40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

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John Danza
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40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by John Danza »

Wow, I can't believe it's been 40 years already since the heralded 1977 vintage. So it's time to do a tasting to see how they are doing.

Where: Columbia Yacht Club, 111 N. Lake Shore Dr. Chicago
Time: 7:30 (after dinner). There will be cheeses and sweets for pairing with the port
Wine handling: If at all possible, please decant the wine prior to the tasting so that the wine shows it's best. Decanting 4-6 hours ahead should be fine for the 1977 vintage.
Program: I'm thinking that we will taste in flights and discuss the wines after each flight. I'm open to suggestions.

Here's who we have so far:

Definitely will attend
John Danza - Fonseca
Jan Danza - Dow
Ryan Smith - Ferreira
Chris Koetke - Warre
Ramona Koetke - Gould Campbell
Neil Fine - Taylor
Kevin Bratt - Grahams
Joe Glunz Jr. - Offley
Glenn Elliot - Quarles Harris
Brad Bogdan - Niepoort
Tian Lewis - Delaforce
Roy Hersh - Smith Woodhouse



If anyone would like to attend, please either PM me or reply to this thread. If we can't get 16 different producers represented, I'm certainly fine with having two different bottles of the same wine so we can compare/contrast. This should be a fun time, so I hope you can make it.
Last edited by John Danza on Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:08 pm, edited 14 times in total.
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Glenn E.
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by Glenn E. »

Hi John,

I'd like to reserve a spot. I won't know for sure until closer to the date whether or not I can take a day off to fly to Chicago, but I think it's likely. I can bring a Quarles Harris. I might also have a Dow, but I'll have to dig around in my fridges to find out for sure.
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John Danza
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by John Danza »

Glenn E. wrote:Hi John,

I'd like to reserve a spot. I won't know for sure until closer to the date whether or not I can take a day off to fly to Chicago, but I think it's likely. I can bring a Quarles Harris. I might also have a Dow, but I'll have to dig around in my fridges to find out for sure.
Hi Glenn,

I've added you to the list with the Quarles Harris. As we get closer, if I get close to the 16 with folks who are "for sure", I'll reach out to you to see if your plans look clearer.

BTW, one of the guys coming is "in the business" having to do with Sake, so he's probably going to do a Sake tasting the next day. Just thought I would mention that in case it helps to influence your plans. :wink:
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by Bradley Bogdan »

I'd love to reserve a spot, I can provide a Niepoort '77.


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Eric Menchen
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by Eric Menchen »

I'm in Glenn's boat. Besides those listed, I have Croft, Gould Campbell, and Smith Woodhouse.

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John Danza
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by John Danza »

Bradley Bogdan wrote:I'd love to reserve a spot, I can provide a Niepoort '77.
That's great Brad. I've added you to the list. Thanks!
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by John Danza »

Eric Menchen wrote:I'm in Glenn's boat. Besides those listed, I have Croft, Gould Campbell, and Smith Woodhouse.
Hi Eric,

I've created a "May attend" list, putting you and Glenn on it. I hope you can make it. If we get close to the 16 total, I'll reach out to you to see if you can confirm your attendance.

I've put you down for the Gould Campbell.

Thanks.
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by Bradley Bogdan »

If I could add Tian Lewis to the list, he's going to come with me as well. He'll be hunting for a '77 to bring.


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John Danza
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by John Danza »

Bradley Bogdan wrote:If I could add Tian Lewis to the list, he's going to come with me as well. He'll be hunting for a '77 to bring.


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You bet Brad. I'll add him to the list.
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by John Danza »

I'm giving this a bump since it's been a couple of months since I started organizing this. See the first post to see what we have so far:

Please shoot me a message back channel to let me know you're still on for the tasting. If you would like to attend, there are six openings, so I would love to have you join the fun. You just need to respond to me that you'll be there and what wine you'll be bringing.

My thoughts on the timing that evening is that we'll start around 7:30 or so. That way everyone will have time to get some dinner before coming out to the yacht club. I'm planning on having a few cheeses and port-friendly sweets for everyone so we can try the ports with some food.
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John Danza
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by John Danza »

I'm giving this one last bump to see if there's anyone who would like to attend this tasting in Chicago. I have 3-4 openings left. The first post is up to date on the wines that will be there. I've also updated the first post with the logistics of the tasting.

Please let me know if you can attend. It should be fun!
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by Bryan H. »

I would love to attend, but it looks like I will be out of town that weekend.
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by John Danza »

Updated the list to show Roy Hersh attending with a Smith Woodhouse. We're at 12 right now, so there's 4 spots remaining in case anyone can make it.
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by John Danza »

Updated to show Tian is bringing a Delaforce to the party.
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by Glenn E. »

Thanks, John, for organizing a great event!

It was a whirlwind trip for me - literally only 20 hours in Chicago, 2 of which were spent commuting - but worth the effort. The Columbia Yacht Club is a great venue - it's on a ship! Very attentive staff and the room was plenty large for our group. Unfortunately for my Quarles Harris, my flight was quite late and so I didn't arrive at the venue to decant it until right at 7:30... start time. And compounding the issue, the QH was the first wine tasted. D'ohh! Pop-n-pour 40-yr old VP!

My wine of the night, and the group's, was the Fonseca. And while it was excellent, I didn't think it showed as well as it can. That seemed to hold true throughout the tasting, though, as none of the bottles were truly singing. The QH did get better as the night progressed, but never reached the level I've experienced with it before.

A fun contrast - we had both a Taylor Fladgate and a Taylor (Porto, not NY). The US-labeled Taylor Fladgate was off, though. Possibly slightly oxidized, possibly slightly heat damaged... possibly slightly both. It clearly wasn't right. The non-US labeled Taylor, though, was in fine shape and gave the Fonseca a run for its money.

I think John is going to be doing a writeup for the newsletter, so I won't say more.

[foilhat.gif]
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John Danza
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by John Danza »

Glenn E. wrote:Thanks, John, for organizing a great event!

It was a whirlwind trip for me - literally only 20 hours in Chicago, 2 of which were spent commuting - but worth the effort. The Columbia Yacht Club is a great venue - it's on a ship! Very attentive staff and the room was plenty large for our group. Unfortunately for my Quarles Harris, my flight was quite late and so I didn't arrive at the venue to decant it until right at 7:30... start time. And compounding the issue, the QH was the first wine tasted. D'ohh! Pop-n-pour 40-yr old VP!

My wine of the night, and the group's, was the Fonseca. And while it was excellent, I didn't think it showed as well as it can. That seemed to hold true throughout the tasting, though, as none of the bottles were truly singing. The QH did get better as the night progressed, but never reached the level I've experienced with it before.

A fun contrast - we had both a Taylor Fladgate and a Taylor (Porto, not NY). The US-labeled Taylor Fladgate was off, though. Possibly slightly oxidized, possibly slightly heat damaged... possibly slightly both. It clearly wasn't right. The non-US labeled Taylor, though, was in fine shape and gave the Fonseca a run for its money.

I think John is going to be doing a writeup for the newsletter, so I won't say more.

[foilhat.gif]
I did do an article which I sent to Roy to publish at his pleasure. It was a fantastic evening. I really appreciated everyone's involvement.
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by Roy Hersh »

Awesome event, and one of the most fun venues I've ever been at to drink Port wine, but were we on the port side of the ship?

John's report will be forthcoming in 3 ... 2 ...
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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John Danza
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by John Danza »

Roy Hersh wrote:Awesome event, and one of the most fun venues I've ever been at to drink Port wine, but were we on the port side of the ship?
We were in the center of the ship, towards the front, in the room called The Board Room. It's great for luncheons and wine tastings. Anytime you're looking to hold a tasting in the middle of the country, let me know and we can try to work it out there.

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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by Roy Hersh »

John, your article on this event turned out amazingly well. I can't wait for you to see it later tonight, or more than likely tomorrow. It is outstanding and others are going to love the read. This is something to be proud of. I for one, definitely see FTLOP utilizing that awesome venue for other tastings, maybe making it an annual event in the middle of the country.

Thanks again, :scholar:

Roy
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Re: 40-year retrospective: Tasting the 1977 vintage in Chicago - November 3, 2017

Post by Glenn E. »

John Danza wrote:I did do an article which I sent to Roy to publish at his pleasure. It was a fantastic evening. I really appreciated everyone's involvement.
Great job with the article, John! Fun read!
Glenn Elliott
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