A bit of a surprise...
Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:48 am
Drove over to Abergavenny last night to pick up a few bottles I'd bought at the last sale there.
At the same time, I arranged to have dinner with Tom Chadwick, who is one of the auctioneers there, and open one of the bottles I'd bought, which was an old 'unknown'.
We met in the bar of The Angel Hotel, suitably equipped. Originally I'd planned to try out the port tongs I'd bought in VNG earlier this year, but found they didn't fit the bottle very well, so resorted to the careful use of a corkscrew instead.
The cork began to rise cleanly, but then, as so often happens, the tail end came adrift and stayed in the bottle.
In the dim light of the bar I could read QUINTA DO NO... and VINTAGE, but initially thought the date was on the bit left in the bottle - so nipped back to my room to fetch an Ah So to tease it out.
When I got back, Tom Chadwick was peering at the cork under one of the bar spotlights - and looking a bit excited.
'You can just read the date' he said...
..It's 1931
TN's will follow soon
Tom
At the same time, I arranged to have dinner with Tom Chadwick, who is one of the auctioneers there, and open one of the bottles I'd bought, which was an old 'unknown'.
We met in the bar of The Angel Hotel, suitably equipped. Originally I'd planned to try out the port tongs I'd bought in VNG earlier this year, but found they didn't fit the bottle very well, so resorted to the careful use of a corkscrew instead.
The cork began to rise cleanly, but then, as so often happens, the tail end came adrift and stayed in the bottle.
In the dim light of the bar I could read QUINTA DO NO... and VINTAGE, but initially thought the date was on the bit left in the bottle - so nipped back to my room to fetch an Ah So to tease it out.
When I got back, Tom Chadwick was peering at the cork under one of the bar spotlights - and looking a bit excited.
'You can just read the date' he said...
..It's 1931
TN's will follow soon
Tom
Roy may be in the air by now. 
