For The Love Of Port

In the thread on magnums poster christopher remarked on a Dow 1896 Nebuchadnezzar on a wine list.

The author of that [url=http://www.boisdale.co.uk/pdfs/belgravia/WineList12Jan07.pdf]wine list[/url], on the last page, wrote:586 Dow 1896 Nebuchadnezzar (20 bottles) (Level: into bottom neck) 24 hours notice is required to clear this from our bonded warehouse. 4 feet high and 4 stone in weight, this hand blown bottle was ordered for a 70th birthday celebration in the 1920’s. The person in whose honour the dinner was being held sadly died, the party was cancelled, but as fortune would have it the bottle has survived. A phenomenal vintage, excellent provenance and fantastic value at the equivalent of £500.00 per bottle. £10,000.00

Twenty bottles requires more than a few people. I would love to taste the Dow 1896, and so want one fortieth of it. Are there thirty-nine others willing to join me for a splendid meal with some port at one of Boisdale's London premises?

[Edit: friend RJM might be "willing to have his arm twisted" to join us. So I'm two.]
[Edit again: and perhaps work colleague Warren. So I’m 2½.]

Absolutely. I'd be there for a unique occasion like this .... but we'd have to have a raffle (for charity or for the restaurant bill) for taking the empty bottle and cork home afterwards!

I'd achieve so many firsts - first time tasting a wine from the 19th century, first 1896, first port from anything larger than a magnum, first time having dinner with 39 other port freaks....

Alex - then there were 2

I'm certainly interested, depending on location. If it's in the U.S., I'm definitely interested. If I need to go to the U.K. because that's where the bottle is, then I'm afraid I'll need to pass this year.

John

Wow, that sounds like fun. I have a special straw for bottles just like that one. If I was heading to Portugal, a stop off in the UK to "prime the pump" would certainly be in order. Let us know what you guys plan. We could get a lot of press out of an event like that in Decanter, WS etc. IF in London, I'd call Mr. Broadbent and Jancis to join us and Rich Mayson too.

We also need to plan how this is to be done. Are we eating, preceding the port with a different wine? Or are we eating something strong enough and sweet enough to be served with port? Team theory?

I prefer getting to the port sooner, suggesting perhaps duck or fois gras. I have never done a port-only meal for such a bottle, so would welcome menus and ideas from others. (We are buying a £10k bottle from a restaurant that has owned it for ages. They will prepare whatever we want.)

jdaw1 wrote:(We are buying a £10k bottle from a restaurant that has owned it for ages. They will prepare whatever we want.)

Great point. It might be best to float the idea to the restaurant now and see what response is given. I'm sure they're interested in getting a non-performing asset sold and will want to be as accomodating as possible.

I also take back my previous comment about getting to the U.K. this year. If this gets set up, I'll definitely get there.

Roy Hersh wrote:IF in London, I'd call Mr. Broadbent and Jancis to join us and Rich Mayson too.

That would be excellent Roy. I have Hugh Johnson's address as well, so he could be contacted, but I don't know if he's still getting published regularly.

All the best,
John

Its not a Nebuchadnezzar but 20-20 wines in Cali has a double-mag of the 1896 Dow

What a fascinating find and fascinating idea.

I have already called the restaurant, but spoke only to someone who wasn’t able to do more than read a description to me. I have a ‘better’ number, but of somebody who won’t be there until Monday.

What she (at the Belgravia restaurant) read was “the old restaurant room accommodates 34 people on five tables; the Bug Bar (opposite the old restaurant) holds 26 on one L-shaped table; the private dining room upstairs holds 22 people on two parallel tables; the conservatory up to 20 people on two tables; and the main restaurant has a largest table for 12 people. Jazz played from 10pm to midnight.” This made me want the old restaurant room and the Bug Bar, but Miss Those-Are-The-Rules insisted that one isn’t allowed to book more than one room. She was also very careful to tell me the minimum spend in each room (all the rooms totalling less than the bottle).

That 2020 double-magnum, described here, isn’t cheap at $17,950!

jdaw1 wrote:That 2020 double-magnum, described here, isn’t cheap at $17,950!

Let's see: a double magnum for $17,950 or a Nebuchadnezzar for $19,500 (based on current exchange rate)? I guess that's a classic "no brainer"!

John

yeah hehe the price is for either one of those bottles honestly...but for those in the USA...remember you gotta add bottle cost+ flight to the UK + hotel cost + bad exchange rate= pretty pricey...unless Alex or JD are willing to put us up to save a few pennies hehe ^_^

AMAZING..I would love to see the bottle at "4 feet High".
Count me in plus one! If I have 2 weeks advance notice I'm off to the UK...no problem!

Fantastic that lots of people is interested, I apologise in not posting this earlier as I quite often go to Boisdales for dinner and have always longingly looked at this. They have an excellent cigar list as well, but I guess in the main bar!

My proposal would be to have an excellent dinner followed by the port in the separate bar. I cannot think of a better group of people to drink it that members of the FTLOP forum! Would be great if we could link it in with Roy's trip to Europe in May.
I agree with Alex's idea on the raffle for the bottle and cork!

You can count me in for 2 places.

This seems like a no-brainer I think we would only need about 20 people.. each in for 500 ... (for me about $1000)... I know I'm good for at least a bottles worth of Port myself! I talked to another Port drinking friend of mine and he said he would travel to the UK as well and would easily be in for another 500 GBP's.

On the subject of dinner first or port first, my vote would be that we have the port first and dinner after.

To me, the port would be the only reason that I would be there. The food would be incidental, good as I am sure it would be.

So far I think we have declarations of intent from:

Julian
Alex B
Christopher (2)
Sean_C (2 weeks notice)
John Danza
Roy (if it fits with travel plans)

But we still need another 13-33 people to make this happen. Any volunteers?

Accomodation can be found in a perfectly respectable although very basic hotel in London at around $150. I would offer to put people up but (i) I don't live in London and (ii) I couldn't put up more than a couple of people anyway.

Alex

bridgema wrote:But we still need another 13-33 people to make this happen. Any volunteers?

If it looks like we're going to do this, I can get the word out to the U.S. and U.K. branches of the International Wine & Food Society and likely get some takers.

I'm afraid that the job of setting this up will likely fall to one or more of you who are in the U.K. however, just because of proximity to the venue. I hope you don't mind. I'm getting psych'ed up about this. When I told my wife about it, she emphatically said "you need to go to it". Excellent!!

Tasks:

1. More people.
2. Speak to restaurant (jdaw1, Monday) and report back.
3. Agree that there are no guests. Everybody pays, and pays the same, whether ‘important’ or proletariat.
4. Agree evening schedule plan (all: port first is good with me; then rich food in two or three courses, all with the port).
5. Choose a date. Giving us more time helps get more people, and helps plan, and allows us to reserve such an occasion. I have to be in the UK the weekend of 8th September: what about Wednesday 5th September 2007? Or the following week? (Inevitably no date will be perfect for everybody. We should lightly prioritise the organisers (self-interest speaks), but otherwise resolve by vote.)
6. Eventually we will need to appoint, by general proclamation, a ‘holder of the money’. People saying “I can come” isn’t as binding as people paying a £££ deposit. (I have worked at the Bank of England, so think that I might be thought trustworthy, but don’t live in the UK. Though that does make it easy for me to accept either £ or $.)
7. We will probably have to pay a deposit to bagsy the bottle. That deposit may well be payable on reservation.

It would seem that we need to lock in to the number of maximum and minimum attendees so that we can come up with a ballpark cost of the event. That step needs to happen before we can start to recruit, if only because people want to know what their likely outlay is. Personally, I think 20 is too few and would prefer to see it in the 40 to 50 person range.

As far as time of the week, I'm partial to weekends (mostly Saturday), but if it needs to be during the week I would like to see it close to a weekend. It just helps for flying and arranging work schedules. The first week in September looks fine to me.

On the money topic, perhaps the restaurant would be the keeper of the funds? This would make sense since they have the port and they're doing the dinner.


All the best,
John

I can drink more than a bottle of port, but of an 1896 that seems wasteful. A ½ bottle each, that being 40 people, seems about right. Let’s say, to help recruit, a minimum of thirty people and a maximum of fifty. With £10k on the drink, and another (guessing!) £100 per person on food, that is a range of £433 to £300 per person. If anybody objects to this range of party size, speak before Wednesday 14th February 2007, or hold thy peace.

We should take more money from the party (an extra £50 each?), to cope problems, with the intention that this be returned after.

The money cannot be held by the restaurant. They won’t want the job of “X said he would come and where is his money”, and giving them that job would also hamper our ability to negotiate with them. Certainly not the restaurant.

Question: when I speak to the restaurant on Monday would anybody object to their learning of this thread?

Is Monday a good day?

I agree with 30-40 people and the price point you've noted.

I think it's a great idea to tell the restaurant about the thread. It will let them know that we're serious.

John