ThePortForum.com

EDIT: Please note the new date of the 13th May for this event

Another tasting from the folk at Vintage Wine and Port.
Who thinks they are the best port blender? See below for their details...

Quevedo Taste at Home - Blend Your Own 20 Year Old Tawny - Online Tutored Tasting

Buy the pack and follow the tasting on You Tube Live on the 13th May 2021 at 7pm
Maximum two packs per household

We have again teamed up with Oscar Quevedo to bring you a Taste At Home Blend Your Own 20 Year Old Tawny tasting experience on YouTube Live. This is our most ambitious and fun tasting yet!

Oscar will introduce his family winery and lead you through a tutorial on how to blend a 20 year old Tawny port. You will have the same 4 components that Claudia uses to make their award winning 20 year old Tawny. Can you do better? Make up your blend under Oscars guidance and compare with their final blend

The pack contains 90ml sample bottles of:
- four components used to make up a 20 Year Old Tawny
- The final blend - Quevedo's 20 Year Tawny

We only have 90 packs available and our recent tastings have sold out.

https://www.vintagewineandport.co.uk/pr ... do-30000-2

I wonder if Tony has a special link for TPF members again? I think the last couple he has but I've not seen him on here for a while.

Hi Rich
I'm trying to cut down on the drinking mid-week so have missed some of the virtual tastings. Best price for this (and the Grahams) is the one on the web - its more of a promo thing - so the margins are quite small. Simon has beaten me again to listing on the thread. There are only 90 packs this time as Oscar and I planned this some months ago when restrictions were lifting.

forest26 wrote:Hi Rich
I'm trying to cut down on the drinking mid-week so have missed some of the virtual tastings. Best price for this (and the Grahams) is the one on the web - its more of a promo thing - so the margins are quite small. Simon has beaten me again to listing on the thread. There are only 90 packs this time as Oscar and I planned this some months ago when restrictions were lifting.

Good to know, I went and found it after posting and realised it was already good value. Haven't put an order in but will almost certainly this evening while we're on the virtual tasting.

What a fun idea! Looking forward to attending.

This is a great idea. Thank you for sorting it out. I think I have already persuaded a few friends to buy a pack.

At some stage someone should twist Oscar’s arm to do another round of blend-your-own Vintage Port!

Ordered and very much looking forward to.

I've ordered this so I'll be on the main tasting and then keen to join for a post-tasting-tasting if others are able to.

Please note the new date for this event. At the time of posting there are just 21 of the packs left available for this event.

Sorry - looks like we will have to move this again!!!!

Oscar had them ready at end of Feb but we have have been let down by our shipper bringing this over. I was hoping that they would arrive this week but customs clearance on all inbound duty goods is taking some time.

Will advise when we have something concrete.

Hi Simon
Can you please edit the header in the thread to reflect the new date Thursday 13/5/2021 @ 7pm
(they are finally here!)

Edit, jdaw1: done.

Tawny is drunk at about 6°C. At what temperature should it be blended?

Also, FTR, placemat.

Thank you for the placemats. I shall print and use one.

Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑13:18 Sun 09 May 2021Thank you for the placemats. I shall print and use one.

There should be one in the rectangular box in which the samples came.

jdaw1 wrote:

Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑13:18 Sun 09 May 2021Thank you for the placemats. I shall print and use one.

There should be one in the rectangular box in which the samples came.

Worth repeating - I only discovered the placemat in my second pack of Graham's SHT tasting having missed it in the first as it was so well tucked round in the bottom that it neither came out with the packing and ports, nor noticeable that there was anything further inside.

I’ve not unpacked my samples yet. I will do so after I finish eating and check.

Found the placemats! Thanks for pointing them out to me.

jdaw1 wrote: ↑18:26 Sat 08 May 2021 Tawny is drunk at about 6°C. At what temperature should it be blended?

Good point Julian! 6ºC seems too low for drinking. However, not for blending. Being alcohol very volatile, the lower the temperature at blending the less alcohol is lost with the process. So less need of further aditions of aguardente to correct the level of alcohol prior to bottling.

oscar quevedo wrote:

jdaw1 wrote: ↑18:26 Sat 08 May 2021 Tawny is drunk at about 6°C. At what temperature should it be blended?

Good point Julian! 6ºC seems too low for drinking. However, not for blending. Being alcohol very volatile, the lower the temperature at blending the less alcohol is lost with the process. So less need of further aditions of aguardente to correct the level of alcohol prior to bottling.

Wow, Did not know that. Thanks.

jdaw1 wrote:Tawny is drunk at about 6°C.

No wonder you Brits don't like Tawny Port, you drink it too cold!

Tawny Port is best from slightly chilled to just below room temperature. Cellar temp is the low end of the range. If I'm doing the conversion correctly, I believe it should be drunk between 12°C and 16°C.

6°C is dramatically too cold.

Ooh, I might have the temperature of the wrong fridge. The new fridge is complicated. Sorry.

But, by chance, that is the temp at which to blend. I did not know that.

jdaw1 wrote: ↑10:47 Tue 11 May 2021The new fridge is complicated.

That sounds like something I'd expect my parents to say, not something I ever expected to hear from Julian - I dread to think what features and level of complexity the fridge must be capable of.
Perhaps it's an iFridge, only allowing you to place approved items within and operating at whatever temperatures it decides, which it might change over time to increase life of the product life, if not the contents. If it ever offers to play a "nice game of chess" then run!

I find 6ºC even too cold for light-bodied white table wines (too many scents are lost, in my opinion; I like 7/8ºC), let alone tawny Port.

PhilW wrote: ↑13:46 Tue 11 May 2021I dread to think what features and level of complexity the fridge must be capable of.

It’s terrible: when I’m not looking, it drinks my tawnies and whites.

oscar quevedo wrote:

jdaw1 wrote: ↑18:26 Sat 08 May 2021 Tawny is drunk at about 6°C. At what temperature should it be blended?

Good point Julian! 6ºC seems too low for drinking. However, not for blending. Being alcohol very volatile, the lower the temperature at blending the less alcohol is lost with the process. So less need of further aditions of aguardente to correct the level of alcohol prior to bottling.

Oscar, would you suggest this is necessary for this blending or are you referring to blending in general? I can either cellar cool or fridge cool the components, whichever is preferable for the session.

I assume blending in general (in the winery). The quantities you'll be handling are so small (in terms of surface area and time of exposure) that the evaporation can be regarded as negligible (unless you leave them exposed to air for a very, very long time).

rich_n wrote: ↑12:11 Wed 12 May 2021Oscar, would you suggest this is necessary for this blending or are you referring to blending in general? I can either cellar cool or fridge cool the components, whichever is preferable for the session.

I suspect Oscar was referring to the lower temperature for the actual blending of large quantities of the wine (to minimise lose while mixing) rather than while tasting/mixing samples. For sample-bottles I usually keep them in the fridge 6-8C (rather than cellar) before the tasting, and then take them out and pour into glass 10mins before, which means they're probably at 10-12C at the start of the tasting, but they'll rise to room temp fairly quickly.

rich_n wrote: ↑12:11 Wed 12 May 2021 Oscar, would you suggest this is necessary for this blending or are you referring to blending in general? I can either cellar cool or fridge cool the components, whichever is preferable for the session.

Hi Rich, I mean for blending at the winery. For our excercise tomorrow the evaporations will be minimal.

oscar quevedo wrote:

rich_n wrote: ↑12:11 Wed 12 May 2021 Oscar, would you suggest this is necessary for this blending or are you referring to blending in general? I can either cellar cool or fridge cool the components, whichever is preferable for the session.

Hi Rich, I mean for blending at the winery. For our excercise tomorrow the evaporations will be minimal.

Great, that's what I'd assumed but wanted to be sure. Looking forward to the session, thanks for the response!

What a great tasting! Spoilers if you intend on catching up on YouTube and haven’t yet. Really interesting to do something slightly unusual and a lot was learnt along the way. The four components were all lovely wines, albeit quite different. Component 1 was a 1997 Colheita, quite Ruby like as it was aged in a much larger wooden vessel than component 3. Component 2 was a base 20YO blend to deliver the consistency across the years, it was much lighter in body with more volitile acidity. Component 3 was a 2003 Colheita that was stunning on its own with More tawny like characteristics than the ‘97 as it was aged in a smaller 550l barrel, very fresh, great body and layers of flavour. The final component (4) was a 70s blend of years under times between 1970 and 1975 that probably included white grapes in the field blend. This was another lovely wine. Crystal clear, lovely heat and acidity and loads of complexity and flavour.

The effect of the wood ageing in different sized barrels was really interesting and not something I had considered before. It was also both fun and interesting to guess at the percentages of the varying components that would be required to deliver the Final 20YO blend that we were also lucky enough to enjoy a bottle of. Oscar and Fred delivered a fun and engaging presentation as always and Tony and The VWP team a great job in making it all possible. All samples were in the now preferred minimum tasting sample size of 9cl and all of my samples were crystal clear and in great condition. On the night I marginally preferred component 4 but the next day with the final ‘dribbles’ the 2003 was showing wonderfully and is a port I hope to seek out. Thanks again to all for a great tasting/evening.