For The Love Of Port

Derek T. wrote:

Roy Hersh wrote:Glenn, several of your selections are just plain Ruby Ports and not Reserve Ruby and therefore won't make the cut.

Roy, could you please name the offenders? I suspect the list you are referring to belongs to Andy or I as Glenn hasn't produced a list that I can see.

CkSR will probably find its way into most, if not all, line-ups, but let's leave the mandatory ports at the two that started this idea off

These

Cockburn's Fine Ruby, and Porto Rocha Fine Ruby.

Here's what we can get here in the NJ (East Coast) area:

New Jersey Area (East Coast)
Churchill Reserve (hard) Semi-Easy
Cockburn Special Reserve (easy) Easy (But square shoulder, mainly)
Croft Distinction (a bit hard, but depends) Semi-Easy
Croft Triple Crown (never seen it sold here) Never seen
Delaforce Paramount (never seen it sold here) Never seem
Dow Midnight (never seen it sold here) Never seen
Dow Trademark (Can be easy depending) Moderate
Fonseca Bin 27 (easy) Easy
Fonseca Terra Prima (Hard) Never Seen
Graham Six Grapes (easy) Easy
Noval Black (not super easy, but fairly easy) Easy
de la Rosa Finest Reserve (Hard) Hard
Ramos Pinto Collector (fairly easy) Hard
Sandeman Founders Reserve (Easy) Moderate
Taylor First Estate (easy) Easy
Warre Warrior (easy) Easy

I still like the "Roy Fab Five"; if you want to add a 6th, that's fine, too.

The Quinta de la Rosa would be great but it is very hard to find. Churchill's is so-so. Dow Trademark is nice. Never had the Sandeman.

Roy Hersh wrote:Glenn, several of your selections are just plain Ruby Ports and not Reserve Ruby and therefore won't make the cut.

Just two, I believe. The Cockburn and the Porto Rocha "Fine Ruby" Ports. I mentioned them only because they were on the shelf.

QFC also had an Infantado in the cellar room. I couldn't tell for sure if that one was a standard Ruby or a Ruby Reserve. They had an Infantado Tawny that was its twin as well.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Yep, just those two. Not trying to correct YOU, just wanting to make sure nobody was going to add either to our list of Rsv. Ruby Ports to try.

The London event will be held on 29th March. We are planning to taste the six Ruby Reserves as an appetizer to a per-arranged tasting of 14 VPs. Beer and dinner will be served between the Ruby Reserves and the VPs to give suitable definition to these quite separate flights.

This things we do in the interest of research

So what is the final List??

John M. wrote:So what is the final List??

John,

If you read a few posts back you will see that we were struggling to reach consensus on which six ports to have as it is very difficult to obtain the same selection across the various regions where this tasting will happen. I therefore suggested that each location/tasting should select six Ruby Reserves, to include Graham's Six Grapes and Noval Black, but the four other bottles being whatever each group in each location agrees on. This way we will have a virtual tasting in at least four locations with perhaps 12 different wines being tasted.

So, as the nominated representative of NJ, you need to decide which four wines to add to the GSG and NB to be tasted by the guys in your location

Derek T. wrote:The London event will be held on 29th March. We are planning to taste the six Ruby Reserves as an appetizer to a per-arranged tasting of 14 VPs. Beer and dinner will be served between the Ruby Reserves and the VPs to give suitable definition to these quite separate flights.

This things we do in the interest of research

Very big of you. I was going to pick out bottles for a tasting here, but maybe I should just fly to London?

Derek T. wrote:

John M. wrote:So what is the final List??

John,

If you read a few posts back you will see that we were struggling to reach consensus on which six ports to have as it is very difficult to obtain the same selection across the various regions where this tasting will happen. I therefore suggested that each location/tasting should select six Ruby Reserves, to include Graham's Six Grapes and Noval Black, but the four other bottles being whatever each group in each location agrees on. This way we will have a virtual tasting in at least four locations with perhaps 12 different wines being tasted.

So, as the nominated representative of NJ, you need to decide which four wines to add to the GSG and NB to be tasted by the guys in your location

But the "confirmed and ordered" in the London line-up, as of a moment ago, are Graham Six Grapes, Noval Black, de la Rosa Finest Reserve and Fonseca Terra Prima.

FWIW, i think the idea of the two "benchmark" reserves across all tastings, with the remainder of the line-up selected according to interest/availability in the local markets, is a great idea - should hopefully throw up one or two reserves that compare favourably with the benchmark bottles and others can then seek them out. Gives a good wide cross section, assuming that there's at least one person whose judgment you trust at every tasting!!

Alright then--Our line up will be the Roy Fab Five and perhaps a 6th....

1. Graham's Six Grapes
2. Noval Black
3. Cockburn's Special Reserve
4. Fonseca Bin 27
5. Warre's Warrior

Eric Menchen wrote:

Derek T. wrote:The London event will be held on 29th March. We are planning to taste the six Ruby Reserves as an appetizer to a per-arranged tasting of 14 VPs. Beer and dinner will be served between the Ruby Reserves and the VPs to give suitable definition to these quite separate flights.

This things we do in the interest of research

Very big of you. I was going to pick out bottles for a tasting here, but maybe I should just fly to London?

Eric, you would be more than welcome to join us - a couple of seats are still available and if you want one it's yours

Rob C. wrote:But the "confirmed and ordered" in the London line-up, as of a moment ago, are Graham Six Grapes, Noval Black, de la Rosa Finest Reserve and Fonseca Terra Prima.

I think we have also confirmed Churchill Reserve and Ramos-Pinto Collector, plus one other that is not yet on the open market as a bonus. Is that seven? Oops!

Rob C. wrote:But the "confirmed and ordered" in the London line-up, as of a moment ago, are Graham Six Grapes, Noval Black, de la Rosa Finest Reserve and Fonseca Terra Prima.

Derek Wrote: I think we have also confirmed Churchill Reserve and Ramos-Pinto Collector, plus one other that is not yet on the open market as a bonus. Is that seven? Oops!

You fellows are going to end up with every reserve out there...

I'm going to add a twist to this experiment and perhaps you'll join us....I had an idea out of a topic I saw on FTLOP a while ago. Roy asked if we ever, at the end of a tasting, mix the left over ports together (no one did, if I recall correctly). Since these are reserve rubies, I thought it might be fun to add a measure of each bottle to a decanter and see what the 5-6 combined taste like at the end (or 14 if you're with Derek and Rob C.).

John M. wrote:

Rob C. wrote:But the "confirmed and ordered" in the London line-up, as of a moment ago, are Graham Six Grapes, Noval Black, de la Rosa Finest Reserve and Fonseca Terra Prima.

Derek Wrote: I think we have also confirmed Churchill Reserve and Ramos-Pinto Collector, plus one other that is not yet on the open market as a bonus. Is that seven? Oops!

You fellows are going to end up with every reserve out there...

That is quite a likely outcome

John M. wrote:I'm going to add a twist to this experiment and perhaps you'll join us....I had an idea out of a topic I saw on FTLOP a while ago. Roy asked if we ever, at the end of a tasting, mix the left over ports together (no one did, if I recall correctly). Since these are reserve rubies, I thought it might be fun to add a measure of each bottle to a decanter and see what the 5-6 combined taste like at the end (or 14 if you're with Derek and Rob C.).

Sounds good with the Ruby Reserves, but I'll be keeping my 14 VPs in their own glasses

John M. wrote:You fellows are going to end up with every reserve out there...

Don't tempt them...

John M. wrote:
I'm going to add a twist to this experiment and perhaps you'll join us....I had an idea out of a topic I saw on FTLOP a while ago. Roy asked if we ever, at the end of a tasting, mix the left over ports together (no one did, if I recall correctly). Since these are reserve rubies, I thought it might be fun to add a measure of each bottle to a decanter and see what the 5-6 combined taste like at the end (or 14 if you're with Derek and Rob C.).

Good idea and I'll be sure to do the combined-Port at the end as well. I've done this with VP, mainly on Harvest Trips and it has generally always worked out pretty well if there is only a little left in each bottle. Should be interesting to see how it does with just Reserve Ruby's.

We're plowing ahead with a n00bie tasting of reserve rubies for some time in March. I know we can get 6 or 8 willing participants, maybe as many as a dozen. At this point, I expect our list to be a modified version of Roy's Fab Five:

a. Graham's Six Grapes
b. Noval Black
c. Cockburn's Special Reserve
d. Fonseca Bin 27
e. Warre's Warrior
f. Taylor First Estate

(list updated - I found the cockburns, so we'll have all of Roy's fab 5; I dropped Sandemans to keep the list at 6). Three possible venues identified, at least 8 attendees identified. This should be fun

Ok, so here is a question on the Great "Reserve Ruby Taste Off."

Is every one going to decant or "pop-n-pour?" If decanting, how long?

Personally, I'd pop and pour those.

Yeah, I usually just pop-n-pour reserves.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk