Multi: Alex B. comes to Los Angeles Offline, how it unfolded

[Andy Velebil]

When I first learned that Alex B. was coming to L.A. an offline was a must do. It has been several months since Alex and I last saw each other in Seattle for some great Colheita's. So last night was the "Alex comes to L.A. offline at the Casa de Velebil."

I picked Alex up at his hotel early in the afternoon and gave him the tour of Hollywood. Which I might add is quite the sight to see, especially given that it was Halloween. Alex got to see some pretty strangely dressed people and he got his picture of the Hollywood sign that will score him some points on the home front. A quick stop at K&L wine store to show him what there was, which ended in a Bordeaux purchase for dinner...and darn good thing too, which I'll explain later.

We headed back to my place and got ready for the others that were coming. Speaking of the others, here were the players. Dan Macleith, Alex Bridgeman, Jason Sheridon, Alex Rodriquez, Marc Jackson, and yours truly.

Due to work and horrible Halloween traffic, we got started a bit later than expected. Have no fear, that and the trick or treaters didn't slow us down. We started with a Vinho Verde and some appetizers. Then moved on to the port tasting, dinner, and then a free-for-all of the Ports.

Here are some pics and my TN's on the ports. Please forgive my short notes, as it was hard to concentrate when I was also the one cooking. I'm sure the others will chime in with their thoughts. One note, several of the Ports I just re-tried 24 hours later...yes I'm tired as all heck after 4 hours of sleep and a 13 hour work day, but I am a Port nerd after all



Me

Alex B. and Marc J.

Left to right: Alex B., Mark J., Alex R., Dan M., Jason S.



1963 Warre:
Decanted 1 hr prior, then retasted 24 hours later. At first it was light ruby red with some soapy bottle stink. This was a little slow out of the gate and I took no further notes until today. The color on this has darkened a lot. Nose is still a soft lavender soap. The palate has lots of spice, lavender, bright red cherries a hint of chocolate, and some strong acidity and noticable tannins. The finish, while not very long, is quite pleasant and is the only thing hurting this at this point. 92 points.

1967 Quinta de Vargellas:
8 hr decant. The color has some slight browning showing on the edge, and some faded red in the center. Mature notes on the nose with some spirit showing. The palate had that typical Vargellas spirit to it but is a bit thin and weak. The fruit is very mellow and nothing to get excited about. the moderate finish is nothing to jump up about. 88 points

However, 24 hours later the color has darkened a lot. The nose has wonderful rose pedals and some dark strawberries. The palate has really put on some weight. That typical spirit is still there, but now there is still some red berry fruit on the palate. The acidity is holding its own with some tannins on the finish. The finish is still not very long, which is its only slight detractor at this point. I must say this is much better than last night. 91-92 points.

1977 Sandeman Vintage Port:
This was horribly corked, which I was really bummed about as I've never had a '77 Sandeman and I was so looking forward to finally trying it. Hopefully I can convince Marc to bring another one in the future

1975 Grahams Vintage Port:
Lightest color of all with a 7 hour decant. Nose of mature plums. The palate was quite full and dense with a nice dose of spice, a touch of heat, some menthol, and herbs. A nice finish rounded out a solid VP from a year not highly regarded by most. 91-92 points.

1980 Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port:
This was very dark with no signs of fading at all. The nose had some prunes and marrion berries. The palate had a large dose of cigar and cedar with some just matured red berries. A great finish rounded out a remarkable VP. I must say I was amazed at how well this VP is doing at 27 years old. This is a keeper for sure. 92-93 points.

1984 Smith Woodhouse LBV Unfiltered (B.1988):
This was served blind. After all we gotta through a curve ball in there somewhere right? A solid red center with some slight fading at the edges. A touch of bottle stink at first, which blew off. The palate shows some lively red raspberry fruit. Its meduim bodied and sweet strawberries made this quite the hit at the table. Not to mention the guesses of early 1990's vintage Port or a younger LBV (Jason and Alex R. were getting warm at least). The finish on this was quite long. I must say this really impresses me, and I dare say the rest of the table too. 92 points.

We had a couple other bottles of dry red wine with dinner. The 1949 Cote d' Oro I opened was a shot in the dark. But luck was not on our side and it was totally oxidized. Then the TCA god struck again on the 2003 Chateau Pont Saint-Martin Pessac-Leognan...total bummer.

It was a great evening and I cannot thank everyone enough for bringing some great wines. We talked, laughed, handed out candy, laughed some more, and drank till rather late. A truly great time was had by all.

I also must give credit to our own Julian. He made up the really cool placemats, tasting sheets, and decanter labels for us. Julian, please chime in with your link so others can use them too.

[Andy Velebil]

Its getting late, but I couldn't resist a small retaste of the `80 Smith Woodhouse VP. WOW, is all I can say. Still mostly primary red fruit with just the begining touches of mature fruit starting to show on the palate and nose. I must say, for a "lesser" house they are spot on in this vintage.

[Todd Pettinger]

Check - 80 Smith Woodhouse - on the "to buy" list.

Thanks for posting the pics Andy - while seeing some of those bottles made me jealous, it was seeing the PEOPLE that was the highlight for me. It is good to be able to see some faces and be able to associate names with them.

Todd

[Roy Hersh]

Looks like a really nice turn out for Alex's debut in LA!

Sorry I could not make it, the only thing stopping me was taking Taylor trick or treating as I had promised I'd do so this year and as I'll be in Edmonton during her 5th bd, I had zero wiggle room.

Glad to see a few FTLOPers in the group. I hope to meet them when I come down to visit. Why Andy can't seem to get two of them from lurkers to posters is beyond me though.

Great to see you keeping in touch with my buddy Dan M. He is a great guy and I am glad he has somebody to share his fine bottles with. Now he is another one that ought to post here. I should have made that ultimatum as part of his invite back in June. Just kidding!

Now what about that beautiful bottle of 1949 Chambolle-Musigny. That is the one I REALLY want to see the TN on!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alex I hope you had a ton of fun and am sorry I could not fly down to join you in LA. Any more US visits for you in the next half year?

[Andy Velebil]

Now what about that beautiful bottle of 1949 Chambolle-Musigny.

Well, it was palatable and that was about it. It was very oxidized and after one sip was poured out I aquired them a couple years ago and they've been drinkable only about 50% of the time. I've still got a few left, and some from 1948 as well. The next time you're down this way I'll open one for you.

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

… the really cool placemats, tasting sheets, and decanter labels for us. Julian, please chime in with your link so others can use them too.

Happy to make for others. What I sent Andy was

• Five bottles, all known;
• Six bottles, one unknown.

The code for making them yourself is at available via www.jdawiseman.com/papers/trivia/glasses.html, or just post a request in a thread and PM me a link so that I know of its existence.

[Andy Velebil]

Thanks Julian, these really helped keep everything sorted out on the table and in the decanters.

[Frederick Blais]

Thanks for the note and pictures Andy, good job!

[Al B.]

It was a blast and I can't thank Andy enough for his kindness and hospitality in organising the offline. It was great to meet some new folks and some folks that I have already met before and to share some great ports with them - I'm always surprised by the generosity of people who come to these offlines and the wines that they bring.

The one wine that Andy has forgotten to mention is the one we managed to pick up from K&L Wines on Vine Street. They have clearly just managed to buy up a private cellar and were offering bottles of the 1978 Pontet Canet at $65 a bottle. Now '78 is not a great claret year with a great reputation and the wines are still monstrously tannic beasts - but boy did it go nicely with a singed steak. Yum!

Andy's already posted his notes on the ports we drank, here are my notes:

Grahams 1975
A pale, golden rose colour showing plenty of age on the wine. A perfumed nose, elegant, tones of freshly baked brioche. Thick texture in the mouth with sweet maraschino cherry flavours and a mature, nutmeg elegance. The typical Christmas cake aftertaste from Grahams lasts a long time. This is drinking beautifully today and is fully mature and elegant. My second favourite wine of the night. 6-5 or 92/100.

Sandeman 1977
So badly corked, pity.

Smith Woodhouse 1980
Very deep red, opaque centre and very dark rim. Nose still holds some primary blackcurrant. The initial entry into the mouth is sweet but a wave of tannin comes through, to be replaced in turn by the blackcurrant cordial that is promised on the nose. The aftertaste takes a while to come into focus, but then resolves itself into a dark cherry chocolate that lasts a long time. A surprisingly young wine that will continue to improve and will be better in a decade. Some had this as the wine of the night. 7-8 or 91/100.

Smith Woodhouse 1984 LBV
A freshly labelled and "sello-ed" bottle that looks to have been a recent ex-cellars release. Decanted off a large amount of heavy sediment. Noted that the wine was bottled in 1988 so only 1 year later than would have qualified to be released as a vintage port. Ruby red in colour, turning orange at the rim. Some bottle stink at first but this blew off over the evening and revealed some lovely raspberry juice although the alcohol was a little unintegrated. Sweet entry and plenty of body with lots of the liquorice you would expect in a bottle in is secondary stages of life, some contamination from the bottle stink flavours but this faded over the evening. Plenty going on in the mid-palate. The length is good and interesting, showing nice Angostura Bitters or Quinine tones that last quite a while after a bit of heat on first swallowing. The mid-palate and aftertaste are strong features of this wine. My wine of the night. 91/100.

Vargellas 1967
Deep rose centre, turning orange at the rim. Nose subdued, spirity and dusty. An initial impression in the mouth of sweet strawberry syrup and a wine that is still quite robust. Plenty of fruit and an acidic structure to enjoy. A slight lack of complexity and a bit too hot in the mid-palate but a great aftertaste with good length. Enjoyable today and unlikely to change significantly over the next 10 years. 4-4 or 88/100.

Warre 1963
Deep red core, slight pinking on the rim. Nose a little closed and with some strange vegetal tones - perhaps a little bottle stink. Sweet redcurrants on entry and some nice cinammon at the front of the mid-palate with candy / bubblegum coming through later. The mid-palate is quite fabulous with a lot going on. The aftertaste is gentle but persistent. Needs much more time in the decanter to show at its best, to blow off the bottle stink. (Unexpectedly, even with another 3-4 hours in the decanter and glass this port did not really lose much of the bottle stink. A strange bottle.) On this showing the wine was a weak example of what can be a very enjoyable drink. Bottom quartile and probably one of the 5 weakest bottles I will drink this year. 0-0 or 84/100.

I was disappointed by the Warre as I had been really looking forward to trying this again. However, there was a really funky nose that I just couldn't shake off. Judging by Andy's comments above, I made a mistake in not going back to that port later in the evening. Oh well.

I've been asked to explain how I can have a wine of the night that doesn't have the highest score of the wines that I drink at a particular event. The answer is quite simple - and it depends on your definition of what makes the wine of the night. For me, the WOTN is the one that I will remember most findly from a particular occasion. At the Halloween LA Offline, this will be the LBV - I just was shocked at the amount of sediment in the bottle and also at how good and mature it was. It wasn't as good to my tastes as the Grahams '75, but it was the highlight of the ports.

Finally, all I can say is that as and when any of the folks who made me feel very welcome come to visit the UK, I look forward to showing them the same sort of hospitality as they showed me.

Thanks guys.

Alex

[Andy Velebil]

Alex,

The latter 1/2 of my note on the '63 Warre's was done yesterday, a full 24 hours later. I this wine just needed a longer decant than we had time for. IIRC, it was only decanted 1 hr prior to tasting and that hurt it.

[Jay Powers]

Sounds like a great time! Alex, when are you coming to SF?

I had a bottle of the 84 LBV around 3 months ago and did not find it so nice (although I agree on the amount of sedimen for an LBV). I still have another left and will have to give it another try.

Nice notes on what sounds like a very nice night.

Jay

[Al B.]

Jay

I love SF and have an Uncle who lives there. It may pan out that the family come over to the US summer 2008 and fly in to SF to catch up with my Uncle before we start our vacation trip to the Grand Canyon. If that happens, I will be sure to let you know.

Alex

[Todd Pettinger]

Sounds like a great time! Alex, when are you coming to SF?

I had a bottle of the 84 LBV around 3 months ago and did not find it so nice (although I agree on the amount of sedimen for an LBV). I still have another left and will have to give it another try.

Nice notes on what sounds like a very nice night.

Jay

I will agree on all counts - the night sounds like fun, I had the '84 LBV a while ago (in May) and was also surprised at how much sediment was in the bottle. Amazing really - almost an eighth of the bottle seemed to decant itself out.

I thought the '84 might be well into, or even past it;'s prime though. Having not tasted many mature VPs and LBVs, this may have accounted for my note.

[Dekano]

When I first learned that Alex B. was coming to L.A. an offline was a must do. It has been several months since Alex and I last saw each other in Seattle for some great Colheita's. So last night was the "Alex comes to L.A. offline at the Casa de Velebil."


Dekano
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