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Simon's guess fits the description pretty well, as does F85..

..but has Derek broken into his stash of Nacionals?? - an NN64 or 67 might fit the bill..

Tom

Nose was understated (approximately non-existent).

I'm clocking that as the signature of the vintage - strange, but true..

Tom

Maybe he doesn't like Niepoort LBV..

..I've just put an '87 on Death row BTW..

Tom

More than a day on and I remain very impressed by this wine. It's biggest claim to fame has to be the fact that while other 70's are at 'plateau' stage - or modestly in decline - this wine has yet to reach it's summit. Not hopelessly young - it's nearly there - but still on the upswing. On the downs...

Reminds me of the F55 at the last Xmas offline..

Tom

Auction price is around £35 inc. BP - so not a bad retail price..

..but '85 was not Taylor's finest hour - better wines can be bought for less.

Tom

An odd bottle - consigned to an auction (as part of a job lot) for showing some signs of seepage - and bought by me.. Also, a bit of a scarcity - I don't recall noting Ca70 at auction before or since.. Clearly an ex. cellars bottle - a venerable wax seal topped with a guarantee slip, with a rather m...

Thinking about this - if there is some spoilage organism that is generating a little gas, then it could be the gas pressure that is causing the leakage, rather than a deficiency of the cork. But why then is only one wine from one producer affected? If a wild yeast had mutated to become more alcohol ...

PS: I have absolutely no idea where I got this from - my best guess is that I liberated it from Tom's cellar on one of my visits there but that really is only a guess.

You bought it from me in May

Tom

Supping an excellent '89 Burmester LBV, I can't help thinking that when it comes to LBV, we have the good, the bad - and the ugly. No prizes for guessing that filtered wines rank as 'the bad' But to distinguish between the good and the ugly? I would be very surprised if this Burmester did not spend ...

Very little evolution in decanter - I suspect the oxidative ageing a good LBV gets in barrel serves to make air exposure after decanting less significant. This is an excellent wine for it's class - on a par with a seven point VP. I'd judge that this wine has several more years of peak drinking left ...

After an unproductive day - given the time of year for yours truly.. - I didn't feel I owed myself anything special for the next bottle - especially as I'd had the pleasure of 69yr old and 101yr old colheitas over the weekend (kind courtesy of Roy Hersh) I didn't expect much from this, given that Bu...

Everyone said overall the weather was as perfect as you could get The smaller independant producers - those who aspire to produce a vintage every year - have some history for bullish overstatement - so I'm trying to make sense of the more objective information... Aside from the oidium and mildew th...

It's still early days, but I'm getting the impression that while the quality of the harvest as a whole may be well below par, some of the producers, wanting a vintage this year, have been able to nurture their best vines (mainly through diligent spraying) and harvest the grapes in good condition bef...

Uncle time is the accelerant factor that applies to a newly acquired, but imperfect bottle, determining whether it will be drunk soon or laid down for consumption later..

Right now, I'm too pissed to work what that is...

Tom

A day on and the wine is now beautifully smooth - but it is also showing a little more youth than before. There's loads of life in this wine - one of the long haul '80's I'm sure. To score: For immdeiate gratification this is well up the scale - top quartile? - not quite - but an easy 7 Where's it g...

Derek's G91 was a pleasant surprise - a much more grown-up wine than the G85, and not too young to drink. My T55 was showing very old (I have no information relating to it's history) - but nevertheless a very pleasant wine. It was a bit of a beast when it first hit the palate, but the sophistication...

Late last night I thought I might have the defining 'signature' sussed, but now, 18 hours after decanting, this is a Taylor in all but name.

A somewhat light but very flavoursome wine, still with youth on it's side - a wine for 'current drinking'

Will re-visit tomorrow before I score.

Tom

Tom, I'd like another dozen of these

No probs - collect at the Xmas offline perhaps?

Tom

Out of curiosity, I also worked out the shipper I had with the greatest gap between oldest vintage and youngest vintage. Surprisingly (to me, anyway) this was Vargellas followed by Taylors.

Longest is Cockburn: 1904 - 1997, followed by Delaforce: 1917 - 2003


Tom

In terms of gross number of bottles per producer, Morgan takes top spot

For greatest number of vintages, Taylor triumphs at 16, with Dow and Fonseca following at 13 each.

Tom

1980 Offley Boa Vista VP First bottle from a case bought a few months ago. Bottles quite heavily bin-soiled inside a fairly fresh case, so presumably these have spent most of their life at VNG. None of the levels good - low neck to base neck - I suspect they were not very well filled at the outset....

This press release from the Symington's on 21st Sept (published on infoportwine ) is very interesting, as their reports tend to stand the test of time. Note the bit that I have underlined - the weather did not hold out for as long as they had wanted... “Symington Family Estates has started to harves...

If you dont know already, have a look at Wine-searcher.Com, you can get all the trade prices for the UK there, and see the availability. Wine-searcher lists retail prices (ex VAT) - not trade prices. Last time I clocked a case of Taylor 2000 at auction it sold for £350. It's on my 'want' list, but ...

what is a chip butty ? And does it go well with peanut butter ? It's not quite as bad.. :D Imagine two thick slices of over-processed white bread that have been liberally coated with margarine to create a sandwich (or 'butty' as them oop north do say...) Betwixt these two greasy slabs is then arran...