Re: Port and literature
Posted: 06:17 Thu 14 Jan 2016
Ah, that explains it. Thanks!
(I don't think a spreadsheet counts as literature.)
(I don't think a spreadsheet counts as literature.)
A place for those passionate about port, and for those new to it. We hold lots of Port tastings: please join us!
https://www.theportforum.com/
Don't diss my spreadsheet. It could change Owen's life! (Not necessarily for the better, I admit.)djewesbury wrote:Presentation and performance is everything. Hard to do with a spreadsheet; I spent all yesterday filling a big one in the hope that the number in the bottom right would be the number we started with (it wasn't, but that was sort of the point). Get away with your spreadsheets.
Re-reading early posts of this thread — as, perhaps, a substitute for the education to which I paid too little attention — this was noticed. ¿Is its author sure of the date of Vintagewise? My edition is 1951.LGTrotter, on Wednesday 17th July 2013, wrote:I have to mention Dorothy L Sayers. At various times Lord Peter Wimsey is drinking port, usually Cockburn. There is one ('Clouds of Witness'?) where Murbles the solicitor is left a case of the Cockburn 1847 by a grateful client in their will. Drinking the wine in the 1920s they pronounce it dead; 'a ghost merely', however Andre Simon reports it alive and well in 'Vintagewise' in the 1930s. I have a feeling that Ms Sayers and her ficticious paramour Lord Peter liked their port younger and fruitier than I do.
I haven't checked my copy, but my memory tells me that Vintagewise is an account of ALS's journey through the world of wine which recounts various events throughout his career. My reading of the above quote is that the book references Ck1847 as being alive when he tasted it in the 1930s rather than it being a reference to the publishing date. I could be wrong.jdaw1 wrote:Re-reading early posts of this thread — as, perhaps, a substitute for the education to which I paid too little attention — this was noticed. ¿Is its author sure of the date of Vintagewise? My edition is 1951.LGTrotter, on Wednesday 17th July 2013, wrote:I have to mention Dorothy L Sayers. At various times Lord Peter Wimsey is drinking port, usually Cockburn. There is one ('Clouds of Witness'?) where Murbles the solicitor is left a case of the Cockburn 1847 by a grateful client in their will. Drinking the wine in the 1920s they pronounce it dead; 'a ghost merely', however Andre Simon reports it alive and well in 'Vintagewise' in the 1930s. I have a feeling that Ms Sayers and her ficticious paramour Lord Peter liked their port younger and fruitier than I do.
I am away from my book collection at present and I am unable to check. From memory I think the 1930s date comes from the tasting date rather than the book publication date.jdaw1 wrote:LGTrotter, on Wednesday 17th July 2013, wrote:Re-reading early posts of this thread — as, perhaps, a substitute for the education to which I paid too little attention — this was noticed. ¿Is its author sure of the date of Vintagewise? My edition is 1951.
Happiness — thank you.LGTrotter wrote:From memory I think the 1930s date comes from the tasting date rather than the book publication date.
Yes, you can discuss a decanter alone. One can also discuss a meal, either alone or with others. Or at least I think I could cite a precedent.jdaw1 wrote:Wayward Tendrils of the Vine (1947), Ian Maxwell Campbell, page 61: “I remember another evening at ‘The Oaks’, again after a decanter of the ’58 [Lafite] had been discussed to our mutual satisfaction.”
I do like the verb: to discuss a decanter. Presumably only in company — one cannot discuss it alone.
Possibly causing you to be committed if overheard by the authoritiesLGTrotter wrote:Yes, you can discuss a decanter alone. One can also discuss a meal, either alone or with others. Or at least I think I could cite a precedent.jdaw1 wrote:Wayward Tendrils of the Vine (1947), Ian Maxwell Campbell, page 61: “I remember another evening at ‘The Oaks’, again after a decanter of the ’58 [Lafite] had been discussed to our mutual satisfaction.”
I do like the verb: to discuss a decanter. Presumably only in company — one cannot discuss it alone.
Perhaps I should retitle the F63 case tasting to "A discussion of F63"?jdaw1 wrote:Shorter OED (1985): “Discuss … v. … 7. To try the quality of (food or drink); to consume. (Somewhat joc.) 1815.”
The sort of event that would have been formerly have been called an “emergency” might in the future be titled “To discuss a few bottles of Port”.
Lord Peter, in the same book, also recommends the pub "...the Cat and Fiddle, where the port is remarkable and the claret not to be despised..."djewesbury wrote:More from Ms Sayers. Nine Tailors. Having already had a bottle of claret with his lunch, Peter Wimsey has opened a bottle of Tuke Holdsworth 08 (the same vintage that the Rector remarks 'couldn't hurt a fly' at the beginning of the book, which Owen noted elsewhere).
' "This is very excellent port. Be good enough to finish the bottle, Bunter, because it would be a pity to waste it and if I have any more I shall be too sleepy to drive." '
This is in a book where he's already managed to drive his Daimler into a ditch...
Sixty-nine?! Faked by Croft; produced by none other (I scorn your sole reference to Martinez.)Doggett wrote:HENRY. Cockburn '69.
Do you not remember we covered the Scandal of the Cockburn 96 a while ago in this thread? You must have been drinking too much of the stuff.LGTrotter wrote:Dorothy Sayers again in "Busman's honeymoon" (not one of her strongest) has Bunter, Wimsey's valet exploding with rage when Mrs Ruddle washes and stands upright two and a half dozen of the Cockburn '96. The horror.
Just for variation I am looking into a reference in Raymond Chandler's "The High Window", but I don't think there is mention of a shipper or year. More anon.
That I am tediously repetitive I will allow, but I think this is the first reference to "Busman's Honeymoon" made here or indeed anywhere else on this forum, unless I am wrong. Which has been known. Good day to you sir!djewesbury wrote:Do you not remember we covered the Scandal of the Cockburn 96 a while ago in this thread? You must have been drinking too much of the stuff.LGTrotter wrote:Dorothy Sayers again in "Busman's honeymoon" (not one of her strongest) has Bunter, Wimsey's valet exploding with rage when Mrs Ruddle washes and stands upright two and a half dozen of the Cockburn '96. The horror.
Just for variation I am looking into a reference in Raymond Chandler's "The High Window", but I don't think there is mention of a shipper or year. More anon.
Gad. I stand corrected then. I feel sure I had discussed those unfortunate bottles and poor unfortunate Mrs Ruddles with you all. That Noakes was always a bad lot though to be frank (rather than Frank) I think if I'd lived in the village I'd have murdered the lot of them, starting with Harriet.LGTrotter wrote:That I am tediously repetitive I will allow, but I think this is the first reference to "Busman's Honeymoon" made here or indeed anywhere else on this forum, unless I am wrong. Which has been known. Good day to you sir!