Bio and Season's Greetings from Bavaria

[VJR]

Hi everyone - It was a pleasure meeting some of you at the RAF ‘70 horizontal organized by WS1 and AxelP earlier this year and I’ve been checking out the board for events ever since.

Capetonian by birth, my 1st exposure to port was Carel Nel’s ‘86 Vintage Res. Boplaas, an opulent tinta barocca based offering , which was a "turning point" as a young econ. student from which I’ve never looked back. I prize my remaining 2 bottles! Having visited his winery in the barren Calitzdorp, conducting mini verticals of his VPs with my equally fascinated Stellenbosch buddies, was a major revelation that pushed my interest and collecting drive into top gear.
Moving to the UK for further studies, I became aware that my 11th century college had a well-hidden, cold cellar from which an amazing array of mature French wines emanated once a week to accompany ‟formal dinner”. Thereafter, in more intimate surroundings, decanters with faded but delicious ports & madeiras were passed around! indeed, always from right to left (accompanied by dates, figs and bananas that had to be peeled with a knife & fork ”“ strewth!). Needless to say, these Douro VPs were in a totally different league to previous reference points! Unfortunately I wasn’t taking notes in those days, so I don’t recall houses and vintages. When the bursary sold off bin ends (strangely enough: mostly white burgundies!), there was a clamouring for the mature stuff. Alas, they never sold off port, which makes sense in retrospect!

Since then, my interest (or should I say craze?) has expanded in all directions but it’s strange how paths cross. Think of a more unlikely place to see Christian S. as at the Tokaj Rennaissance - 1000 kms from home - and a couple of weeks later in Pauillac, rather more civilized territory, where my buddies and me were literally downing multiple ‘90s of Pichon-Baron on the chateau! And shortly thereafter I called Isabel at the quinta on the merits of ‘62 and ‘70 Nacional - all of this a while back. Today, almost a third of my cellar comprises port ”“ my Saturday evening tastings with friends and my wife are a "sacrosanct" institution. My other interests include all types of music, especially the opera.
I look forward meeting more of you in the future and wish all of you plenty of great ports, good health and happiness in 2010.
Cheers, victor

[DRT]

Hi Victor,

Welcome to and thanks for a great first post

Have fun here.

Derek

[Alex Bridgeman]

Merry Christmas Victor - what a great first post. I'm not sure where you are living now, but feel free to volunteer to come along to any of our future tastings if time and location work for you.

I'm also delighted to have another fortified South African wines on the forum. I don't have many in my cellar but I have several vintages from Boplaas, Calitzdorp and others. One day I will persuade others on this forum to take
South African fortified reds seriously.

Alex

[VJR]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm based in Southern Germany but travel to the UK at regular intervals. Maybe I should take one of my remaining Boplaas Vintage Reserves with me. Best, victor

[Alex Bridgeman]

I meant to have mentioned that my favourite fortified South African reds come from Anton Bredell. With a few years of bottle age, I find these are really impressive.

[VJR]

Yeah, got a few of JP Bredell's Vintage Reserves - the 97 is good stuff. The location of the winery below the Helderberg is not bad either. But I guess I'll always remain a fan of Boplaas, due to Carel's pioneering work in the field of serious SA VP.
Cheers, victor

[Axel P]

Hi Victor and thanks for the inputs so far.

Axel

[Zelandakh]

Saturday evening tastings with friends and my wife

Your wife should be your friend too...unless she has the last glass.

Welcome.

[VJR]

Sometimes I'm not sure whether friend or foe...
if we don't keep her under surveillance, she'll polish off the rest while we're engaged contemplating its merits.
Cheers, victor

[jdaw1]

Hello Victor. Looking forward to seeing you at a tasting.

[VJR]

Thanks Julian, Hopefully there'll be a chance for that again soon - I think we met briefly at last year's '70 Horizontal in the RAF Club. Amazing tasting!
Best, Victor

[jdaw1]

Ahh, you are that Victor. Well, hello again.

[VJR]

Yep, the guy that removed a good many of the corks and did the decanting with WS1. whilst there was a discussion about the merits of handling mature VP (bring & filter thru' muslin/odorless cloth as opposed to rest & decant with care) in the background. BTW I'm 100% in the latter camp.
Best, victor. .

[jdaw1]

Yep, the guy that removed a good many of the corks and did the decanting with WS1. whilst there was a discussion about the merits of handling mature VP (bring & filter thru' muslin/odorless cloth as opposed to rest & decant with care) in the background. BTW I'm 100% in the latter camp.

We did a decanting experiment, which suggested that there is no reliably perceptible difference between the obvious methods.

[VJR]

Theoretically the result might vary among tasters and their experience (as well as their sensory faculties after a few flights!). Purely on a visual plane, the radiant brilliance of a well-rested and decanted bottle is part of the excitement. Compare that to the opaque, murky colour of whirled-up sediment that comes with a bring-along bottle of VP - the muslin doesn't get rid of all the gunk. That interference and agitation immediately prior to decanting surely "must" have perceivable adverse effects on aromatic depth ... So, interesting notion, which I currently find rather hard to buy into. Next time you do the test, please let me know

[jdaw1]

Theoretically the result might vary among tasters and their experience

Of course, tasters vary, but everybody thought it either too-close-to-tell or too-close-to-matter.

(as well as their sensory faculties after a few flights!).

We did taste the multi-decanted port first, for that reason.

Purely on a visual plane, the radiant brilliance of a well-rested and decanted bottle is part of the excitement. Compare that to the opaque, murky colour of whirled-up sediment that comes with a bring-along bottle of VP - the muslin doesn't get rid of all the gunk.

Yes, muslin was insufficient for very swirled port that required a coffee filter.

That interference and agitation immediately prior to decanting surely "must" have perceivable adverse effects on aromatic depth

Why? Justify. Show your working.

So, interesting notion

Welcome to .

which I currently find rather hard to buy into. Next time you do the test, please let me know

This call may be recorded. Currently all our staff are helping other callers. Please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order in which it was received. Currently you are number two billion and three in the queue. (Sorry: by a long way you aren’t the first to want to attend a repeat. Sorry.)

[VJR]

LOL - not known to jump queues - but the suspense probably won't kill me. Coffee Filter - OMG. Let's try that with a White Burgundy, shall we? Meanwhile I better do something useful and get those tastebuds into synch

[jdaw1]

Coffee Filter - OMG.

Unbleached paper, used once then binned. Not metal, of course. Works well. Test for yourself.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Next time you do the test, please let me know

I wonder if it is time to do the test again with a different audience? Does anyone have a magnum of mature VP they would be willin to sacrifice for the greater good?

[jdaw1]

Sure: F66, W85, T85.

[VJR]

OK, let's do this.
How about a little contest - winner takes the rest of the mags... no difficulty guessing my position.

Afraid, I never buy mags - have enough trouble finishing off singles. Actually from vintage 1997 on, I have started purchasing halves, which for home use do the trick rather nicely.

[Glenn E.]

Does anyone have a magnum of mature VP they would be willin to sacrifice for the greater good?

I have a G85 magnum of unknown provenance and something just over a case of G85 750s also of unknown provenance.

But you'd have to fly to Seattle to do the test.

[jdaw1]

Or you and a friend use your magnum of G85. Do things thoroughly and carefully, and report here. We are interested.

[Glenn E.]

Or you and a friend use your magnum of G85. Do things thoroughly and carefully, and report here. We are interested.

I mentioned flying to Seattle only because VJR expressed interest in attending the next test.

One 18 bottle/5 person example to the contrary, I'll need more than one friend to properly consume this test. I'll start working on it, though, and might be able to round up a few testers within the next couple of months. A couple of new people have started posting at from the Seattle area, so I'm hoping to get a semi-regular Port tasting group going.

[VJR]

Glenn, Look forward to meeting you someday!
Best, Victor