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A bottle from CMAG's Vesuvio 10th Anniversary Case, opened on Wednesday 13th February 2019 . Deep red in colour, opaque and with a narrow rim. A swirl releases lots of dark cherry fruit. Deep black cherry on the palate with lots of dry tannins that gives a chalky and dusty charcoal texture. The frui...

A bottle from CMAG's Vesuvio 10th Anniversary Case, opened on Wednesday 13th February 2019 . Bottle number 43201. Deep red with a medium rim. Little showing on the nose, surprisingly closed. Smooth and elegant entry. A touch of bottle stink shows on the palate. Lots of tannins show in the sweet frui...

A bottle from CMAG's Vesuvio 10th Anniversary Case, opened on Wednesday 13th February 2019 . Bottle number 22042. Deep red colour but with a brick tone; opaque centre and a medium rim — much darker than the earlier vintages. Fresh fruit on the nose, with lots of strawberry and restrained dark cherry...

A bottle from CMAG's Vesuvio 10th Anniversary Case, opened on Wednesday 13th February 2019 . Bottle 22 223. mature copper ed colour; 50% opaque. Fresher on the nose than the '89 or '90, showing more redcurrant and cranberry. Smooth onto the palate, bringing redcurrant and green leaves. The gentle ta...

I tend to get my Port news from here, FTLOP, Decanter, FaceBook / Instagram and direct mailings from the producers. If I get something direct, I tend to post the news here.

If anyone attending is interested in having a late lunch together before the Berry's tasting, drop me a PM and I'll coordinate something.

Bon Voyage! Axel's Portweinmesse is on my list of events to attend but it's at such a busy time of year for me.

And please do write up your visit. I love reading the stories that people post.

NV Graham Tawny 80YO (bottled 2025) Green rim with an olive brown core. Baked ginger on the nose, spiced and immensely complex. Slightly thickened in texture, with intense orange and marmalade on the palate being delivered with the perfect balance. The intensity of flavour and exquisite balance just...

NV Graham Tawny 40YO Pale orange rim, amber core. Stunning nose, wonderfully expressive, showing orange caramel and hazelnut. Honey palate, with orange and marmalade dominant. Full of flavour, with layer after layer of expression. This wine just gets bigger and better as it sits on the palate. A lit...

NV Graham Tawny 30YO Explosively expressive on the nose, with dried citrus peel and honey, deliciously lemony. Sweet orange and tangerine on the palate, with lemon and honey shining through. A firework display of an aftertaste, so full of flavour, with a gloriously grainy honey finish which just doe...

NV Graham Tawny 20YO
Red-amber in colour with a green-nutty nose, that also showing a little dried fig. Excellent balance on the palate with dried fruit, honey and nuts. This delivers a lingering finish of honeyed redcurrant and the occasional flash of cinder toffee. Harmonious Port. 90/100.

NV Graham Tawny 10YO Cherry red in colour. Nutty nose, with some lovely dried cherry. Delicious toasted sugar and Scottish butter tablet on the palate, a gentle layer of vanilla and a gorgeous cherry fudge late. A little spice shows on the aftertaste and finish, a finish which is very long. A very s...

The whole event lasted around 90 minutes, so it was only a brief opportunity to get to know the wines. Having the chance to taste the tawnies side by side was something I don't get to do often, and with the added bonus of a sample of the 80 year old was something not to be missed. Tasting Notes 2024...

The venue for the tasting was the Mandrake Hotel in Fitzrovia. This is a lovely quirky hotel that holds surprises around every corner. One of which was a stuffed ostrich that was paying close attention to the wines Anthony was presenting. IMG_5009.jpeg After the wines were tasted, the team cleared t...

Well, there was a lot more Port than I was expecting. And I’m very impressed by the scoring. Clearly you lot are now starting to drink enough Port to recognise what you’re drinking. Apart from JDAW. He obviously isn’t drinking enough Port and needs to build up more experience. Lucky I wasn’t there. ...

Someone put us non-attendees out our misery and post what was drunk and how the voting went!

Screenshot 2025-10-29 053817.png Screenshot 2025-10-29 054038.png Screenshot 2025-10-29 054125.png Screenshot 2025-10-29 054203.png Screenshot 2025-10-29 054239.png Screenshot 2025-10-29 054319.png Screenshot 2025-10-29 054354.png Screenshot 2025-10-29 054433.png Links - at least for as long as the...

mcoulson wrote: ↑20:22 Mon 27 Oct 2025 Does anybody else remember the 1977 American TV program called 'soap'

Ah. As in “Confused? You will be.”

Elizabeth and I used to watch it every Friday when I was at university.

Hi Simon, I'm delighted that you've decided to do that. I've had a few bottles of Ferreira 1960 over the years and have thoroughly enjoyed them. It's a lovely, fully mature, gently spiced baked fruit kind of Vintage Port. But please don't let your Christmas guests persuade you to drink it at the end...

1948 Taylor, Audouzed for 2 hours and then decanted for a further 2½ hours. Dark red colour, little showing on the nose but the palate is wonderful with a rich and sweet bramble fruit shining through. The wine is deliciously ready for drinking. It is still in the early stages of secondary developmen...

1945 Taylor, Audouzed for 2 hours and then decanted for a further 2½ hours. Bottled in Porto. The darkest of the wines in the tasting, 80% opaque. Glorious fruit nose. On the palate the wine is richly fruited but with a fabulous balance to the construction of the palate. Really impressive, the combi...

hadge wrote: ↑22:39 Mon 20 Oct 2025Pictures post

Harry - don't forget!

1942 Taylor, Audouzed for 2 hours and then decanted for a further 2½ hours. Bottled in Porto and sealed under a pink wax with only the Taylor symbol embossed on it. Sadly flawed with lots of bottle stink on nose and palate. N/R.

1935 Taylor, Audouzed for 2 hours and then decanted for a further 2½ hours. Sealed under a black foil with only the shipper and vintage embossed on it. Dark red. Elegant nose and palate with a lovely dark cherry. Lingering dark plum finish. Lots of fruit, primary and full of delicious ripeness. Nice...

1927 Taylor, Audouzed for 2 hours and then decanted for a further 2½ hours. Bottled by Hankey Bannister and sealed under a yellow foil with only the bottler and vintage embossed on it. Dark red bronze colour, 70% opaque. A lovely caramel and strawberry nose. Raspberry caramel on the palate with a lo...

1924 Taylor, Audouzed for 2 hours and then decanted for a further 2½ hours. Dark red colour, 80% opaque. A little closed on the nose at first but with it then showing some lovely dark and rich black bramble fruit. Lovely on the palate, dark fruit delivering a glorious and expressive palate full of b...

1920 Taylor, Audouzed for 2 hours and then decanted for a further 2 hours. The first of the wines in this tasting which showed as a dark colour. A little closed on the nose but showing some gentle concentrated red fruit. A lovely balance on entry with a rich and sweet red fruit, a slight dusting of ...

1917 Taylor. Audouzed for 2 hours before being decante. Lighter on the nose than the 1912 but showing gentle fruit and a lot of alcohol. Sweet but delicate entry with some lovely red jellied fruit and a gentle hint of tannins, but on the mid-palate this dries out quite quickly. But the aftertaste su...

1912 Taylor, opened 18.30 and decanted 2 hours later. Tasted 1½ hours after decanting. Light amber colour, approximately 20% opaque. Very gentle but exquisite nose showing nutty fruit and expressing such a purity. Stunning palate with beautiful mature fruit and incredible levels of complexity. More ...

1908 Taylor, opened at 18.30 and decanted 2 hours later. Tasted 1 hour after decanting. Fully mature bronzed colour, full of fine sediment so opaque. Mature with cinnamon and baked autumn fruit dominating the nose, along with a touch of burnt match. Soft with sweet brown sugar on entry, delicious ap...

1900 Taylor, bottled by an unknown UK merchant. Opened at 18.30 and decanted 2 hours later. Tasted an hour after decanting. A rich red colour with an attractive core. Balanced entry with sweet fruit on the palate, gentle tannins in the sweet fruit, candied cherry. Long cherry finish. This is a reall...

1896 Taylor, bottled by Collard of Canterbury and with a branded cork. Opened at 18.30 and decanted 2 hours later. Tasted ½ hour after decanting. A rich mature bronzed colour, 60% opaque. Star fruit on the nose, maybe a bit of bruised pineapple. Sweet bruised red apple on the palate with a dusting o...

1890 Taylor. Opened at 18.30 and decanted 2 hours later. Tasted ½ hour after decanting. Orange amber in colour, 30% opaque. Gentle orange cordial on the nose, light bodied on the palate with a cedar shaving bitterness. Very much a wine which has had the fruit dry out revealing the aged and mature br...

1884 Taylor, opened at 18.30 and decanted 2 hours later. Tasted ½ hour after decanting. Dark mature red colour, with a wide rim. Initially a little bottle stink on the nose but this mostly blew off quite quickly although the wine remained a bit dirty, or perhaps with a hint of petrol on the nose. Sw...

The oldest of the wines opened for this deep Taylor tasting. A bottle which had been recorked at Whitwhams in 1986 and which was acquired from a Christie's sale in New York in 2006. 1878 Taylor, opened at 18.30, decanted at 20.45 and served almost immediately. Tasted several times over the course of...

1960 Cockburn, bottled by the Wine Society. Decanted 2 hours. Smooth, full of richly perfumed and lovingly spiced mature fruit. Singing in glorious harmony — Johann Sebastian Bach rather than Carl Orff. Superb. 96/100.

Thank you for sharing, Derek!

: Just opened; IMG_5560.jpeg (144.59 KiB) Viewed 4865 times

I have a soft spot for mature claret and still have a few bottles left from the 1980s. They rarely get opened these days, but the children are home for dinner so it’s justified to open a nice bottle.

Did I mention that neither of them drink red wine? They prefer 20YO tawny…

This is a great idea for a thread, and means I might now be able to throw away those irritating bits of paper I have no idea what to do with!

A point of academic interest I’ve just discovered in my notes from the tasting, the corks of the 1884 and 1890 bottles were unbranded.

The 1896 cork was branded. I didn’t get to see the 1900 or 1908 corks, but 1912 and later were all branded.

As happened with the original organiser of the original tasting, my plans have been forced to change.

Sadly, I can’t be at the tasting next week. Sorry all.

Love the review Harry! Really entertaining.

Glenn E. wrote: ↑19:47 Wed 15 Oct 2025 Good to know that Taylor Port from the 1800s is mostly rubbish. I shall strike it from my shopping list.

Yeah. It’s obvious from this tasting that Taylor peaks at the age of 113 years from vintage and then falls off a steep cliff over the next 12 years.

If anyone has any pictures they are willing and able to share with me from Monday night, please let me know.

There may need to be a recount though. The 1945 totals 9.5 not 10.5, which creates a tie with the 1900. But also, Charles has only scored 5, while Michael M has scored 7. I think I know why - Charles initially scored 5 points and then said "come back in a moment for the final point", and ...

I have the voting sheet with me and will examine the evidence a little later today.

forest26 wrote: ↑16:10 Mon 13 Oct 2025 Just got into London - checking in - I will be there at 6
Had to come straight from work without decanting tools - anticipating that one of you will be more prepared than I

I’m sure we will be able to cope.

: Fabulous looking bottle; IMG_5369.jpeg (142.52 KiB) Viewed 4318 times

nac wrote: ↑11:13 Mon 13 Oct 2025 Going to be in London in advance of 1800 kick-off.
Anyone fancy meeting at 67 beforehand?

Definitely!

I’m leaving Wokingham 2 hours later than originally planned and have some errands to run when I’ve dropped my bottles off. But will see you there later.

What a great looking bottle!

1970 Taylor Colheita, bottled in 75cl in 2020. A rich olive brown colour. Hugely expressive on the nose. Intense acidity on the nose, bright but thick and sweet with the intensity just overwhelming. Big and uncompromising without a lot of complexity. 90/100. Tasted at the pre-event lunch to the Gran...

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