New York February 14 1970 VP Tasting

[g-man]

There's a 77 tasting in march that you can attend

[jfacciol]

A friend of mine, Vidrik Frankfather, is going to join us. We are now up to nine, so there is one place left. I have a couple of inquiries out but nothing yet. We have nine bottles so far. Do we want to add a tenth (Croft?) or a tenth and eleventh (magnum of Santos Junior). The latter is quite good and pretty unusual, so it might be fun. But I leave it to the rest of you whether we need another bottle and, if so, which it should be.

Jay

[jdaw1]

My preference is the Santos Junior magnum, but it is a light preference so readily amendable to over-ruling.

[Alex Bridgeman]

I'd be interested in the Santos Junior. I don't think that I have ever tried one of their ports.

Alex

[jfacciol]

We are set with nine folks attending and adding the Santos Junior to Julian's earlier list. In total, there will be the equivalent of 11 750 ml bottles. Phew!!!!

Any thoughts on decanting times in general? Any problem with decanting the Nacional on Wednesday evening?

We do still have room for a tenth person if there is a lurker out there that wants to step forward.

Julian, can you produce final placemats? I will then print them up.

[jdaw1]

Julian, can you produce final placemats? I will then print them up.

1. Can you print onto US Legal (14″Ã 8½″)?
2. What is the final list of ports? Just to avoid error?
3. And likewise, the final list of people?

[jfacciol]

Ted
Danielle
Julian
Eric
Roy
Jay
Vidrik
Bob
Alex

Quinta do Cachao
Delaforce
Nacional
Niepoort
Graham
Kopke
Noval
Taylor
Taylor Quinta de Vargellas
Santos Junior

Yes, I can print 11x14 paper.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Any thoughts on decanting times in general? Any problem with decanting the Nacional on Wednesday evening?

I don't have any problems with the Nacional being decanted Wednesday night and I seem to generally prefer longer decanting times than most people. I guess the decanting times very much depend on your personal circumstances and your workday. Normally the choice for me is to decant before work or after work.

If this is the choice that you have then I would suggest that you decant the potential heavyweights (Vargellas, Taylor, Niepoort, Graham, Noval, Kopke) before work and the others (Cachao, Delaforce, Santos Junior) after work.

Does this sound practical?

Alex

[jfacciol]

A final friend of mine, Mike Shorr, will be joining us as the tenth person. Mike is quite knowledgable about wines but a neophyte about ports.

Should we add one more bottle or are eleven bottles for ten folks enough?

[jdaw1]

In Boston, so will update placemats Monday or Tuesday.

Eleven bottles is a lot to taste, but ten people can easily drink a dozen.

Julian, can you produce final placemats? I will then print them up.

1. Can you print onto US Legal (14″Ã 8½″)?

[jfacciol]

Croft or Sandeman for the 12th bottle? Let me know your preferences.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Jay

My request would be that since the Friday is a work day for most people and so time in the evening is limited, that we should restrain ourselves a little and stick to the 11 bottles of port to share between the 10 of us.

Personally, I don't think we need to add either the Croft or the Sandeman 1970 to the line-up but if you were to force me to make a choice then it would be for the Sandeman.

Alex

[jfacciol]

I also vote to leave it at 11 bottles but will go with whatever the majority vote is.

[jdaw1]

Placemats updated. Please confirm OK.

[jfacciol]

As usual, stunning. Please add a tenth for Mike and, otherwise, we seem in order.

[jdaw1]

Placemats updated. Please confirm OK.

And again.

[Roy Hersh]

12 hour decant time on the Nacional will certainly suffice, if possible to do so before leaving for work on Thursday. Besides it will be in our glasses for a few hours more.

IF another is added, I agree with Alex that the Sandeman over the Croft would be appreciated. The '70 Sandeman would be interesting and from a recent report, is showing well today. Nice lineup!

I am looking forward to meeting many of you!

[jdaw1]

I might have enveigled into joining us, subject to wifely approval, a drinking chum of two decades standing (possessive—two decades’ standing? No. compound adjective—two-decades standing? Yuck.).

More to follow, on approval of his boss.

His boss gave approval, but he has only just told me this. So he, Anthony, can be a reserve, and his name has been added to the placemats.

[jdaw1]

What’s the official start time?

Alex has emailed me to say that he is “now heading for Newark airport to catch the New Jersey Transit train to NY Penn Station to catch the subway to the hotel to get changed to catch the subway to Jay's house†, and that his “ETA at Jay's is currently an estimated 7:30pm†, also asking that I “Please let Jay know† as Alex’s Blackberry doesn’t have Jay’s contact details. Which I’ve now done.