A couple of weeks ago I got a message from StevieCage saying he'd be in London. With the parks patrolled by the police that arrest and beat-up wine-imbibers, we decided that it was the Crusting Pipe again.
Those present: StevieCage, KillerB, Al-B and Chris G (from FTLOP), Ian Wright (Covvie kid manager of the Crusting Pipe), Ilya (spelling Stevie) and Beth (two more of Stevie's posse of London female friends).
The theme tended towards the "What have I got in my pocketses?" and was a giggle.
Podere La Vigne - Vigna do Tavola, NV
This was me starting things off in style with a Montalcino-based sangiovese wine from Podere, a Brunello producer. I think that it is a 2005 but that was due to a clue on the label. What it definitely is, is over-production wines bottled up and flogged cheap. It was medium dark-cherry red, consistent, so very young. Nose was a bit closed but I could pick up some cherry. In the mouth it was a delight - rich tannins, dark fruits and a bit of pencil-lead. Very elegant, very young and the conclusion was that it would be ready in about four or five years, suggesting it was made as Rosso di Montalcino. Astonishing value.
Eadie's High Class (or something like that) Port NV
I had to decant mine to keep it anonymous, Al-B managed to keep it anonymous with the label on. Sadly, it had stirred up on his walk through London's west-end and was distinctly cloudy. Decanting removed a lot of sludge through a filter but it was still murky. Bottle was old-fashioned and brown and the cork said nothing. Al-B assures me that it was not his Aunt Eadie's Port.
Colour was very pale, like a dry Sherry. Nose was of cooked fruits with a thick sweetness and little alcohol. It was actually very nice, sweet with a dryness at the back. Conclusion was that it was a very old Ruby but we couldn't determine a real producer. I thought it may have been an LBV due to an oxidised taste but nobody else was having it. Very funny.
Niepoort Projectos Riesling 2004
Identified as an Old World Riesling not from Germany very quickly. As Stevie had just come back from Portugal, I suggested Portuguese and 2-3 years old. I remain very proud.
This is one of Niepoort's projects and making Riesling on the Douro may seem a tragedy but it isn't.
Genuinely excellent Riesling of a style I really enjoy. It is not the Germanic power-house type nor the Australian fruity style but something more subtle. Stevie donated another of these to my cellar and I am very grateful.
Campbell's Isabella Tokay
My winnings from Aussie for the Ashes of 2005. This was not tasted blind as I'd already revealed it.
Well, I didn't expect that!
A fairly severe-looking Victorian woman on the front and a half bottle, I presumed that I was getting something similar to a Tokaji Aszu or even Essencia - nope. This is more like a PX but made from 100% Muscadelle.
Very dark and thick it had treacle on the nose and in the mouth with a massive compote of dark fruit and oranges and a big bar of dark chocolate at the end. Absolutely astonishing. Despite the fact that everybody loved it, with seven people and only a half, its density proved to difficult to finish and I had to polish it off on the train with a guy called Walter.
I hate calling WOTN on a bottle that I brought but as it was provided by Aussie I cannot really claim credit - Thanks mate, this was stunning.
Fonseca Vintage Port 1980
Bought from the cellars at the Crusting Pipe, I have a bottle at home.
Basically this isn't like Fonseca. It's far too light for such a young one and I could get no flowers, but could get the coffee at the back. It's not that this is bad Port, it's just not Fonseca-ish. Drinking very well now, probably at its best, it is very enjoyable. A Port that you would enjoy of a night and completely forget what it was like two days later when you are writing tasting notes from your head.
Dow Vintage Port 1970
Chris G bought this from the Crusting Pipe's cellars as his contribution. Al-B knew what it was so Stevie and I went out to guess it. Quickly came to the conclusion that it was either Taylor's or Dow's due to the dryness at the back of the palate. I put a guess on 1985 Quinta da Vargellas as I knew they had it there. Stevie went for Dow 1983, which I disagreed with as I'd had it recently and this was much better. The youthfulness blew it for both of us.
We'd had this two years ago at Berry Brothers and Rudd, it was excellent then, it is excellent now.
Ian dropped the corkage for us and was an excellent host, as always.
Multi: Off-line at the Crusting Pipe
Moderators: Glenn E., Andy Velebil
-
Andy Velebil
- Posts: 16808
- Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:49 pm
- Location: Los Angeles, California, United States of America - USA
- Contact:
Alex, killerB, mysterious person, whoever you are 
Sounds like a fun evening and it is great to see more and more of the FTLOP members getting together from time to time to share some Port and enjoy each others nerdy Port conversations 
Hopefully sometime in the not to distant future we can meet up and share some bottles.
Sounds like a fun evening and it is great to see more and more of the FTLOP members getting together from time to time to share some Port and enjoy each others nerdy Port conversations Hopefully sometime in the not to distant future we can meet up and share some bottles.Andy Velebil Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. William Shakespeare http://www.fortheloveofport.com
It was fun on Friday night to meet up with Alex K, Stevie K, Christopher G and Ian Wright at the Crusted Pipe to celebrate Stevie K visiting the UK. We had an extremely enjoyable evening and I would like to express my thanks to everyone for making it such a fun time.
We tried some wines that I would never have tried otherwise and some ports that I was delighted to have the opportunity to try again. My views on the wines we tried were as follows:
Podere La Vigne - Vigna do Tavola, NV
This was a declassified Montalcino Rosso from Podere that Alex K managed to procure a case of. I don’t presume to be able to write tasting notes on table wines but this was an extremely attractive nose, full of fruit. In the mouth it changed a huge amount over the 5 hours that we were together, ending up with a very sweet entry, full of ripe fruit and with an impressive tannic structure that secures its future for many years.
Niepoort Projectos 2004 Riesling
Stevie K’s contribution. A delightful Riesling with a very attractive nose. In the mouth it was delicate and floral, with none of the punch or overly heavyweight attack sometimes found in “serious” Riesling. Excellent wine (and a surprisingly good match to Rich Chocolate Truffle Cake – bringing out the bitterness of the dark chocolate amazingly well).
James Eadie Reserve Douro Port
This is a port that I acquired from a house clearance sale. Unknown provenance, unknown storage conditions, unknown age and unknown type. It was light and delicate, distinctly orange in colour and bringing caramelized oranges to the nose. In the mouth it echoed the caramelized orange but also had other tones of brown sugar and treacle. The aftertaste was not great. The conclusion that (most of us) came to was that this was probably a Ruby or Reserve style port, bottled around the beginning of the 1950’s. It held together amazingly well and was still drinking very enjoyably 5 hours later, despite the company it kept. Rating this as if it were a Vintage Port, I would give it 87/100 or 2/0. Beatiful, delicate and ethereal and not disgraced by its context.
Isabella Tokay by Campbell NV
An Aussie stickie. Stunningly dark, mahogany brown almost black. This was like drinking treacle but with so much more going on in it – dried figs, raisins, dried apricots, prunes, chocolate, coffee, I could go on but you get the idea. Astonishing wine and so serious that 7 of us failed to finish a half bottle. Unique perhaps. A great wine but most definitely not a quaffing wine.
Fonseca 1980
Very pale rose colour when first opened and darkened nicely over the next 1-2 hours. Closed nose (probably because it was just opened) and very sweet into the mouth, dominated by raspberries to my taste. This particular wine generated lots of discussion with Alex K, who felt that it was not “a Fonseca wine”. We agreed that it was not a burly as a normal Fonseca, but I felt that there were enough of the floral, daisy flower and coffee aftertaste notes to convince me it was a Fonseca even if it did not show in a typical fashion. 87/100 or 3/3.
Dow 1970
Christopher’s contribution. A serious and heavyweight wine. I knew the Crusting Pipe wine list so it wasn’t fair for me to try to guess the wine when Christopher poured it. Stevie and Alex got the Dow part right but went for a wine from the early ‘80s rather than a 1970. This bottle was surprisingly dark and showed very well. It was full of stewed fruit on the nose and absolutely filled the mouth when sipped. The aftertaste was very respectable, full of mild milk chocolate. However, this was not as impressive as I have known in the past. 88/100 or 4/5.
Vargellas 1995
How could Alex forget this wine? Christopher’s second bottle and one which I have tried several times in the recent past and didn’t get the chance to try on this occasion. However, I did take the remains of the bottle home with me and put it in the fridge. On Sunday night I drank the remains and was very impressed. Black as bootstraps but a nose just overflowing with blackberries. Very structured in the mouth, lots of sweet fruit initially and plenty of tannins showing firmly but gently in the mid palate. A decent aftertaste, with a good range of flavours and lasting a nice time. This will be really good in 10 years. 88/100 or 4/6.
Thanks to Alex K for organising the evening and for making the trek down from Coventry to London and to Stevie for giving up part of his long weekend to meet with us. It was a great way to spend a Friday night.
Alex
We tried some wines that I would never have tried otherwise and some ports that I was delighted to have the opportunity to try again. My views on the wines we tried were as follows:
Podere La Vigne - Vigna do Tavola, NV
This was a declassified Montalcino Rosso from Podere that Alex K managed to procure a case of. I don’t presume to be able to write tasting notes on table wines but this was an extremely attractive nose, full of fruit. In the mouth it changed a huge amount over the 5 hours that we were together, ending up with a very sweet entry, full of ripe fruit and with an impressive tannic structure that secures its future for many years.
Niepoort Projectos 2004 Riesling
Stevie K’s contribution. A delightful Riesling with a very attractive nose. In the mouth it was delicate and floral, with none of the punch or overly heavyweight attack sometimes found in “serious” Riesling. Excellent wine (and a surprisingly good match to Rich Chocolate Truffle Cake – bringing out the bitterness of the dark chocolate amazingly well).
James Eadie Reserve Douro Port
This is a port that I acquired from a house clearance sale. Unknown provenance, unknown storage conditions, unknown age and unknown type. It was light and delicate, distinctly orange in colour and bringing caramelized oranges to the nose. In the mouth it echoed the caramelized orange but also had other tones of brown sugar and treacle. The aftertaste was not great. The conclusion that (most of us) came to was that this was probably a Ruby or Reserve style port, bottled around the beginning of the 1950’s. It held together amazingly well and was still drinking very enjoyably 5 hours later, despite the company it kept. Rating this as if it were a Vintage Port, I would give it 87/100 or 2/0. Beatiful, delicate and ethereal and not disgraced by its context.
Isabella Tokay by Campbell NV
An Aussie stickie. Stunningly dark, mahogany brown almost black. This was like drinking treacle but with so much more going on in it – dried figs, raisins, dried apricots, prunes, chocolate, coffee, I could go on but you get the idea. Astonishing wine and so serious that 7 of us failed to finish a half bottle. Unique perhaps. A great wine but most definitely not a quaffing wine.
Fonseca 1980
Very pale rose colour when first opened and darkened nicely over the next 1-2 hours. Closed nose (probably because it was just opened) and very sweet into the mouth, dominated by raspberries to my taste. This particular wine generated lots of discussion with Alex K, who felt that it was not “a Fonseca wine”. We agreed that it was not a burly as a normal Fonseca, but I felt that there were enough of the floral, daisy flower and coffee aftertaste notes to convince me it was a Fonseca even if it did not show in a typical fashion. 87/100 or 3/3.
Dow 1970
Christopher’s contribution. A serious and heavyweight wine. I knew the Crusting Pipe wine list so it wasn’t fair for me to try to guess the wine when Christopher poured it. Stevie and Alex got the Dow part right but went for a wine from the early ‘80s rather than a 1970. This bottle was surprisingly dark and showed very well. It was full of stewed fruit on the nose and absolutely filled the mouth when sipped. The aftertaste was very respectable, full of mild milk chocolate. However, this was not as impressive as I have known in the past. 88/100 or 4/5.
Vargellas 1995
How could Alex forget this wine? Christopher’s second bottle and one which I have tried several times in the recent past and didn’t get the chance to try on this occasion. However, I did take the remains of the bottle home with me and put it in the fridge. On Sunday night I drank the remains and was very impressed. Black as bootstraps but a nose just overflowing with blackberries. Very structured in the mouth, lots of sweet fruit initially and plenty of tannins showing firmly but gently in the mid palate. A decent aftertaste, with a good range of flavours and lasting a nice time. This will be really good in 10 years. 88/100 or 4/6.
Thanks to Alex K for organising the evening and for making the trek down from Coventry to London and to Stevie for giving up part of his long weekend to meet with us. It was a great way to spend a Friday night.
Alex
-
Steven Kooij
- Posts: 406
- Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2005 2:10 am
- Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Just got home from London! What a great offline - nice Ports, but even nicer people. And what a great location The Crusting Pipe is! Both Ilja and Beth enjoyed their short visit as well. I'll chime in with some of my impressions later this week, but let me just say that I enjoyed it to the max. KillerB: the Stilton survived the trip back home and is resting safely in the fridge in Amsterdam! Thanks again.
What a great venue (only been there once but really enjoyed the unique "tunnel" we were in) and the place where I first met a large group of the FTLOP contingent for a memorable comparative tasting in early Nov. 2005. Believe it or not, it was only my 2nd time ever, in London.
The tasting you gents had sounds like a lot of fun. Just curious why you did not bring in your own bottles of VP as it seems most were purchased there at the Crusted Pipe?
I was not as generous with the Niepoort Riesling and maybe I need to try that again. OTOH, I have liked the 1995 Vargellas considerably more (regular bottling) than the report above. Regardless, it is great to see that our friends from The Netherlands were treated well in London and I am thrilled to hear that Christopher Gee got back into socializing around Port. It was a true pleasure to see him and drink a few Ports with him last month.
I look forward to seeing London again this October AND drinking some great young Ports together with FTLOPers!
The tasting you gents had sounds like a lot of fun. Just curious why you did not bring in your own bottles of VP as it seems most were purchased there at the Crusted Pipe?
I was not as generous with the Niepoort Riesling and maybe I need to try that again. OTOH, I have liked the 1995 Vargellas considerably more (regular bottling) than the report above. Regardless, it is great to see that our friends from The Netherlands were treated well in London and I am thrilled to hear that Christopher Gee got back into socializing around Port. It was a true pleasure to see him and drink a few Ports with him last month.
I look forward to seeing London again this October AND drinking some great young Ports together with FTLOPers!
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
-
Ronald Wortel
- Posts: 889
- Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2005 3:45 pm
- Location: New Plymouth, New Zealand
Good to see you've taken good care of Stevie while he was on the loose in London. No better way to keep him off the streets than shoving a bottle of port under his nose!
It's almost certain that LadyR and I will be in London somewhere mid-July. I'll keep you posted on exact dates, because I definitely want to have an offline somewhere sometime!
It's almost certain that LadyR and I will be in London somewhere mid-July. I'll keep you posted on exact dates, because I definitely want to have an offline somewhere sometime!
Its also true that Alex K interpreted the definition of "Port Offline" quite liberally and brought an unfortified Italian Vino do Tavola and an Aussie late harvest sticky.
Stevie brought the Projectos as a port would probably have been shaken up too much. But that was a Douro wine so that just about fitted into an FTLOP offline.
Actually, we never said it was going to be a port offline its just that Christopher and I managed to keep the wine / port balance between us.
Buying the ports at the Crusting Pipe also makes Ian (the manager there) very happy, which means that he treats us very well when we turn up next time.
Ronnie, Roy - when you know the dates of your visits to London, pass them on and we'll see what we can arrange. The more notice you can give us the more possibility of pulling in a crowd for you.
Interesting comment from Roy on the Vargellas '95. I scored that relatively low - 88/100 - as it was pleasant but not great, slightly below average today on Tom's scale. However, I am convinced that it has the fruit and the structure to be much, much better than this. In 10 years I think it will be above average (the 6 on Tom's scoring scale), but this may be pessimistic nor does it reflect whether the wine will continue to improve even after 2017 and maybe reach a 7 or 8. My 88 was based on the pleasure of drinking the Vargellas '95 today. There are a lot of wines that I would prefer to drink today than this, but equally I would be very happy to have a case of these stashed away somewhere cool and dark so that they can mature undisturbed for a decade.
Alex
Stevie brought the Projectos as a port would probably have been shaken up too much. But that was a Douro wine so that just about fitted into an FTLOP offline.
Actually, we never said it was going to be a port offline its just that Christopher and I managed to keep the wine / port balance between us.
Buying the ports at the Crusting Pipe also makes Ian (the manager there) very happy, which means that he treats us very well when we turn up next time.
Ronnie, Roy - when you know the dates of your visits to London, pass them on and we'll see what we can arrange. The more notice you can give us the more possibility of pulling in a crowd for you.
Interesting comment from Roy on the Vargellas '95. I scored that relatively low - 88/100 - as it was pleasant but not great, slightly below average today on Tom's scale. However, I am convinced that it has the fruit and the structure to be much, much better than this. In 10 years I think it will be above average (the 6 on Tom's scoring scale), but this may be pessimistic nor does it reflect whether the wine will continue to improve even after 2017 and maybe reach a 7 or 8. My 88 was based on the pleasure of drinking the Vargellas '95 today. There are a lot of wines that I would prefer to drink today than this, but equally I would be very happy to have a case of these stashed away somewhere cool and dark so that they can mature undisturbed for a decade.
Alex
-
Steven Kooij
- Posts: 406
- Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2005 2:10 am
- Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
I did not take notes on the wines, but here are my brief impressions on them:
Podere La Vigne - Vigna do Tavola, NV – great wine at a great price. I’ve already checked, but this in unfortunately not available here.
Niepoort Projectos 2004 Riesling – I was actually pleasantly surprised by this bottle. The ’04 has always seemed a bit lacklustre to me, but this bottle was very tasty indeed – the best showing of the ’04 for my taste: I thought it was the ’05!
James Eadie NV Reserve Douro Port – Fun to taste, and remarkably drinkable as well! Interesting to see it was labelled as “Douro Port”…not to be mistaken with “Mosel Port”
Campbell NV - Isabella Tokay – This was superb. I have a soft spot for older PX, and this was just like that: sweet, complex, heavy – dessert in a glass. WOTD for me.
Fonseca 1980 VP – Not a bad Port for sure, but disappointing for a Fonseca. I tried the little bit that was left over the next day, and it seemed to be falling apart (the fact that I tasted it from a teacup might not have been helpful here).
Dow 1970 VP – Yummy! Another youthful showing of this great VP. What a treat!
Taylor 1995 Qta. d. Vargellas VP – Again a pleasant surprise. Was this a hard, alcoholic beast just 2 years ago, this VP is coming together beautifully. Very young, obviously, but already delicious to drink now.
Alex K - both Beth and Ilja found it...interesting to see us discuss Port with such passion: don't know whether that's a good thing or not! :)
Podere La Vigne - Vigna do Tavola, NV – great wine at a great price. I’ve already checked, but this in unfortunately not available here.
Niepoort Projectos 2004 Riesling – I was actually pleasantly surprised by this bottle. The ’04 has always seemed a bit lacklustre to me, but this bottle was very tasty indeed – the best showing of the ’04 for my taste: I thought it was the ’05!
James Eadie NV Reserve Douro Port – Fun to taste, and remarkably drinkable as well! Interesting to see it was labelled as “Douro Port”…not to be mistaken with “Mosel Port”
Campbell NV - Isabella Tokay – This was superb. I have a soft spot for older PX, and this was just like that: sweet, complex, heavy – dessert in a glass. WOTD for me.
Fonseca 1980 VP – Not a bad Port for sure, but disappointing for a Fonseca. I tried the little bit that was left over the next day, and it seemed to be falling apart (the fact that I tasted it from a teacup might not have been helpful here).
Dow 1970 VP – Yummy! Another youthful showing of this great VP. What a treat!
Taylor 1995 Qta. d. Vargellas VP – Again a pleasant surprise. Was this a hard, alcoholic beast just 2 years ago, this VP is coming together beautifully. Very young, obviously, but already delicious to drink now.
Alex K - both Beth and Ilja found it...interesting to see us discuss Port with such passion: don't know whether that's a good thing or not! :)
-
Ronald Wortel
- Posts: 889
- Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2005 3:45 pm
- Location: New Plymouth, New Zealand
-
Ronald Wortel
- Posts: 889
- Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2005 3:45 pm
- Location: New Plymouth, New Zealand
Recent notes on how this is drinking, especially that from the folks from the Crusting Pipe offline, made me think we should try a bottle of Taylor's Vargellas 1995, since we have a case. We've been to the Douro recently with friends and walked through the Vargellas vineyards, so it seemed apropriate to open one in their company.
Very dark colour, some blackberries and dark cherries on the nose but mostly closed. Lots of dark flavours; chocolate, dark cherries, blackberries and also some red berries. Medium sweetness gives a nice smooth mouthfeel and the moderate tannins provide a good backbone. Much more approachable than a couple of years ago. This is coming alon nicely, but I feel that the best is yet to come. I don't think this will reach the same level as the '91 or '87 but very good nonetheless. 90 points.
(this is also posted in the TN section)
Very dark colour, some blackberries and dark cherries on the nose but mostly closed. Lots of dark flavours; chocolate, dark cherries, blackberries and also some red berries. Medium sweetness gives a nice smooth mouthfeel and the moderate tannins provide a good backbone. Much more approachable than a couple of years ago. This is coming alon nicely, but I feel that the best is yet to come. I don't think this will reach the same level as the '91 or '87 but very good nonetheless. 90 points.
(this is also posted in the TN section)