Wokingham, Tuesday 20th May 2008

[jdaw1]

Blinded placemats updated to include a number 12. Sighted placemats unchanged.


And my father and you have email about collection.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Blinded placemats updated to include a number 12. Sighted placemats unchanged.

Are these both to be printed on A3 paper?

[jdaw1]

Glass holding sheets, A3. Tasting note pages A4.

Things may change as numbers change.

[Axel P]

As Derek is going to the holy land on the weekend I tried to get him equiped with some Cask Samples of the VP 07. At least Niepoort and La Rosa (maybe Pintas and Passadouro as well).

We should plan them in when they are confirmed, too.

Julian: You have never been to either of the cities in the holy land (VNG, Oporto or Pinhao)? We should definitely change this very soon.

Axel

[Alex Bridgeman]

Happily.

However, they will have to be a different flight as I will be seriously out of glasses and decanters by the time we reach 16 bottles.

But this could be tremendous fun...

[Axel P]

It will be and Im very much looking forward to it.

Im sitting around a bottle of Quinta Seara d'Ordens VP 2005. Ever heard of it?

Axel

[Alex Bridgeman]

Nope. That's a completey new Quinta name to me. I must dig out my copy of Liddel and see if he mentions it at all.

But I've gone off topic. This is the May 20 Offline thread.

[Axel P]

You are right - as always.

The 80 VPs are - besides Grahams, Taylors (in Munich with you) and Warre - new to me, too, so it will be an awful lot of fun tasting them with all of you.

Is your wife there as well and will she throw us out, when we are starting to sing nasty songs later in the evening?

Axel

[DRT]

I will make it my number 1 priority to bring back as many 2007 cask samples as (a) the very kind people of the Douro and VNG allow me to have and (b) the very unkind people of Ryanair allow me to take on the flight home.

If I do bring some back, we need to work out the best time to taste these on 20 May. There is a danger that their aggressive nature could wipe out all hope of properly tasting the 1980s. I would suggest that the best thing to do is taste any 2007s we have before eating. I would also suggest that we plan to spit them.

Derek

PS: Anyone who can't give me a 2007 cask sample will be asked for a 2006 instead

[Axel P]

Derek,

on Ryanair it is 10 ┚¬ for every extra kg you are checking in. I just paid 50 ┚¬ on the way back from the essencia do vinho in March.

Axel

[DRT]

Derek,

on Ryanair it is 10 ┚¬ for every extra kg you are checking in. I just paid 50 ┚¬ on the way back from the essencia do vinho in March.

Axel

That is why I am not planning to take lots of clothes with me so that I can use my full 15kg hold allowance on glass and purple liquid.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Derek,

on Ryanair it is 10 ┚¬ for every extra kg you are checking in. I just paid 50 ┚¬ on the way back from the essencia do vinho in March.

Axel

That is why I am not planning to take lots of clothes with me so that I can use my full 15kg hold allowance on glass and purple liquid.

Roughly, roughly a full bottle of port weighs about 2kg.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Is your wife there as well and will she throw us out, when we are starting to sing nasty songs later in the evening?

No, my wife is away for the week with the school where she teaches. I am on children-watching duty, hence I am hosting this at home.

No wife will throw us out if we start to sing nasty songs, but me teenage daughter and nearly teenage son both get extremely grumpy if their sleep is disturbed and both have school the following morning so they will likely throw us out if we are too loud.

The fact that I am on child minding duties is why we will not be able to start before 8pm. That is about when I will return from my last activity run and can start drinking.

Anyone who arrives before 8pm is welcome, but will be put to work to help in the preparations.

Alex

[Conky]

Derek,

on Ryanair it is 10 ┚¬ for every extra kg you are checking in. I just paid 50 ┚¬ on the way back from the essencia do vinho in March.

Axel

That is why I am not planning to take lots of clothes with me so that I can use my full 15kg hold allowance on glass and purple liquid.

Once you know the term PURPLE SUNSHINE, I think you should be banned from using your term. It's not right. It hurts. It's insulting....

(Having said that, we really should have a better purple colour, with more red!)

[DRT]

Derek,

on Ryanair it is 10 ┚¬ for every extra kg you are checking in. I just paid 50 ┚¬ on the way back from the essencia do vinho in March.

Axel

That is why I am not planning to take lots of clothes with me so that I can use my full 15kg hold allowance on glass and purple liquid.

Once you know the term PURPLE SUNSHINE, I think you should be banned from using your term. It's not right. It hurts. It's insulting....

(Having said that, we really should have a better purple colour, with more red!)

Alan,

purple liquid is the technical term for embrionic juice that has not yet been Decalred as Purple Sunshine - until it is 2 years old and has passed the relevant quality tests it cannot use the proper name. It's a rule.

Derek

[Conky]

Decalred!

My word, you know all the technical stuff, dont you. Ok Proff....

[jdaw1]

Im happy with whatever you guys drink as long as Im not totally drunk before the tasting starts.

Axel

You're attending a tasting with the British, don't ask for things that are not possible.

But the Russians are worse: “We were drinking and what doesn't happen when you're drunk?†.

[Axel P]

I went to pilot training in the UK and was crewed with a british flight lieutenant for a couple of weeks, so I think Im pretty much aware of what it means to drink with the british.

Anyways: my aim is to be able to write something down that somebody is capable of identifying the next morning until the last bottle was opened, meaning: to get TNs of all bottles.

Since I dont have to fly myself the next day, I couldnt care less what will happen then

Axel

[Alex Bridgeman]

WS (and the QH) has withdrawn from the 1980 tasting due to work commitments on the following morning. CG has replaced him.

When: Tuesday May 20, 2008 at 7pm
Where: Wokingham â€‟ exact address to be supplied by PM
What: A 1980 Horizontal
Tasting Mats: Drafted; needing revision to accommodate WS/QH withdrawl and CG replacement

Who: Confirmed Attendees:

• AHB, whose house it is and who will be working from home on the 21st
  AP, who has bagsied an air matress
  ARK, who has bagsied a blow-up mattress on the floor
  BB, a friend of AHB, who will be returning to London on a late train
  DRT, who has bagsied the sofa.
  CG, who will also be returning to London by train
  JDAW, who has bagsied the bed
  THRA (try The Wokingham Guest House for accommodation, 5 mins walk away)

Confirmed non-attendees:

• ACC
  SRG
  SL

Bottle Options:

• Dow (AHB, ARK, DRT)
  Ferriera (BB)
  Fonseca (AHB, ARK, JDAW , AP (en magnum))
  Graham (AHB, JDAW)
  Nacional (DRT, JDAW)
  Offley Boa Vista (JDAW, THRA)
  Smith Woodhouse (AHB)
  Taylor (JDAW)
  Warre (ARK)

We’ve now abandoned the pretence of bringing only one bottle each. I believe that the current view of who brings what is:

• Dow (ARK)
  Ferreira (BB)
  Fonseca (in bottle)(AHB)
  Fonseca (en magnum)(AP)
  Graham (JDAW)
  Nacional (DRT)
  Offley (porbably THRA but otherwise JDAW)
  Smith Woodhouse (AHB)
  Taylor (JDAW)
  Warre (ARK)

Assuming that THRA will be attending then all spaces around my table have been taken, although I am still willing to wait-list people if there is someone else desperate to attend. The glasses and decanter problems have been solved, with the kind help of ARK, DRT, JDAW and THRA.

I will be travelling to Sussex between now and May 20, in order to collect port and/or glasses as this has now been established as being helpful.

JDAW - please request that your father sets aside the bottles above with your initials indicated, plus any others that you would like me to collect for onward distribution to others. If we open your Offley then we will ensure that some financial rebalancing takes place to reflect the fact that you will have provided three bottles. If THRA is able to confirm attendance then we will return your bottle unopened (assuming that THRA provides the Offley).

[jdaw1]

Surely WS is now a “Confirmed non-attendee†?

Blinded placemats updated to stop at 11; and QH deleted from sighted placemats; WS the person being deleted from both.

An email sent to you and my father about your collecting port. Please read through that email carefully and confirm that all the facts you can confirm are indeed confirmed.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Surely WS is now a “Confirmed non-attendee†?

I considered that, but decided that since he was not registered on the forum I would not add him to the list of confirmed non-attendees.

Although I accept that in the strict sense of the set, he should be.

Luckily, the branch of set theory that I practice is intended to study the interaction of Traditional Set Theory with Poetic License.

Alex

[DRT]

The case of Dow 1980 that ARK, AHB and DRT are buying between them has not yet arrived. Do we have a back-up bottle of Dow 1980 anywhere?

I wonder if we could persuade Christopher to cross the M25 border on a school night to fill the now vacant seat?

Derek

[uncle tom]

Do we have a back-up bottle of Dow 1980 anywhere

Can supply ex. stock

Tom

[Alex Bridgeman]

Uncle Tom's contingency plan is greatly appreciated as Wine-searcher doesn't make it easy to develop a contingency plan since no-one else seems to have any available.

Christopher would be a welcome addition to our group if we are able to persuade him to move outside the M25 on a weekday evening.

Alex

[DRT]

Christopher would be a welcome addition to our group if we are able to persuade him to move outside the M25 on a weekday evening.

I think he is still in the US and is soon off to the Douro with Roy&Co. I would suggest that you extend the invitation by email (as he has a BlackBerry with him) including an explanation of how it is possible for human beings to travel from locations outside the M25 into the centre of London on a weekday morning and arrive in time for the start of the working day.

Derek