Strawberry Fields Forever (Mon 1st July - Spot The Taylor Vertical)

[jdaw1]

We need to do a food order for this tasting by Monday (please correct me if wrong)?

From Davy’s B&F Dining Menu

Missing food orders from Harry, Ian, Neil, Gavin, Martin, Charles, Christopher. Please!

Current version of the food order.

[jdaw1]

I will bring postal tags and printed sticky labels to deal with the bottles I can also print the place settings ....

Hence, unless clearly instructed to the contrary, I will not be making decanter labels.

[jdaw1]

Apologies just realised I have a diary clash and cannot make it

Sorry, I missed this.

Placemats repaired. Please could somebody check them?

[CPR 1]

if you don't want your Standard Food Order then please post in the thread below otherwise you will get what is on the order and if there is nothing on there for you, then I will order for you (remember I don't eat the cheesy rabbit!)

I have followed the instructions given. My standard order please. Thank you.

[mcoulson]

Harry, may I have Ham hock terrine then Sirloin (medium), skinny fries, green beans, peppercorn sauce and Treacle tart, clotted cream

Thank you

However if anybody else wants to share a Chateaubriand then I'm up for that

[nac]

My food order:
Ham hock terrine
Burger + cheese
Cheese

[idj123]

My (new) Standard order, please!

[idj123]

I am assuming that I do not need to double decant to the bottle I am bringing but can use another bottle for that purpose and thus negating the need to foil?

[flash_uk]

I am assuming that I do not need to double decant to the bottle I am bringing but can use another bottle for that purpose and thus negating the need to foil?

Correct.

[jdaw1]

My (new) Standard order, please!

Which I cannot find in the The Standard Food Order thread.

Missing Ian, Gavin. Others believed correct: please verify that your entry in the food order is correct.

[idj123]

My (new) Standard order, please!

Which I cannot find in the The Standard Food Order thread.

Missing Ian, Gavin. Others believed correct: please verify that your entry in the food order is correct.

It’s there as far as I can see ( the second pdf from Martin’s link to the standard food order but I will nonetheless repeat:

Potted Crab
Sirloin steak (m/r) and fries with Carr
Welsh Rarebit

Thanks

[CPR 1]

Not sure what has happened, my standard order is below. Julian can you please update the order to match this.

Crab
Ribeye (rare) fries, spinach and peppercorn sauce
Welsh rarebit

Thanks

[jdaw1]

The food order has been updated, I hope correctly. Will be sent later tonight = Sunday.

Edit: sent, but updates still possible.

[jdaw1]

I have at home two Sandeman 20y bottles, labels removed. Presumably it would be easier if I decanted into those, as that wouod save subsequent decanting, and make available more identical containers. If wrong, pls say.

[flash_uk]

I have at home two Sandeman 20y bottles, labels removed. Presumably it would be easier if I decanted into those, as that wouod save subsequent decanting, and make available more identical containers. If wrong, pls say.

My bottles have labels intact, so I think you’ll need to re-decant.

[Alex Bridgeman]

I’ll be using an unlabelled S20yo bottle as my decanter.

[jdaw1]

My bottles have labels intact, so I think you’ll need to re-decant.

Are you willing to de-label your bottles?

[flash_uk]

My bottles have labels intact, so I think you’ll need to re-decant.

Are you willing to de-label your bottles?

I will give it a go with one. If easy, then yes, if a complete pain in the ass, then no. And it doesn't matter if I don't.

[Alex M]

There is a chance I’m available again for this. May I tentatively request the final space be held for me until 1800 today?

[hadge]

Clifford's guest of Christopher is missing from the placemats and food order.

[nac]

Not sure if this helps.
Intending to bring my bottle pre-decanted into a Sandeman 20YO bottle.

[hadge]

I will bring mine in an unlabelled S20yo bottles.

I think that it will help if most of the ports can come in unlabelled Sandeman 20YO bottles. We will need some for Cliff to decant into.

[Alex M]

I can attend. I will discuss with bottle selection with Glenn.

May I request the following food?

Starter - smoked salmon.
Main - ribeye (MR), fries, spinach and peppercorn sauce.
Dessert - welsh rarebit.

[Glenn E.]

I can attend. I will discuss with bottle selection with Glenn.

Altering the bottles that have already been assigned would be complicated (and might give clues), so the easiest solution is to add an extra bottle.

There will now be 6 x 1970 VP at the tasting, and Alex has been informed of the bottle he is to bring.

[cem]

As long as the decanted bottle you bring is not recognizable that will be fine. They will be going into identical decanters before being mixed around and then poured so nobody will know whose bottle is where in any particular year.

Scoring Rules

Things we all know to be true: Cliff is providing one Taylor in each vintage. Apart from the other bottle(s) you are each bringing, that's all you know.

You must choose at least one bottle out of each vintage to be Taylor. You score 1 point for every Taylor bottle you guess right. You may guess as many Taylors as you like however if you guess more Taylors than actual Taylors then for every guess exceeding the total revealed Taylor bottles you will score -1 point (in all vintages combined).

With the other producers you also score 1 point for getting one right in a vintage. However if you choose the producer twice in a vintage (other than 1970) and there are not two bottles of it then you will score -1 point for the second excess bottle. This stops people who know what they brought in a particular vintage potentially gaming the points by choosing a Taylor and then saying both others are the same producer that they brought.

With 1970 there are up to 5 guesses other than the one mandatory Taylor guess. The same rules apply. Any producer you choose more than once that doesn't exist will score -1 point. So you will never be penalized for guessing a producer that doesn't show up in a vintage if it is only chosen once in that vintage and multiple incorrect guesses of a producer score negatively that exceed actual bottles in that vintage.

Person with most points wins obviously. Extra general derision for anybody on negative points.

This leaves the scoring Monkey - can you at least beat him?

The scoring Monkey is suspicious, apprehensive and fearful. He doesn't trust Glenn and his shenanigans, not one jot. In fact he trusts no-one.

Thus Monkey believes there are more than 6 Taylor bottles. He is particularly paranoid about 1970 and he will choose 2 Taylor bottles in that. He also believes there are very likely 2 bottles from the same producer in one or more of the vintages, however he is frightened by potential -1 points being scored.

So Monkey will not choose more than one bottle per producer in any vintage except for the extra Taylor in 1970. And for the other 14 bottles he will randomly choose from Fonseca, Graham, Dow, Warre, Croft, Cockburn and Noval. While Monkey knows there are other producers in certain vintages that could be potentially brought, he is hedging his bets to the most likely.

Monkey has played this game a few times and so will not choose either Dow or Noval in 1977. He also knows Noval and Croft in 1985 are not up-to-snuff and won't choose either of them in that vintage.

Monkey is quietly confident he won't come bottom...

[winesecretary]

Monkey is right.

[flash_uk]

My bottles have labels intact, so I think you’ll need to re-decant.

Are you willing to de-label your bottles?

I will give it a go with one. If easy, then yes, if a complete pain in the ass, then no. And it doesn't matter if I don't.

Label removal very easy. I will de-label all the "decanter" S20YO bottles I am bringing.

[idj123]

Monkey is most wise (Tripitaka needs to watch out)*

*old cultural reference!

[flash_uk]

Monkey is most wise (Tripitaka needs to watch out)*

*old cultural reference!

Sandy will come to the rescue.

[jdaw1]

It’s very lucky that Cliff has employed a sober person to do the scoring.

[cem]

It’s very lucky that Cliff has employed a sober person to do the scoring.

Monkey magic Julian

[Glenn E.]

The scoring Monkey is suspicious, apprehensive and fearful. He doesn't trust Glenn and his shenanigans, not one jot. In fact he trusts no-one.

The scoring Monkey is wise, indeed.

Monkey is quietly confident he won't come bottom...

If I understand the scoring correctly, there are 21 available points? 1 per bottle?

And on the low end, one could theoretically score as poorly as -9? (You must guess a Taylor in each vintage, but are wrong each time. Then you guess the same producer for every other bottle, and there are no bottles in the entire tasting from that producer. 6 of those guesses cause you no penalty, but the remaining 9 are each -1.)

Julian may apply proper mathematics to correct me, but that seems to imply to me that an average score should be roughly 6 points.

There may be shenanigans involved in this estimate.

[cem]

Yes -9 is the worst score possible. Achievable through your method or picking 21 Taylors and only 6 being correct +6 -15.

Neil is the current blind king on a truly dismal 4 points! We have significant advantages this time knowing there is at least one Taylor in each vintage so one would hope the majority will get more than 4 points each...

[hadge]

Yes -9 is the worst score possible. Achievable through your method or picking 21 Taylors and only 6 being correct +6 -15.

Neil is the current blind king on a truly dismal 4 points! We have significant advantages this time knowing there is at least one Taylor in each vintage so one would hope the majority will get more than 4 points each...

The returning officer for the last blind couldn't count. (I wonder if the level of drink had anything to do with this, shhhhh Harry!! Julian will comment about this) I would call for a recount please!

[nac]

My bottle decanted at 2115 on 30/6/24.
Was into neck, no obvious seepage, well branded cork and heavy sediment.
Decanted clear and bright and QA sample quite nice.
Getting a hour in the decanter tonight before being VacUVined and taken to London at 0430 tomorrow morning. Will then get another couple of hours in a decanter before going into a Sandeman 20yo bottle.

[flash_uk]

Yes -9 is the worst score possible. Achievable through your method or picking 21 Taylors and only 6 being correct +6 -15.

Neil is the current blind king on a truly dismal 4 points! We have significant advantages this time knowing there is at least one Taylor in each vintage so one would hope the majority will get more than 4 points each...

The returning officer for the last blind couldn't count. (I wonder if the level of drink had anything to do with this, shhhhh Harry!! Julian will comment about this) I would call for a recount please!

We should have had a chartered accountant do it. Oh, wait…

[cem]

Provenance of the Taylors so you have the same info as I do

Taylor 55 - Cambridge Uni College Cellar (into neck)
Taylor 63 - Christie's Chalk Cellar sale (into neck & highest fill level I have ever seen on any bottle of port, let alone a 63)
Taylor 66 - Country House Cellar (base of neck)
Taylor 70 - Country House Cellar (base of neck)
Taylor 77 - UK Trade (into neck)
Taylor 85 - UK Trade (into neck)

[flash_uk]

I am aiming for a 5pm arrival, perhaps earlier, but not by much.

[hadge]

who is printing? I will print if I hear nothing by 1:30pm i will print the placemat and what it is sheets etc.

also i will be there around 5pm.

[idj123]

My bottle double decanted at 9am. En route and eta 6.15pm all being well.

[Glenn E.]

Have a great time tonight! I look forward to hearing how it goes.

I will explain everything after you're done.

[mcoulson]

Just want to say thank you to Cliff & Harry for deciding to arrange this particular piece of silliness plus to Glen for his trickery and Julian for the placements as always

Unsurprisingly an excellent evening all round

[Alex M]

A most excellent evening. My sincere thanks to those involved in the conception of the idea! Bar those tainted I was very pleased with all that showed.

[Glenn E.]

Initially, I wanted to have the second set of VPs be Croft because I so often hear people say that Croft as a distinct orange flavor. So you'd have strawberries and oranges. But there weren't enough Croft available, so I had to pivot.

That's when the abundance of Warre became obvious, so while Warre doesn't consistently have a fruit flavor associated with it, I do hear fairly often that it has a strawberry note. Ergo confusing next to allegedly-strawberry flavored Taylor VPs.

There is actually a second set of shenanigans in that the 3rd bottles are all different. Or at least they were until Alex M was able to rejoin the tasting, at which point we ended up with 2 x Graham. I thought that having something completely random - and unlike anything else - in each vintage might make things more confusing. I guess we'll find out once the results are posted.

1970 expanded for a couple of reasons. There were bottles that people really wanted to bring, plus a bottle that I really wished I could be there to taste (Julian's Kopke Sao Luiz), so I just allowed 1970 to grow larger. A pity. Such a first world problem.

[jdaw1]

plus a bottle that I really wished I could be there to taste (Julian's Kopke Sao Luis), so I just allowed 1970 to grow larger. A pity. Such a first world problem.

There must be a day on which Glenn E. drinks KL70.

[Glenn E.]

plus a bottle that I really wished I could be there to taste (Julian's Kopke Sao Luiz), so I just allowed 1970 to grow larger. A pity. Such a first world problem.

There must be a day on which Glenn E. drinks KL70.

That would be the bottle that created my love of S. Luiz! I've only had a few, but they're always much better than one might expect for a "mere" Kopke VP. Unless, of course, you've had them before. Then your expectations are higher.

I note that the linked thread is for KL70, but my TN is labeled as KL85, but then refers to itself as a 1970. I was not in the habit of carrying a TN notebook with me in those days, so I am unable to double-check to see which is actually correct. I suspect that I assumed that all of the VPs were 1985 (except for the Quevedo), and that Julian's thread title and the internal reference in my TN are the correct vintage.

[jdaw1]

I note that the linked thread is for KL70, but my TN is labeled as KL85, but then refers to itself as a 1970. I was not in the habit of carrying a TN notebook with me in those days, so I am unable to double-check to see which is actually correct. I suspect that I assumed that all of the VPs were 1985 (except for the Quevedo), and that Julian's thread title and the internal reference in my TN are the correct vintage.

I bought seventeen bottles of KL70 at Bonhams, fifteen-ish years ago. I believe that I have never owned KL85.

[idj123]

A gloriously balmy tasting with the majority of ports showing very well. How I managed to make a clean sweep of the 63s and score 5 points overall, heaven only knows! A big thank you to Cliff for providing some fantastic bottles (and for Harry for the idea for the tasting). The jury is out as to whether Taylors exhibits a strawberry taste but heck, who cares when a tasting is this good!

[Glenn E.]

Did anyone keep a record of the votes? Who was the most successful? Which Port was the favorite?

[mcoulson]

All three of the 55's were stunning..... They got all my votes ....