"Bring a Bottle to Share" and 2007 Horizontal; May 2009

[JacobH]

When - Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Where - The Crusting Pipe, Covent Garden, London
Who - AHB, BMHR, CG, KDT, JGH, THRA, WS;
Theme - Bring a Bottle to Share with other Lovers of Port & 2007 Horizontal
Ports -
1984 Churchill Crusted (AHB)
1987 Graham Malvedos SQVP (BMHR)
2005 Niepoort (CG)
1977 Croft (JGH)
1980 Quarles Harris (KDT)
1960 Dow (THRA)
1997 Ferreira "HMY Britannia Decommissioning Port" Ruby Reserve (THRA)
1983 Quarles Harris (WS)
2007 A
2007 B
2007 C
2007 D
2007 E*
(* to be edited on full disclosure)
Planning thread
Placemats

[JacobH]

This was another excellent evening at the Crusting Pipe with a great selection of quite different and fairly unusual Ports. For most of us, it was our first opportunity to meet Kevin and the 2007 Ports, both of whom I hope we will be seeing a lot of in the future!

This was very much a night for younger wines. Of the "drinking" Ports; in addition to the 2005 which is, obviously, fairly juvenile, the two Quarles Harris and the Malvedos are all showing signs of being in it for the long term. The Churchill Crusted was probably the best wine on the evening and something we will probably never see again. I'm always impressed by how good some of those early Churchill Ports were; they really hit the ground running (even if not all of them are that consistently good).

As for the 2007s; it was a real mixed bag. A and E were a complete pleasure to drink. I quite liked C; lots of complexity with tobacco and rhubarb, though it wasn't an easy-drinking wine. D was more like I expected a young VP to be; darkly tannic whilst B was universally slated.

[KillerB]

Sorry to have missed it - am currently enjoying the delights of Scotland's biggest new town.

[benread]

This was another very enjoyable evening at TCP, and reflecting on 8 empty bottles plus 5 2007 samples explains why my head was sore this morning given there were 7 of us! The Chruchill 1984 crusted was a revelation and my first crusted. Likewise, the Quarles Harris 1980 was a surprise - my wine of the night. The QH 1980, 1983 and the Malvedos 1987 were all giving hints of a long life ahead of them still.

As to the cask samples, one word stands out for me - Rhubarb! It hit me with my first taste of sample A and was present throughout for me. My quick summary suggests D was my favourite, followed by C. B was not enjoyed so much.

Thanks to Alex for organising and Jacob for the tasting mats.

[JacobH]

I've posted my notes on the evening. I'm never very good at writing sensible things at Offlines about the Ports so apologies for their brevity. In particular, the Niepoort and 1980 Quarles Harris would just be a couple of words so I will leave it to someone else to start those threads!

For the samples, as we still don't know which one was which, I've started threads with their letters in the subject. I'll edit the titles once their identities are revealed. I apologise if this breaks and Tasting Note Forum Rules (or jdaw1's spreadsheet) but it seems to be most sensible way of proceeding.

[Alex Bridgeman]

It was a great evening and one which I hope Kevin enjoyed and will feel up to joining us again.

There were some interesting ports to try. Tom's 1960 dow ullaged to about 2 cm below low shoulder was a bit smelly to start with, but tasted pretty dang decent by the end of the evening - very tawny but very enjoyable (and the first Dow 1960 I've ever tried).

The Decommissioning Port commemorating the decommissioning of HMY Britannia was surprisingly good for a ruby port, but then it did describe itself as a Personal Reserve Ruby. This had more body and weight than expected, but was probably the thinnest of the mature ports being tasted.

The Churchill Crusted, bottled 1984 was fairly thin and bland to start with but picked up weight and flavour in the glass over the course of the night and ended up and one of the favourites. Surprisingly good port.

The Niepoort 2005 was dark, black and fiercely tannic - but it was very interesting to be able to compare this with the wines from 2007. In general, the 2007s were far softer and more approachable.

Jacob's Croft 1977 was pale and mature, secondary but close to tertiary. I guessed it to be a Graham 1975.

Ben's Malvedos 1987 was astonishing and delicious, one to look out for and a close contender for wine of the night.

It was also fun to try a couple of vintages from a shipper it is quite hard to find. I guessed the 1980 and the 1983 vintages to be the opposite way round. The 1980 was dark, brooding and magnificent - another example of just how wonderful the 1980 vintage can be. This was my port of the night. The 1983 was pale, mature and a bit peaky. Overall, I was really disappointed by this port and rated it my worst of the night.

I shall reveal the indentities of the blind 2007 ports we tasted once people have posted their thoughts from the night and also from the samples which were taken home.

The Crusting Pipe looked after us with all the love and care we have grown to expect. Delicious food and plenty of water supplied on request. Patrizzia has been promoted to the position of supervisor and made sure that we had all we needed - and Jay made sure we needed for nothing.

[Alex Bridgeman]

The 2007 samples tasted at The Crusting Pipe were:

a - Romaniera
b - Crasto (note that when I was tasting the cask sample, this took over 24 hours to show what it has to offer so I believe that its poor showing at TCP could be due to us simply not giving it the time it needed to show what it could deliver; or, perhaps, a bad bottle)
c - Noval Silval
d - Niepoort
e - Noval

Alex

[JacobH]

a - Romaniera
b - Crasto (note that when I was tasting the cask sample, this took over 24 hours to show what it has to offer so I believe that its poor showing at TCP could be due to us simply not giving it the time it needed to shaw what it could deliver)
c - Noval Silval
d - Niepoort
e - Noval

Thanks for disclosing these. I've updated the thread titles. If the "(formally "X")" bit cases problems for the production of spreadsheets and the like, then let me know and I'll remove them.

I'm now extremely impressed by the Noval Silval. As the cheapest 2007 available, it is obviously punching far, far above its weight. A very good showing from Romaniera, too.

For the record, I was horribly incorrect with my predictions. That said, the other 2007 I might look for is the Quinta de Canais as, for immediate enjoyment, I would place it very close to the Noval but I hope (it doesn't seem Cockburn have declared their release prices yet) it will be somewhat cheaper.