not then easily arrange for it to be at TBH in advance - I could decant on the day and bring, but that doesn't help with keeping things blind. In order to keep to the plan, therefore, it could make more sense for me to adopt; perhaps the Delaforce from Wolfgang, if that would be acceptable, please? (I'm assuming per first post and thread that the Noval is coming from IDJ for JDAW, and AHB bringing the W58, so this would only be the second bottle from Wolgang, thereby avoiding white-washing your '58s).

PhilW wrote:Logistics: I'm unlikely to be in London again before this date; I could potentially obtain another '58 from elsewhere, but could not then easily arrange for it to be at TBH in advance - I could decant on the day and bring, but that doesn't help with keeping things blind. In order to keep to the plan, therefore, it could make more sense for me to adopt; perhaps the Delaforce from Wolfgang, if that would be acceptable, please? (I'm assuming per first post and thread that the Noval is coming from IDJ for JDAW, and AHB bringing the W58, so this would only be the second bottle from Wolgang, thereby avoiding white-washing your '58s).

Would be OK, but after speaking to uncle Tom I think variety of port will not be a problem. JDAWs post about declarations reminded me of a good stash of Royal Oporto RAYC has aquired a year or so back and still has some or uncle Tom. Since I have not had the Calem da Foz I hope to lure one bt of that out of uncle Tom. If we can get hold of a bt of Sandeman that would be also great.
So all in hand and do not worry.

With regards to timing I have at the moment in mind an opening session ~ 2:30 - 3:00 PM in the Bunghole in mind which we then double decant ~ 6:00PM. Since we will have quite a few bts help would be good to have at hand ~5:30 PM in order to get the double decanting done. I hope the solution to be a thirsty JDAW turning up early with similar looking empty clean bts for the blind tasting. Obviously we will have something on the side to make decanting more fun.
If we have all ports there standing up a week in advance all should be fine.

OK?

regards

WS1

Wolfgang: please accept command of Port Sourcing. Placemats will follow your guidance. I have changed the authorship of the first post, so that you can now edit it. Please keep it ship-shape. And don’t forget that RAYC is on a bicycle in the USA.

WS1 wrote:

PhilW wrote:perhaps the Delaforce from Wolfgang, if that would be acceptable, please?

Would be OK, but after speaking to uncle Tom I think variety of port will not be a problem.
...
So all in hand and do not worry.

Thank you; I leave this in your capable hands. I do not know whether it will be possible for me to attend earlier to assist with decant for this tasting; due to work issues I am unlikely to know until just before.

Are we definitely going blind on this? I'm interested to see how they taste, and differ, and will be more interested in "so the '58 Dow is like this, the '58 Warre is like that..." than in guessing which is which. If we do do it blind, could people still please bring the bottles, as some will be quite unusual, and they would be interesting to see and photo?

PhilW wrote:Are we definitely going blind on this? I'm interested to see how they taste, and differ, and will be more interested in "so the '58 Dow is like this, the '58 Warre is like that..." than in guessing which is which. If we do do it blind, could people still please bring the bottles, as some will be quite unusual, and they would be interesting to see and photo?

I think that you are completely correct. I have no prejudice about whether Dow 1958 is better — obviously better — that Warre 1958. Or worse — obviously worse.

But the initiator of the event, doing double duty as industry guest, wants blind. PM him and make representations.

jdaw1 wrote:

PhilW wrote:Are we definitely going blind on this? I'm interested to see how they taste, and differ, and will be more interested in "so the '58 Dow is like this, the '58 Warre is like that..." than in guessing which is which. If we do do it blind, could people still please bring the bottles, as some will be quite unusual, and they would be interesting to see and photo?

I think that you are completely correct. I have no prejudice about whether Dow 1958 is better — obviously better — that Warre 1958. Or worse — obviously worse.

But the initiator of the event, doing double duty as industry guest, wants blind. PM him and make representations.

I think blind is better since it makes it more interesting

regards

WS1

jdaw1 wrote:Wolfgang: please accept command of Port Sourcing. Placemats will follow your guidance. I have changed the authorship of the first post, so that you can now edit it. Please keep it ship-shape. And don’t forget that RAYC is on a bicycle in the USA.

Accepted and done. Tom will join us on the 3rd of June; so we will be 8 people. Have also raided a bit his cellar for interesting 58s. Will bring 4bts (Constantino, Martinez, Delaforce and Burmester) over the course of next week to the Bunghole so they can rest (standing up). Can please bring AHB and IDJ their ports in advance to the Bunghole for resting as well? Please let me know if this is feasible.

Plan is to open them in the morning of the day of the tasting and double decant them ~ late lunch time into identical bts in order to make the blind theme. I am planning to take the afternoon off if I can and do the honors with uncle tom and you if you have time.

regards

WS1

PhilW wrote:Are we definitely going blind on this? I'm interested to see how they taste, and differ, and will be more interested in "so the '58 Dow is like this, the '58 Warre is like that..." than in guessing which is which. If we do do it blind, could people still please bring the bottles, as some will be quite unusual, and they would be interesting to see and photo?

Of the now proposed line up I had the Warre 58 and Martinez 58 I think 3 times and the Dow 58 and Delaforce 58 at least once before, so I am interested to see them blind. I have not had the Noval, Burmester or Constantino so far, so I am keen to see.

regards

WS1

I should be able to get my Warre to TBH before June 3, I'll have to check my diary and stock list to see where it is. If I find any other '58s not already in the tasting I might bring one of those as well.

AHB wrote:I should be able to get my Warre to TBH before June 3, I'll have to check my diary and stock list to see where it is. If I find any other '58s not already in the might bring one of those as well.

cool; am currently thinking of sneaking in a pirate

regards

WS1

Wolfgang, alas, I am unlikely to be able to deposit my bottles at TBH prior to 3 June as I'm not up in town next week and the week after I am on hols. I don't know how this impacts on proceedings but it looks as though my offerings will have to endure a longer double decant time (7am) than the others. Sorry 'bout that.

If anyone will be in Paris, Hamburg or the Benelux next week and able to pick up a bottle of FG58 for our tasting, please let me know. I have been given an offer to trade so that we can include the FG in our line-up provided someone is able to be in the right place at the right time to collect the bottle.

AHB wrote:If anyone will be in Paris, Hamburg or the Benelux next week and able to pick up a bottle of FG58 for our tasting, please let me know. I have been given an offer to trade so that we can include the FG in our line-up provided someone is able to be in the right place at the right time to collect the bottle.

I am in Frankfurt Wednesday next week; gues this is not close enough

Hi Wolfgang,

I'm the one who offered the bottle for trade. Unfortunately Frankfurt will not be possible.

I will have 2 business trips next week:
Monday / Tuesday : Paris
Thursday / Friday : Hamburg

As I live in the Netherlands, I will do both by car. This means that any town between s-Hertogenbosch and Hamburg/Paris would be possible. A small detour is also not a problem.

rgrds,
Dries

Paris might be possible, you handing it to an in-law who will pass it on.

Checking: I will report back.

Please PM me your most convenient location in Paris.

I will be in Paris from 28th - 31st May. Can pick up then.

-Mrs JDAW, AKA SCP-DFF and Streatham.

Sorry, just realised it'll be next week when you're in Paris. Could you possibly leave it at the hotel? I can pick up when I get to Paris? Or, you can drop it off at my sister's who lives in the 1er arrondissement, dead center Paris.

-SCP-DFF

WS1 wrote:

jdaw1 wrote:

PhilW wrote:Are we definitely going blind on this? I'm interested to see how they taste, and differ, and will be more interested in "so the '58 Dow is like this, the '58 Warre is like that..." than in guessing which is which. If we do do it blind, could people still please bring the bottles, as some will be quite unusual, and they would be interesting to see and photo?

I think that you are completely correct. I have no prejudice about whether Dow 1958 is better — obviously better — that Warre 1958. Or worse — obviously worse.

But the initiator of the event, doing double duty as industry guest, wants blind. PM him and make representations.

I think blind is better since it makes it more interesting

regards

WS1

Good to see some support from WS1 for the blind tasting I truly believe that we will all learn more with a blind tasting. Our senses will be more awake.

SCP-DFF wrote:Sorry, just realised it'll be next week when you're in Paris. Could you possibly leave it at the hotel? I can pick up when I get to Paris? Or, you can drop it off at my sister's who lives in the 1er arrondissement, dead center Paris.

-SCP-DFF

Dropping it off at your sister is probably the most convenient. I never stayed in this hotel before so do not want to take the risk. Can you PM me the adress?

Dries


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Gosh! I never expected so much positive reaction. Thank you Dries and MaryAnne.

Dries - I'll PM you with some thoughts on how to get the trade bottle over to you.

I have a bottle of Vargellas 1958 accessible - this is my only bottle of Vargellas 1958. Should I keep the bottle for a future Vargellas vertical or should I contribute it to this tasting?