Multi: Port Evening in London

[Al B.]

It was a real pleasure to meet up with a bunch of other port fans on Wednesday night and my thanks go to Alex K for making all the arrangements and to the staff - and Ian in particular - at the Crusting Pipe for making us as welcome as always. Julian's tasting mats were also greatly appreciated.

Attending were myself, Alex K., Derek T., Uncle Tom, Christopher Gee and his guest John, a surprise appearance from Alan C. and our excuse for the evening - Ronnie and Lady Roots.

We poured 10 ports and 4 table wines. Sadly, I didn't take notes of the table wines but the ports that were poured and my impressions of them are set out below. All except the Niepoort 1977 were poured blind and in semi-random order and we had some fun trying to guess what they were

Croft b. 1960
Tom thought that this was the 1950 Croft rather than the 1960, but I have listed this in my tasting notes database as a 1960 based on what I thought I managed to read on the elderly cork. Pale rose in colour with a weak and watery looking rim, milk chocolate and oranges on the nose. Initial impact slightly bitter; tobacco, raisins and aniseed comes through in a nicely delivering mid palate. A slight burn on swallowing is followed by a lovely aftertaste. This wine is old and frail, but not falling apart by any means and was very enjoyable. About what I would expect of a mature vintage port. 5/5 or 92/100 and my joint favourite wine of the night. Tom picked this as a Croft, I picked it as a 1958.

Croft 1975
One of the surprises of the night, this port has the suffing to keep improving for a few years yet. Mid rose, watery rim. Alcoholic nose with ripe redcurrants and tobacco. Sweet into the mouth and showing some age-developed flavours. Some complexity in the mid-palate and a good aftertaste that lasts well. Not an overly impressive wine but I would expect this to improve a little over the next 10 years. 4/5 or 88/100.

Cruz Ruby
Alex K brought this for the Roots' to try (and, I suspect, so that he could get rid of the bottle and use the space for something else). Funky nose and taste, it wasn't revolting and received the praise of "Better than the Cockburn Ruby". 2/2 or 82/100.

Cruz 1989
This was one of my contributions and generated a lot of amusement when I revealed what it was. A couple of people who shall remain unnamed had this down as Fonseca (even if from a lesser year, like 1975), but there was some very serious and intent discussion about whether this was an English style or a Portuguese style of winemaking and whether it came from a “big name” or one of the obscure houses. My tasting note reads “Mid red centre, paling rim but with the colour holding into the rim. Sweet cherries on the nose, some bitter apples and aniseed. Sweet fruit impact, Liquorice All Sorts and plenty of development in the flavours. Some tannins show through and there is an elegant if slightly short length. About average for drinking today, but not likely to be as good in a decade's time. 5/4 or 88/100.”

Dow 1980
Deep, young colour holding right into the rim. Closed nose, overly alcoholic (but the wines were very warm) but some sweet toffees and strawberries. Strawberries again in the initial flavours but a shade hollow in the mid-palate; tannins still clearly present gave a very enjoyable aftertaste that lasted a good time. Will be better in a decade and I might see if I can track some down at a reasonable price. 4/5 or 90/100.

Fonseca 1955
I had this down as a Noval, it was so light and elegant and very impressive. Very pale rose, with a browning rim. Brown sugar, treacle and a promising bite of pepperiness on the nose. Dry entry and a mouthfeel that stays dry for a surprising time before the sweetness of the delicate fruit comes back into the flavour mix. Lots of brown sugars on the aftertaste. Quite a lovely wine, elderly and elegant. My third favourite wine of the night and a cork to reconstruct!. 6/5 or 91/100.

Fonseca 1966
Mid red with a rose coloured rim. Very odd nose, presented blind I seriously doubted this was a port. Nose full of volatile acidity and fairy liquid. However, this was very port-like in the mouth and convinced me that it was a port. Sweet on entry, with some fruit initially that develops into raspberry jam in the mid palate, nice acidic structure but a very odd bottle. This bottle is not representative of this wine (Lea & Sandeman, London). NR. Hopefully Ronnie was able to get a replacement from Lea & Sandeman.

Fonseca 1977
Deep red, solid but transparent core and a colour that holds right into the rim. Grassy smell at first from the glass but then comes a wonderful mix of red liquorice and violets. Initial mouthfeel is a little hollow but sweet red liquorice comes through in the mid-palate together with a nice spicy, peppery, bite. Aftertaste was either a little short or my palate was getting tired. Slightly disappointing today, but clearly has the ingredients to develop some more. 4/6 or 86/100.

Niepoort 1977
The only vintage port not presented blind, this was in honour of Lady Roots as a birth year port. Pale rose, brown rim, looking more elderly than I would have expected for a 1977. Sweet nose, a mix of ripe blackcurrants and orange peel. Sweet entry but very tawny flavours, delicate sugars, raisins and rose petals. Modest aftertaste dominated by burnt sugar. Rated by me as slightly below the average (for my taste in ports) of the ports I would expect to drink this year and also one that I don't think will improve with more bottle age. 4/4 or 88/100.

Quarles Harris 1977
The last of three bottles of this port that I bought from a Belgian supermarket around 1993. Deep rose colour that holds right into the rim, smelling of freshly made (but uncooked) Christmas cake mix. Smooth and sweet into the mouth with some surprising thickness. Little fruit initially, but zesty, dried fruit does come through on the mid-palate. Tannins are well integrated but do support a good, if slightly short, aftertaste. Above average for the wines I expect to drink this year, but not likely to improve or deteriorate significantly in 10 years so a TomScore of 6/6 and a Parker score of 92/100. This was my other top port of the evening.


Alex

[Roy Hersh]

Wow, what a cast of characters at this dinner and I am not talking about the Ports.

Almost the same folks who attended the first offline we ever had together a few years ago at the same venue!

I was looking forward to see the Ports that actually did show up last night. What a lineup. To say that I am very surprised that the highest score was a 92 is shocking given you had such a phenomenal list there.

Sadly, I have had nights like this where although great bottles were in the room, nothing showed as expected. Very odd when it happens, but I can think of a recent Dominus vertical (very deep in terms of vintages) that was a total bust and one of the times that Michael Broadbent was here for a tasting, all the great Mags were similarly "flawed" and disappointing. I hate when this happens.

I am sure a great time was had by all. I hope to see a very similar cast of characters when I get to London in Oct. It will be nice to finally meet Uncle Tom and Alan, and of course, see Derek, Alex, Chris etc.!

It is hard to believe that you were here less than a month ago. Maybe we'll catch up in NY or London this fall!

Roy

[Andy Velebil]

Alex,
Sounds like it was a great time. I too hope to be able to get over to see all you guys in October. If my schedule permits, I am going to try to stop on the way to Portugal or on the way home to visit. I would love to finally meet the rest of the UK gang and have some drinking fun

[Al B.]

Whenever anyone on the forum (whether based in the US, somewhere else in the UK, or elsewhere in the world) has confirmed dates to visit the UK, then let us know and we will be sure to arrange something to celebrate your visit.

Last time Julian came to the UK all he had time for was a cup of coffee! I hope to do better next time we meet up and will do my best to make sure we celebrate any of our port loving friends being in London with a celebration as good as the one that we had last Wednesday night for Ronnie and Lady Roots.

Alex

[Shawn Denkler]

I'm sure everybody had a fun night.

One of the top ports of the evening is no surprise to me - Quarles Harris 1977. I have drank at least two cases of it over the years. It is hard to know since I have sold many cases to friends and had it at their houses too.
I was looking through some old invoices and found I bought a case in 1986. So it was clearly doing well in tastings before 1986, or I would not have bought it. In the early 90s I did a blind tasting of the 1977 vintage and the Quarles Harris was the winner over the Fonseca. Throughout the 90s the Quarles Harris was really powerful and good. I have had about five bottles over the last two years and feel that it has lost much of the big fruit it had, but will hold for a long time yet. It has been fun to follow its developemnt over the decades.

The fact that the 1977 Fonseca and Niepoort were average is another reason I am a fan of the 1970 vintage, where those ports are stars. I have always liked the 1970 Fonseca over 1977, in spite of Suckling's 100 point rating for the 1977.

1977 Quarles Harris has been the better port over the 1977 Fonseca in my experience, and was better in the fun night just had by Alex B. and friends. The 1977 Fonseca was noted in Alex's note as being a little hollow in the mouth - which has been my experience. The Fonseca is very tasty, but not a 100 point port!

[Al B.]

What a lineup. To say that I am very surprised that the highest score was a 92 is shocking given you had such a phenomenal list there.

This struck me as well when I was writing up my notes. I have been speaking to Uncle Tom, who has an experienced palate that I respect a lot, to see what he thought of the wines and he has quite a different view on some of them. (Tom has posted his thoughts elsewhere on the web.) However, I am slightly concerned that my palate might have had an off night that Wednesday and that I was overly harsh in my scoring, but these things happen occasionally.

Alex

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

Last time Julian came to the UK all he had time for was a cup of coffee! I hope to do better next time we meet up and will do my best to make sure we celebrate any of our port loving friends being in London with a celebration as good as the one that we had last Wednesday night for Ronnie and Lady Roots.

Well, not quite. My last trip to the UK featured port tastings on three consecutive nights (the Linden Wilkie Nacional spectacular; a Cockburn and Taylor sesqui-vertical, and a 1985 horizontal).

And my next trip to the UK includes a Fonseca vertical in Manchester on Saturday 1st September, at which I believe there might be a spare seat. Send me an email for details (email address on jdawiseman.com/author.html).

[Roy Hersh]

Alex,

Having studied your assessments of Port in person and especially Vintage and Colheitas since we first met in late 2005, I seriously doubt your palate was off. It is far more likely that that bottles were. That does not mean that Tom was wrong at all. He just had a different perspective of the same wines. Neither is right or wrong ... just different, which is a good thing.

Don't doubt yourself ...

Never be afraid to be the only one to love or dislike a particular wine, no matter how many in the room view it differently.