an interesting tasting

[Glenn E.]

This past weekend the Sammamish Port Club met for its April meeting. Nothing unusual about it... 8 people, 8 bottles, in this case 4 VP and 4 Tawny. Most of the bottles were served blind. All very normal for us.

We did our usual attempt to order the bottles logically - we start with the oldest VP and proceed younger, then switch to the youngest Tawny and proceed older. The idea being that an old VP is more nuanced and elegant than a young one, and you don't want your palate blown out by the big fruits and massive tannins of young Port. Similarly for the Tawnies, we've found that young ones lack the power and concentration of older ones.

We ended up with only one age-related mistake in each flight. We put the 2000 Vesuvio right after the 1977 Warre and before the pair of 1994s, and we put the Bulas 20 year old before the 2002 Kopke (bottled in 2011, so only 9 years on wood). That latter swap actually worked, though.

But what made the tasting interesting is that all 4 of the VPs were... off. The 1977 Warre was tragically corked. That's easily my favorite Warre (that's actually obtainable... let's set aside the 1851 for this discussion) and it is normally splendid. You could tell - briefly - that there was something very nice there, but the TCA rapidly overpowered the Port for everyone else. And it even altered the taste for me, making the Port taste kind of metallic.

The 2000 Vesuvio was very sweet - almost artificially sweet - on entry, then popped some pleasant but very bright acidity, and the resolved to fruit flavors that were also a bit artifical. Words like "sweet tarts" and "fruit leather" and "Lik-m-Aid" were being passed around the table to describe it.

The 1994 Quarles Harris had an odd nose. Possibly some slight bacterial infection, or just some bottle stink that refused to blow off. It tasted better, but not enough better to save its score.

The 1994 Croft was (at least for me) the best of the bunch, but just didn't have the elegance of a 1994. It was... fine. No one could really pinpoint what was wrong with it, but even before it was revealed the consensus was that it was an off bottle of something that should have been much better. The "best of the bunch" for me received a paltry 90 points, and I toyed with 89.

Luckily the second flight was terrific! I gave the Bulas 20 a 93, the 2002 Kopke (bottled in 2011) also a 93, the 1980 Vista Allegre 95, and the Quinta de Brunheda +40 Anos Casque Sample a 96. A great finish to the evening.

Have you ever experienced a tasting like this where everything in one flight was just... off? I think it was the first time for me.

[John M.]

Nope. Never an entire flight or even close. That is really something....and not like it was a bunch of known hooligans such as an 83 Cockburn or 90s Niepoort.

So alternate meaning to WOTN: Worst of the Night.