Port and literature

[djewesbury]

Bernhardt?

The Worshipful Company of Gardeners of London, Ladies’ Banquet at Grocers’ Hall, Tuesday 13^th March 1928.

Ah, Peaches Bernhardt, Sarah's much less talented and, fortunately, edible half-sister.

[jdaw1]

fortunately, edible

Serving suggestion: with Noval ’87.

Were the Maids honoured by being eaten?

[LGTrotter]

Was he right? Should we throw away our over the hill wines as spent passions?

[LGTrotter]

To return briefly to the question of the age; ie should we have drunk up our 1847 port by 1923, I see that the late great George Saintsbury said it was over and done by 1917. That is a good advocate on the side of Ms Sayers. I should think Andre Simon is now feeling pretty silly for saying it was drinking well in 1933.

[djewesbury]

To return briefly to the question of the age; ie should we have drunk up our 1847 port by 1923, I see that the late great George Saintsbury said it was over and done by 1917. That is a good advocate on the side of Ms Sayers. I should think Andre Simon is now feeling pretty silly for saying it was drinking well in 1933.

Oh my GOD. You are a port sleuth. What about the Dow 1878... When was that at its best?

[LGTrotter]

To return briefly to the question of the age; ie should we have drunk up our 1847 port by 1923, I see that the late great George Saintsbury said it was over and done by 1917. That is a good advocate on the side of Ms Sayers. I should think Andre Simon is now feeling pretty silly for saying it was drinking well in 1933.

Oh my GOD. You are a port sleuth. What about the Dow 1878... When was that at its best?

Hold your last case and I will get back to you.

[LGTrotter]

To return briefly to the question of the age; ie should we have drunk up our 1847 port by 1923, I see that the late great George Saintsbury said it was over and done by 1917. That is a good advocate on the side of Ms Sayers. I should think Andre Simon is now feeling pretty silly for saying it was drinking well in 1933.

And Saintsbury produces a remarkably similar tasting note to Sayers. Compare; 'Truly enough the '47 port was a dead thing; the merest ghost of its old flame and flavour hung about it', with; 'When it was sixty years old and little but a memory, or at least a suggestion'. I think I should write a short monograph for the Dororthy L Sayers society.

[jdaw1]

There was a ’47 Club at the House of Commons, comprising members born that year, who would meet for port. Somewhere I have more information, should it be important.

[Alex Bridgeman]

To return briefly to the question of the age; ie should we have drunk up our 1847 port by 1923, I see that the late great George Saintsbury said it was over and done by 1917. That is a good advocate on the side of Ms Sayers. I should think Andre Simon is now feeling pretty silly for saying it was drinking well in 1933.

And Saintsbury produces a remarkably similar tasting note to Sayers. Compare; 'Truly enough the '47 port was a dead thing; the merest ghost of its old flame and flavour hung about it', with; 'When it was sixty years old and little but a memory, or at least a suggestion'. I think I should write a short monograph for the Dororthy L Sayers society.

Surely we shouldn't just take Sainstbury's and Simon's word for this? Should we not try the 1847 for ourselves to judge whether it is dead or whether it has life yet?

[jdaw1]

Surely we shouldn't just take Sainstbury's and Simon's word for this? Should we not try the 1847 for ourselves to judge whether it is dead or whether it has life yet?

If you want an 1847 Horizontal then start a thread in the appropriate place. I’m in, but would have to adopt.

[LGTrotter]

What about the Dow 1878... When was that at its best?

The only note so far is from Mr Broadbent. In the late sixties/early seventies it was still going strong. This is not the last word as I have some other sources to consult.

[DRT]

I have just ordered a copy of Grimpil's Retrogress after stumbling across that website whilst googling something else.

I will report back.

[djewesbury]

Not having visited one of our offlines yet, LGTrotter has missed a port reference in the works of Miss Sayers, of which he is otherwise the undisputed master.

In Strong Poison, Lord Peter Wimsey has planted a spy in the office of Mr Norman Urquhart, solicitor. Miss Murchison, Wimsey's plant, is picking the lock of a deed box, having stayed late after work. But she realises she can be seen from the street, the office having no blinds at the window.

… under the glare of the electric light, her movements were as visible to anybody in the street as though she stood on a lighted stage […] Moreover, if a policeman should pass by, would he not be able to recognise pick-locks a hundred yards away? She peered out again. Was it her agitated fancy, or was that a sturdy form in dark blue emerging from Hand Court?

You're quite all right, Miss Murchison. The sturdy form is DRT emerging from the Bung Hole, where he was enquiring after his missing decanting funnel.

[LGTrotter]

Sturdy? Surely a well formed man moving with the ease and grace of a tiger would have put me more in mind of DRT? Svelte was the word I was searching for.

[djewesbury]

Yes yes. Of course.

[jdaw1]

Seal colours were not widely recorded at that time. However, the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers’ stock list of January 1876, includes 4 dozen and 11 of ‟Beachcroft” 1847, ‟Green Seal”, purchased in 1875.
…

Of course, perhaps Beachcroft was a BOB for Taylor, and ’47 would have been rather young in ’55.

Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods, on 23^rd May 1874, sold “The Cellar of Wines of Algernon Perkins, Esq., Deceased, Late of Hanworth Park and Harley Street”. Lots 16 to 24 totalled almost 26 “Dozens of Port (Beachcroft and Wilson), bottled 1855, black seal”, at prices from 64/- to 72/- per dozen.

(Note to self: pictures 18606-10.)

[LGTrotter]

I have been reading 'A matter of taste; a history of wine drinking in Britain' by Jon Hurley. It is the first wine book with a chapter on port that I can't find on the 'books about port' website. It is readable and and scholarly enough without being turgid. I bet the bloke who runs the website would rate it three stars, same as everything else.

[djewesbury]

Seal colours were not widely recorded at that time. However, the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers’ stock list of January 1876, includes 4 dozen and 11 of ‟Beachcroft” 1847, ‟Green Seal”, purchased in 1875.
…

Of course, perhaps Beachcroft was a BOB for Taylor, and ’47 would have been rather young in ’55.

Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods, on 23^rd May 1874, sold “The Cellar of Wines of Algernon Perkins, Esq., Deceased, Late of Hanworth Park and Harley Street”. Lots 16 to 24 totalled almost 26 “Dozens of Port (Beachcroft and Wilson), bottled 1855, black seal”, at prices from 64/- to 72/- per dozen.

(Note to self: pictures 18606-10.)

… 'and literature'?

[LGTrotter]

… 'and literature'?

And you waited how long to make this point?

I have found a brief reference to port in Candide;

'Pangloss was in the middle of his sentence when the officer nodded to his henchmen, who was pouring him out a glass of port wine.'

But then, so little consideration is given to the rebuffing of Liebnitz's philosophy on I am not surprised it went unremarked until now.

[djewesbury]

Owen it was only your erudite revival of the thread that alerted me to its earlier abuse. So you see, you have only yourself to thank. Now I must go looking for references to port in Charles B.

[AW77]

But then, so little consideration is given to the rebuffing of Liebnitz's philosophy on I am not surprised it went unremarked until now.

I think has to deal with Leibniz first.

[LGTrotter]

Owen it was only your erudite revival of the thread that alerted me to its earlier abuse. So you see, you have only yourself to thank. Now I must go looking for references to port in Charles B.

Bukowski? You are in a dark place.

I think has to deal with Leibniz first.

I wondered if you were out there, tried any 1540 Steinwien tonight?

[djewesbury]

I bet Bukowski drank more port than Baudelaire. Baudelaire probably only drank Tawny.

[LGTrotter]

“That's the problem with drinking port, I thought, as I poured myself a drink of port. If something bad happens you drink port in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink port in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink port to make something happen.”
Adapted from― Charles Bukowski, Women

[djewesbury]

“That's the problem with drinking port, I thought, as I poured myself a drink of port. If something bad happens you drink port in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink port in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink port to make something happen.”
Adapted from― Charles Bukowski, Women