What have you opened this week?

[Daniel R.]

1983 Ramos Pinto

[John F. Newman]

churchill's crusted, bottled in 2000. It came out of the bottle very pleasant, but I think I let it decant for too long... 6 plus hours... then again, it was Easter and all of the in-between drinks may have dulled the senses

[Roel B]

1996 Niepoort LBV

Unfortunately, it has a very faint cork taint.. Not enough to have it go down the drain however!

Edit: I reconsidered, it has just gone down the drain ;(

[Andy Velebil]

1996 Niepoort LBV

Unfortunately, it has a very faint cork taint.. Not enough to have it go down the drain however!

Edit: I reconsidered, it has just gone down the drain ;(

That's a real bummer

[Daniel R.]

Poças 20 year tawny

[Bradley Bogdan]

1983 Noval Nacional. Delicious!

[Roy Hersh]

1976 Krohn

[Roel B]

Edit: I reconsidered, it has just gone down the drain ;(

That's a real bummer

No worries, still 8 bottles left.. And 10 more 1997's and 11 1998's. That's the current LBV "drink-now" stockpile

I've just stuck a piece of polyethylene foil into the other half of that bottle by the way.. Never done that before, this seemed like a good subject for an experiment!

[Andy Velebil]

Edit: I reconsidered, it has just gone down the drain ;(

That's a real bummer

No worries, still 8 bottles left.. And 10 more 1997's and 11 1998's. That's the current LBV "drink-now" stockpile

I've just stuck a piece of polyethylene foil into the other half of that bottle by the way.. Never done that before, this seemed like a good subject for an experiment!

Glad you have more and let us know how the foil thing works.

[Roel B]

I've just stuck a piece of polyethylene foil into the other half of that bottle by the way.. Never done that before, this seemed like a good subject for an experiment!

Glad you have more and let us know how the foil thing works.

Cool! This actually works.. I poured a "control sample" into a glass prior to the foil treatment and am now comparing.

The rest was treated by stuffing some PE foil into the bottle. However, I could still smell TCA after about an hour, so not that effective. I then coated a large 2 liter (8 quart) bowl with PE foil, poured the port in (about 250ml left) and left it standing, with a few swirl's and smells every now and then - curious as i am . After about 15 minutes, i poured it back into the (rinsed) half bottle which it came out of and some into a glass from there.

I am currently looking at two glasses: one with the control sample, and one with the treated wine. Similar glass, temperature and fill level. I can still clearly smell TCA in the control. However, nothing noticable in the treated port! And I am currently enjoying it while typing this message.

Of course, I should say that this experiment is a far cry for a true scientific setup and therefore on no way conclusive. I _know_ what I did, so I might be influenced by that knowledge. However, the process of TCA molecules binding to the PE is known and documented. But if this is actually this simple, why is there no "TCA remover filter" on the market? It should be as simple as a membrane with a huge amount of PE surface area to which the wine is exposed.

Anyway, next time you've got an expensive corked bottle: get out the plastic wrap! (however, make sure it's LDPE based, not PVC!)

Roel.

[David Spriggs]

1976 Krohn

Do you know the bottling date of the Krohn?

[Bradley Bogdan]

1997 Sandeman Vau VP

[Andy Velebil]

Rocha Three Centuries

[Al B.]

1983 Smith Woodhouse in a half bottle

[Eric Menchen]

1983 Smith Woodhouse in a half bottle

One of those, which perhaps showed the best of the lot of 17 I purchased a while back; and
1985 Burmester - too hot after a 6 hour decant, but then the heat blew off and it was quite nice

[Glenn E.]

It isn't Port, but it's tasty. NV Stanton & Killeen Classic Rutherglen Muscat.

[Marc J.]

1987 Churchill Crusted

[Al B.]

1991 Warre, mature and drinking well.

[John M.]

The Portly Gentlemen met on Friday for a non-port event. We had a Tequila Tasting complete with an educational show and paired appetizers. Couple of things...

1. The aged tequilas are often aged in reused casks--one was from a bourbon distillery in Tennessee. The taste and color was completely different from the others--but I could not detect the bourbon straight away. Is port always aged in new casks?
2. Doing a tasting of several tequilas and various types of Martguerita's takes patience and stamina (Yes, I was up for the task).
3. Interesting how an "aged" tequila is a year or few--wish my VP would age that fast!

All fun and a great time.

[Eric Menchen]

Is port always aged in new casks?

For that Port which is aged in wood, I think that in general old casks are used so as to not impart and wood character, just oxidation.