Quinta dos Malvedos: 22nd March 2010

[jdaw1]

For 30 glasses of port...I'm gonna need a lot of chocolate and cheese.

Which will cloud the palate.

[DRT]

For 30 glasses of port...I'm gonna need a lot of chocolate and cheese.

Which will cloud the palate.

...and it's only 28 bottles, not 30, which may have been considered exessive.

[jdaw1]

Should I swap the two sessions so making the first session longer or have a new break, and if so, where? (Don’t forget that we now have ’92 and ’95 as well.)

New page, but question shouldn’t be lost.

[JacobH]

Should I swap the two sessions so making the first session longer or have a new break, and if so, where? (Don’t forget that we now have ’92 and ’95 as well.)

New page, but question shouldn’t be lost.

I have no strong views either way. Anyone else?

Also, is anyone willing to undertake printing the placemats? I’m slightly concerned that I won’t have a chance to monopolise a photocopier for the several hours it might take to parse the PDFs...

[jdaw1]

Also, is anyone willing to undertake printing the placemats? I’m slightly concerned that I won’t have a chance to monopolise a photocopier for the several hours it might take to parse the PDFs...

The whole file is less than a megabyte, and should render quickly.

[jdaw1]

DRT has suggested some extra pages to assist pre-pouring. Will the printed pages arrive at the tasting sufficiently early for these to be of use?

[Andy Velebil]

Should I swap the two sessions so making the first session longer or have a new break, and if so, where? (Don’t forget that we now have ’92 and ’95 as well.)

New page, but question shouldn’t be lost.

I'd suggest breaking at 1982 and younger for earlier session, then the older stuff after session. That way we do 80's/90's/00's together and then later 50's/60's/70's together.

[jdaw1]

DRT has suggested some extra pages to assist pre-pouring.

Nearly ready: please don’t print yet.

Should I swap the two sessions so making the first session longer or have a new break, and if so, where? (Don’t forget that we now have ’92 and ’95 as well.)

New page, but question shouldn’t be lost.

I'd suggest breaking at 1982 and younger for earlier session, then the older stuff after session. That way we do 80's/90's/00's together and then later 50's/60's/70's together.

Will be implemented when first matter working.

[jdaw1]

Updated current draft of the placemats, now at 193 sheets and 1,271,248 bytes:

• Now added ‘Pre-Pour’ sheets: put on each tray, and then fourteen glasses on that;
• Sessions re-ordered, as ADV requested. Note that this makes the first session longer than the second: please confirm satisfactory.

[DRT]

Sorry, I disagree on having the older ports after dinner. Palate fatigue is a certainty at this event and I would rather be tasting young wines when that happens than 50 year old gems that I may never taste again.

I also think the pre-dinner flight needs to be the shorter of the two as it is time constrained.

I think the split is fine, but I think the order needs to be reversed.

[WS1]

I fully agree with Derek!!! We should taste the old ones first!!!! If not I will if required bring my own glasses and wait until they are ready and start the tasting later.

Sorry for being pedantic!

regards

WS1

[Andy Velebil]

Food between will refresh the palate so no worries there. I'd rathe be able to drink and enjoy the old ones after than have to spit them out earlier. It worked out well for the massive cockburns tasting and others this size I've done.

But I'll go with what the group decides. But I ask do you want to drink the young ones or the old ones? As there is no way anyone can drink them all or half and still have a good understanding and appreciation of them.

Just my $0.02

[jdaw1]

Britain plus Germany versus America: that’s a new combination, so I don’t know who wins. More votes would help.

[DRT]

Andy,

There should be enough glasses available so that we do not have to throw the old ones away. At the Vesuvio tasting we kept the first flight on the table and then added the seond flight so that everyone had the full line-up in front of them. I think we could do the same with this tasting

Derek

[Andy Velebil]

If we have enough glasses then I don't mind doing old first so I can save some to drink later

[DRT]

More votes would help.

Agreed. It would be good to know what the others who will be attending the tasting would prefer to do.

Another option would be to break with tradition and put all of the wines on the table at the beginning and leave each individual to decide what they want to taste first?

[jdaw1]

Another option would be to break with tradition and put all of the wines on the table at the beginning and leave each individual to decide what they want to taste first?

Are there enough glasses? Is there enough table space? Is there enough table space for the glasses and for the mid-drinking dinner?

My view that the natural division between sessions is ≤1979 and ≥1982. In which case the session of older ports is fairly small: less than a bottle each. You should be able to finish that, or nearly so, without significant inebriation, and certainly what little inebriation there is would be cleared by dinner. All of which points to having the older ports first.

Updated current draft of the placemats, now at 193 sheets and 1,271,182 bytes:

• JDAW’s preferred ordering, being older first.

[DRT]

Are there enough glasses?

The number of glasses is being checked, but the RAF Club coped with the 35 bottle 1970 tasting so this should be possible.

Is there enough table space?

I think there will be.

Is there enough table space for the glasses and for the mid-drinking dinner?

It's the RAF Club, so dinner will be in another room.

[DRT]

less than a bottle each. You should be able to finish that, or nearly so, without significant inebriation

When typing this, did you factor in that Andy is American?

[jdaw1]

Is there enough table space for the glasses and for the mid-drinking dinner?

It's the RAF Club, so dinner will be in another room.

So you’re proposing that people drink some, they choose which, leave glasses there and wonder off for dinner, then come back not necessarily all simultaneously and resume. If there really are enough clean glasses, that could work.

less than a bottle each. You should be able to finish that, or nearly so, without significant inebriation

When typing this, did you factor in that Andy is American?

Twelve bottles, fourteen people: even if Andy is a zero, it’s less than a bottle each.

[WS1]

Julian, Derek

thanks for all the effort. Placemates look great! Please let me know if additional glasses are required. I am very happy, it looks like that we can start with the old Ports first.
On the other hand if there is a majority verdict to start with the young Ports i also do not mind waiting for the old ports.

Please let me know

regards

WS1

[jdaw1]

Updated current draft of the placemats, now at 208 sheets and 1,282,761 bytes:

• Re-paginated so that each non-pedants’ decade is on a single glasses sheet;
• Sessions have matching radii, in case sheets carried over from one to other.

[Roy Hersh]

Sorry, I disagree on having the older ports after dinner. Palate fatigue is a certainty at this event and I would rather be tasting young wines when that happens than 50 year old gems that I may never taste again.

I have no horse in the race, but believe Derek's way is right on. I also prefer older ones first but rarely see it done that way, as often time people like to end with the great oldies. But, I think the tannins of young VPs affect how the old ones show, if done later on. With a meal in between it is not as much an issue, but I'd rather be sharpest for the oldies and make sure my notes were crisp, while the young ones are very likely to be had again another day.

I wish you all a wonderful tasting, filled with perfect bottlings that all show beautifully!

Cheers

[JacobH]

Are there enough glasses?

The number of glasses is being checked, but the RAF Club coped with the 35 bottle 1970 tasting so this should be possible.

The last request for glasses (made by me via Axel to the RAF Club was) 14 × 24 = 336 glasses, so am I right in thinking we need another 56?

[DRT]

Are there enough glasses?

The number of glasses is being checked, but the RAF Club coped with the 35 bottle 1970 tasting so this should be possible.

The last request for glasses (made by me via Axel to the RAF Club was) 14 × 24 = 336 glasses, so am I right in thinking we need another 56?

Yes, but the decanting team will waste some so best to ask for 400