ThePortForum.com

Thirty-six and a half years on from my first bottle, 1967 Cockburn can still be transcendental. Who knew.

@ nac, @ Alex - notes on the 1998s appreciated. Possibly the last vintage of Aussie wines before the alcohol got crazy?

@Alex - being able to identify it is a genetic gift (or, Glenn would argue, disadvantage…) This evening a 2003 Tesco Finest Chateauneuf du Pape that was both stewed and oxidised - oddly impressive to have both present in one. Smelled of prunes, tasted of copper pipes. Happily, I had expected it to b...

The TtD 2003 (bottle 2 - bottle 1 was subtly corked) was a fairly full-throated wine in early maturity. I would say a touch below your Christmas bottle - perhaps 89 points on your scale. But it was bottle 12 of the evening (there having been some Georgian Quevri Saperavi red, a bottle of Domaine Vin...

Needed its three hour decant. Very fine for a port drinker but very much a fruit and tannin balance wine. Old school? In bottle, ready. In magnum needs another 6 years.

Thanks for the tip. I go to ALL of them. Every trip. You never know when you’re going to find a bottle of 1957 Bual in a backstreet supermarket for 80 euros…. It’s basically part of my annual exercise routine - a week of fifteen miles a day, if all is well carrying increasingly heavy loads in my ruc...

I know that shop well and will indeed be visiting it in three weeks. Lots of expensive wine in poor condition. But the occasional not unamusing little trouve nevertheless. They used to have a wonderful range of miniatures of old spirits, which I think the owner used to buy off the stewards of cruise...

This evening dinner for 8 - of whom six are not serious port drinkers. Alfred Gratien Millesime 2012 en magnum Macon Aux Scelles Domaine Marcel Couturier 2021 x 2 with the celeriac remoulade and the York ham Nuits St. Georges Domaine Audiffred 2016 x 2 with the chicken chasseur and Mediterranean roa...

@rich_n - I am now some way through a second case of halves of Warre 2000 just because you can pop and pour it and drink it on grounds of deliciousness even though it would be better with a few hours to breathe.

This evening, Jean-Marc Burgaud’s Morgon ‘Grand Cras’ 2019 which just sort of evaporated with the crudités. To come with the chicken curry, Thomas Haag’s Schloss Lieser Heldenstuck Trocken Riesling 2021.

Up in Rutland now. Last night, with Leeson's finest hand raised pork pie, salad, and cheese we drank three reds - Domaine Ragot 1er Cru La Grande Berge 2015 (bursting with juicy fruit), Domaine Bouard Bonnefoy Chassagne Montrachet Vielle Vignes 2015 (a little more austere and earthy, as you'd expect...

Vosne Romanee 1er Cru aux Reignots 2014, Domaine Audiffred. Easy to fall in love with this sort of filigreed complexity in a Burgundy. Gained weight over an hour. A decade from peak. Happily first of six.

Henri Giraud Hommage au Pinot Noir NV on fine red-fruited form. Seems to be a ‘thing’ in the US; for me the best sparkling Pinot Noir at the IPNC in Oregon this year; but in the UK available from Ocado. Go figure…

Chambertin Grand Cru Domaine Rossignol Trapet 2006. Majestic burgundy served with a Cote de Boeuf. Dark cherry notes and fine grained tannins. Singing.

Finishing the evening with (some of) a magnum of 1952 Roland Thevenin Marc de Bourgogne, bottled 1986. Now been open a couple of weeks. It has the most staggering sweet vinous intensity, the long time in wood giving it an almost olive oil quality.

Berthelot - Piot NV with fixing the hot water supply. Remarkably effervescent. Hot water supply fixed. Burlotto Dolcetto 2020 with the Roquefort treviso and walnut salad. Worked. Hermitage La Chapelle 1976 with the pheasant soup. The wine on a gentle downward slope but a truly fabulous farmyard nose...

Hear hear. Those of us technologically inept derive huge pleasure from this site, due to the magic performed by the ept.

Well the Niepoort is the best of their vintage ports I’ve ever tasted. But I might be prepared to offer odds on the Graham being the better drink in thirty years. So, for drinking now Niepoort, Dow, Graham, Croft. In 2060, Graham, Dow, Croft, Niepoort.

From 375 Pop and decant and pour and considered over an hour. 100 % opaque The passion fruit note of four years ago is fading on the nose and is being replaced by juicy violet. Cool but rich and remarkably generous strawberry fruit which slowly shifts and darkens to blackcurrant on the finish. It’s ...

I love the defiance.

J-P Fichet Bourgogne Blanc Vielles Vignes 2020 - like Bourgogne Blanc used to be, taut and yet floral, absolutely splendid with a curry Collard-Picard, Essentiel, Zero Dosage 2012 - perfect with some halibut at 64 Goodge Street but do not keep, old gold mushroomy wine with a gentle mousse that is fu...

A bottle from the Blenheim Palace cellars, recently liberated after a fifty year sleep. Ellis, Son, & Vidler bottling. One of those 70s thick plastic capsules, popped off with the aid of steam. Good long cork extracted pretty much whole. Decanted clean to the last quarter glass. Heavy sediment i...

I thought of you all piling into the taxi back to the Cricketers as I finished work and shut down the computer about the same time. I hope you had a splendid evening, and sorry again not to be able to attend.

I am sorry to say I’m not now going to be able to make this. I have yet another team member off sick, everyone else is at capacity, and there are court deadlines to meet. Very sorry not to see you all. Tom, PM me bank details and I will pay my share of the costs. I’ll put a stopper back in the bottl...

Julian - presuming you to be getting the train, should it be the 1713 out?