1985 30-year retrospective - February 26 - Chicago, IL

[Bryan H.]

I've been offline for a month and missed a bunch on this thread. I'm interested in joining the Feb 26 tasting but need to check to see if the date works for me. Hope I can join!

[Andy Velebil]

Further Tasting Mat discussions have been moved to here.
http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... 6&start=60

[John Danza]

We're up to 9 attendees with Kurt coming up from Indy. It looks like a fun lineup.

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

Placemats updated. (If the image looks old, try force-reloading the page. Which doesn’t work in Tapatalk.)

[John Danza]

Two more added, so we're up to 11. The two new folks are Scott Beilke and his wife Donna Brighton. They are members of the yacht club. Scott runs/coordinates the Wine Club at the yacht club, which holds monthly tastings based on different themes.

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

Placemats updated. (If the image looks old, try force-reloading the page. Which doesn’t work in Tapatalk.)


Currently the Ports are on the page in the same order as in the summary post. Do they want flighting? Should the flights be separated with FlightSeparationLines?

Is the table big enough for, and is there need for, PlaceNames?

Will you PrePour? (Currently included.)

On the vote recorder page, the names are rather long. Should they be abbreviated from the likes of “Dagmara Schusler” to “Dagmara S.”? Just on the v-r pages, or throughout?

Don’t forget to make in advance the decanter labels.

[John Danza]

Placemats updated. (If the image looks old, try force-reloading the page. Which doesn’t work in Tapatalk.)


Currently the Ports are on the page in the same order as in the summary post. Do they want flighting? Should the flights be separated with FlightSeparationLines?

Is the table big enough for, and is there need for, PlaceNames?

Will you PrePour? (Currently included.)

On the vote recorder page, the names are rather long. Should they be abbreviated from the likes of “Dagmara Schusler” to “Dagmara S.”? Just on the v-r pages, or throughout?

Don’t forget to make in advance the decanter labels.

Here are my thoughts, in the order Julian asked the questions. I would like to have input from others who will be attending.

1. I don't think flighting is necessary, per se. We should have rows that are somewhat equal so we can decide that night if we want to address in smaller groupings. But I don't have a pre-conceived grouping in mind.
2. The table will be big enough for place cards. I'll put those together and have them for the evening. Same with name tags, since not everyone will know everyone else.
3. The plan is to pre-pour.
4. First name and last initial is fine if it's more manageable for the paper.
5. I envisioned that everyone would pre-decant their wines prior to bringing them, essentially double decanting them back into the bottle. So we shouldn't need decanter labels.

Attendees, let me know if you think we should do otherwise on any of these. Thanks!

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

1. I don't think flighting is necessary, per se. We should have rows that are somewhat equal so we can decide that night if we want to address in smaller groupings. But I don't have a pre-conceived grouping in mind.

This is worthy of consideration. Some hosts like strict disciplined silence. Not me: I am there for fun, and am willing to chat quietly about the Ports.“There is something in X that I cannot quite place. It isn’t quite lemon-grass: what is it? Help!”

This is helped by us tackling wines in a similar order. So it is worth considering the order of the Ports on the page.

One might choose connected wines together: N with NN. And also together might be D G W V Ck SW QH GC Mz, and also T F Cr, and S SV O Fr. Or one might group together those expected to be weaker (earlier), and (later) those expected to be stronger. Or something. But whatever it is, please tell me.

[Kurt Wieneke]

John,
That sounds good to me. It makes sense to have folks double decant their port back into the bottle (at home or their hotel). These ports being 30 years old, they will get enough airtime in the glass at the tables.

Rgds,
Kurt

[R Smith]

John,
That sounds good to me. It makes sense to have folks double decant their port back into the bottle (at home or their hotel). These ports being 30 years old, they will get enough airtime in the glass at the tables.

Rgds,
Kurt

That sounds good! Double decanting beforehand works fine for me.

[A dschus]

1. I don't think flighting is necessary, per se. We should have rows that are somewhat equal so we can decide that night if we want to address in smaller groupings. But I don't have a pre-conceived grouping in mind.

This is worthy of consideration. Some hosts like strict disciplined silence. Not me: I am there for fun, and am willing to chat quietly about the Ports.“There is something in X that I cannot quite place. It isn’t quite lemon-grass: what is it? Help!”

This is helped by us tackling wines in a similar order. So it is worth considering the order of the Ports on the page.

One might choose connected wines together: N with NN. And also together might be D G W V Ck SW QH GC Mz, and also T F Cr, and S SV O Fr. Or one might group together those expected to be weaker (earlier), and (later) those expected to be stronger. Or something. But whatever it is, please tell me.

I think a random selection (you can decide, Julian) on the placemat is the best option. I don't want to be swayed if they are presumed to be the 'best' or 'worst' of the bunch.

I am there for fun, too, and to learn. Everyone has different tastebuds so will be fun to hear what people think about each.

[John Danza]

Just doing a bump here to let everyone know we still have 5 open slots for this tasting on February 26. It should be a fun and interesting learning experience.

If anyone has any questions, please reach out to me.

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

Placemats updated.

[Roy Hersh]

Thanks Julian!

Wish I could make this tasting, but I can't miss this year of the Vancouver International Wine Festival, as FTLOP has a "lot" in their Gala auction.

Have fun ... John will provide a great degree of expertise.

[John Danza]

Thanks Julian!

Wish I could make this tasting, but I can't miss this year of the Vancouver International Wine Festival, as FTLOP has a "lot" in their Gala auction.

Have fun ... John will provide a great degree of expertise.

Sorry you can't make it Roy. We'll make sure to take good notes and post on the Board.

Thank you for the kind words as well.

[Glenn E.]

I checked flights just for fun... much too expensive. Have a great tasting!

[A dschus]

Thanks Julian!

Wish I could make this tasting, but I can't miss this year of the Vancouver International Wine Festival, as FTLOP has a "lot" in their Gala auction.

Have fun ... John will provide a great degree of expertise.

Yes, thank you, Roy! It's been fun working with Julian and John.

I will take pictures of the event and post on here. Looking forward to Friday.

[John Danza]

Unfortunately Brian C. had to cancel at the last moment due to illness. However, my wife Jan will step in to participate with a bottle of Fonseca, so we're still at 9 tasters with the same bottles as earlier. Looking forward to seeing you all on Friday night!

[Kurt Wieneke]

Really great night at the 1985 Horizontal. Kudos to John for organizing and hosting the tasting.

I will post notes soon. My top 3 were Dow, Fonseca, Kopke in that order. The Dow was very chameleon-like and had nice glass evolution all night long. Very complex and giving.

[A dschus]

Really great night at the 1985 Horizontal. Kudos to John for organizing and hosting the tasting.

I will post notes soon. My top 3 were Dow, Fonseca, Kopke in that order. The Dow was very chameleon-like and had nice glass evolution all night long. Very complex and giving.

Absolutely, Kurt. It was great meeting you. As beginner tasters, Dagmara and I really valued your input. I'll work with John to make sure this is an annual thing.