1985 Horizontal - 16 March 2022

[Justin K]

It is with great regret that I am no longer in a position to attend as that is Cheltenham week and I will be otherwise engaged (and since it is the same week every year you would have thought that I would have remembered that). Tighten those bootlaces and take to the field Harry!

[winesecretary]

@ Justin K - I am sorry you will not be with us
@ HTWH - you're in!

[winesecretary]

@ Alex Bridgeman - please could you bring the Warre?

[winesecretary]

@ all (except Alex B, jdaw1, CPR1) While we would welcome 15 ports I do not thing we want to go to 18. Please could you let me know, by PM if preferred, what you have that can fill the gaps or whether you would like to adopt one of the ones I have on hand [or whether you would like to bring one of those yourself rather than adopting].

In terms of those wines I suspect we would most likely enjoy drinking that are not already listed in bold as going to be present, they are presented in roughly declining order of preference.

[Doggett]

I am afraid I will no longer be able to attend, apologies. Rich… enjoy!

[nac]

@ all (except Alex B, jdaw1, CPR1) While we would welcome 15 ports I do not thing we want to go to 18. Please could you let me know, by PM if preferred, what you have that can fill the gaps or whether you would like to adopt one of the ones I have on hand [or whether you would like to bring one of those yourself rather than adopting].

In terms of those wines I suspect we would most likely enjoy drinking that are not already listed in bold as going to be present, they are presented in roughly declining order of preference.

If you want to reduce the number of bottles you're supplying I have plenty of the Churchill. Lots of the Noval. The Fonseca is a recent-ish release from Oporto. Hooper and Royal Oporto are individual bottles, but can't imagine we'll want those anyway. Will provide whatever you need.

[M.Charlton]

@ all (except Alex B, jdaw1, CPR1) While we would welcome 15 ports I do not thing we want to go to 18. Please could you let me know, by PM if preferred, what you have that can fill the gaps or whether you would like to adopt one of the ones I have on hand [or whether you would like to bring one of those yourself rather than adopting].

In terms of those wines I suspect we would most likely enjoy drinking that are not already listed in bold as going to be present, they are presented in roughly declining order of preference.

Please could I adopt, George?

[winesecretary]

@ M.Charlton - yes, adopting is encouraged here. I am arbitrarily assigning you the Gould Campbell (at an equally arbitrary price of £45)

[winesecretary]

@ nac - I am happy to be putting several wines into this - I suspect most will end up being adopted. Please could you bring the Noval?

[winesecretary]

@ Doggett - I am sorry you will not be able to be with us... but work calls I assume. Such is life...

@ rich_n - you're in!

[jdaw1]

Listen. Listen!

An ᴏᴡᴄ of Mz85 is calling to me. If Martinez is a chosen shipper, one of those could be adopted.

[winesecretary]

Currently, Charles is bringing the Martinez. But, I think you should open your case anyway. I had it less than two years back, and it was delicious, and fully ready (albeit I went out and bought a few more bottles immediately). One wouldn't want to let it go over. That would be a shame.

[akzy]

Moving has been tricky for my local port stocks. May I adopt from a kind soul?

[M.Charlton]

@ M.Charlton - yes, adopting is encouraged here. I am arbitrarily assigning you the Gould Campbell (at an equally arbitrary price of £45)

That’s very kind indeed - thank you.

[winesecretary]

@ akzy - of course. Rebello Valente, at an equally arbitrary £45.

[akzy]

@ akzy - of course. Rebello Valente, at an equally arbitrary £45.

Thank you George.

[nac]

@ nac - I am happy to be putting several wines into this - I suspect most will end up being adopted. Please could you bring the Noval?

Done.

[rich_n]

@ Doggett - I am sorry you will not be able to be with us... but work calls I assume. Such is life...

@ rich_n - you're in!

Wonderful! I have the Dow and while that seems a popular option I would rather bring a bottle than adopt if possible.

[winesecretary]

@ rich_n - Dow it is, thank you

[rich_n]

@ rich_n - Dow it is, thank you

Excellent, thanks.

[winesecretary]

Over dinner on 16th February I was warned by those in the know that 1985 was 'dirty' vintage and so we should expect rather higher than usual failure rates. Accordingly I am going to suggest we go for sharing 18 different ports and hoping that 14 or 15 of them will be good.

@ Will W. , Screagle - feel free to bring a second (different) bottle of port for group adoption.

[Glenn E.]

Over dinner on 16th February I was warned by those in the know that 1985 was 'dirty' vintage and so we should expect rather higher than usual failure rates. Accordingly I am going to suggest we go for sharing 18 different ports and hoping that 14 or 15 of them will be good.

I don't recall that many bad bottles at our 1985 horizontal in 2015... one (Hoopers) was very badly corked, and perhaps my overall perception of the event is skewed by that one particular bottle seeming completely out of place, but my memory says there was only the one bad bottle out of ~35. Just a lot of very average Port punctuated by a handful of exceptional bottles.

May your tasting include all of the exceptional bottles, and no bad ones!

[Mike J. W.]

Over dinner on 16th February I was warned by those in the know that 1985 was 'dirty' vintage and so we should expect rather higher than usual failure rates. Accordingly I am going to suggest we go for sharing 18 different ports and hoping that 14 or 15 of them will be good.

I don't recall that many bad bottles at our 1985 horizontal in 2015... one (Hoopers) was very badly corked, and perhaps my overall perception of the event is skewed by that one particular bottle seeming completely out of place, but my memory says there was only the one bad bottle out of ~35. Just a lot of very average Port punctuated by a handful of exceptional bottles.

May your tasting include all of the exceptional bottles, and no bad ones!

35? Was that over 2 days?

[winesecretary]

@ Glenn E. - "May your tasting include all of the exceptional bottles, and no bad ones" is pretty much a perfect benediction for life in general.

[Glenn E.]

35? Was that over 2 days?

Yes, of course, it would take too long to do 35 in one sitting. Best to break up the decanting and pouring over 2 days!

I'm also not sure that we collectively had sufficient glassware at that time for 35 bottles x 14-ish tasters for a single sitting. We do now, but at that time I think we may have only had about 8 cases of glasses (36 glasses per case). I think we now have about 18 total cases amongst the Sammamish Port Club.