For The Love Of Port

All,

Many of you will have read some rather disturbing threads over the past few weeks which have caused general concern over the mental health of our new member Alan C. Upon reading Alan's ramblings about having to wait 2 weeks to open his bottle of Offley 1963, and then reading some of the jokes he has been posting in recent days, it has become clear that urgent action is required.

I have therefore taken the step of organising the FTLOP Emergency Offline to be held at the Hotel du Vin in Birmingham, UK on Saturday 31st March 2007. This will allow Alan to gain comfort from other members of the Forum and will also allow him to taste some fabulous VP's. The fact that the rest of us will also be tasting fabulous VP's is purely coincidental to the purpose of the event which is to show solidarity and emotional support to our new friend honest

In view of the probable need to provide levels of emotional support to Alan that the male species are incapable of, this event has been organised on the basis that each FTLOP member is to bring along 2 bottles of VP plus their significant other.

Confirmed attendees so far are:

Alan C and Debs
Alex Bridgeman and Elizabeth
KillerB and Lady K
Me and Jo

All other members of FTLOP are invited to join us if they wish. Please note that it is acceptable to bring a third bottle of VP rather than your significant other 8)

Please PM me if you would like further information.

Derek

Thanks for the short notice. If you had given me an extra week, I would have flown over there. Instead, I'll just be sending over a box of Lucky Charms. Enjoy. Who is penning the Guest Corner article?

Roy,

You got about the same amount of notice as the rest of us. The decision to go for it happend yesterday and the last of our little group confirmed only today. You still have over a week to get here, although you had better finish that Newsletter before you do

I think Mr Bridgeman is the natural choice for the article given his vast experience of covering these events

Derek

But we truly would like to expand our horizons with Guest Corner authors. After the masterpiece you are about to read in next week's issue, I think you'd do just fine!

Bother - don't think I can make this one - I've already arranged to be in Cornwall that weekend..

..pity, as I have one or two old and uncertain bottles that deserve to be opened with enlightened company, most notably a Dow 55 - ?? and a Croft 27 - ??

Oh well, they'll keep for another day....!

Tom

Tom,

Save those for when my little arse gets over there...I'll be glad to check them out for you

Tom,

Cornwall - Brimingham - same thing :? - we would love to have you there - Croft 27 and Dow 55 or not

Derek

So Derek, what excatly are your significant others going to do? From the last article it took them about 10 seconds to realize the 2 of you are crazy nuts and they left. Now there will be several crazy nuts with even more Port.

I give them 5-7 seconds before they leave and spend more money, than all of you combined spend on port in a month, on some clothes at the nearby fashion store If they don't just leave you guys to take a taxi home

That said, you all need to get on a plane now, get out to L.A. (after all it was 78 degrees today, 25.5 celcius), come to my place, and we can party like it was 1999 After that I will take you all to Hollyweird where you can be like every other freak looking at metal stars in the cement and that guy in the Spiderman suit :help:

Andy,

5-7 seconds is optomistic - when Alan starts telling his jokes I give them 3-4 seconds and they will be off to the Spa and the Champagne bar. - the lads will just have to suffer the torture of drinking 8 or 10 bottles of VP by ourselves

Derek

Here is the corrected list of ports we plan to be drinking on Saturday evening. It would be most helpful if anyone who has recent experience of any of these VP's could share their thoughts on optimum decanting times.

Dow's 1983
Fonseca 1970
Fonseca 1985
Fonseca 2000
Grahams's 1963
Graham's Malvedos 1987
Harvey's 1985*
Noval Nacional 1987

Thanks

Derek

* we have found out that Harvey's is in fact Martinez VP

I cant wait. Good Company, and my first go at several VP's at the same time. I'm looking forward to seeing how Derek and Alex come to their conclusions, and whether I can taste the same results.
As Derek has posted the list of Ports, has anyone any general advice on what to look out for. Any reknown colours,aromas or tastes I should be on the look out for.(I dont want Tasting Notes, I'll compare those afterwards, just generalities?)
The only cloud on the Horizon is that the lovely Deborah is eyeing up every beauty treatment the Hotel supplies (Ouch!), but hey, if I get to taste a great 63.....

Alan.

Alan,

The first thing to look out for is to make sure that Derek and Alex K give you your fair share of each of the bottles

More seriously, just concentrate on enjoying the ports. If you are going to make some notes on your thoughts, then taste a little of each of the wines until you have finished your notes and then focus on enjoying the rest of each of the bottles and the company that you are sharing them with.

And don't forget to spare a thought for absent friends

Alex B

Minor corrections:

Malvedos is 1987
Dow is 1983

Nightmare.

1. I’m leaving my current employ. Hence I have the time for such a splendid occasion. Great.

2. I’m leaving my current employ. Hence I don’t have the lolly for another port trip to the UK. Disaster.

(Tom: leave that Croft ’27 alone! I’m in Cambridge from time to time (budget be damned), and will happily bring it a friend.)

And me.

If there's a 1927 horizontal developing then count me in (midweek) and I'll bring one of my two 1927 wines with me!

Alex

Ooooh! Girls! Now there’s a plan!!

I can easily source a Fonseca 27

Graham’s 1927, though my difficulty would be getting myself to the event.

Derek

From recent experience, I would suggest ~2 hours for the Grahams 1963, and 12-24 hours for the Fonseca 1985.

It might be quite the trick to get them all decanted at the proper time to drink within a few hours. Good luck, and wish I could be there!

Jay

Post repeated from above - I hit Edit instead of Quote first time round so this post appeared half way don the thread...

Derek Turnbull wrote:Here is the corrected list of ports we plan to be drinking on Saturday evening. It would be most helpful if anyone who has recent experience of any of these VP's could share their thoughts on optimum decanting times.

Dow's 1983
Fonseca 1970
Fonseca 1985
Fonseca 2000
Grahams's 1963
Graham's Malvedos 1987
Harvey's 1985*
Noval Nacional 1987

Thanks

Derek

* we have found out that Harvey's is in fact Martinez VP