Collectibles (repost)

Derek T. · Post by **Derek T.** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:07 am

I can't wait to get home to go through my box of corks (a wooden box from a Taylor's LBV Magnum) and my old wine boxes full of empty bottles in the garage 8)

Be afraid, Alan, be very afraid - one day soon you will start collecting corks and empty bottles too

Derek

Derek T. · Post by **Derek T.** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:15 am

Alan,

Just so you know, I don't glue corks like Alex. However, my little obsession is to carefully remove the top of embossed foil or lead capsules and then attach them to the end of the extracted cork. 8)

I also have a bunch of Noval Nacional grapes in the freezer - I picked these up from the NN vineyard in October after the harvest had been collected so I saved them from dying a sad and lonely death. If I do the same thing each year for the next 10 years I may thaw them all out and make my own bottle of Noval Nacional

Derek

Alan C. · Post by **Alan C.** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:03 am

Derek,
What I find equally amusing as gluing corks(and your grapes story) is the fact that their were over 2000 'views' on this subject, and theres only me who thinks this is a little on the 'Intense' side of madness. Each to their own, and momentos are part of life. But rows of empty bottles, glued corks, frozen grapes,etc..... So when I stopped chuckling, and made a mental note of a few funnies for when we meet, I then realised it might be ME! (I'm beginning to understand Chief Inspector Dreyfuss out of the Pink Panther Films.)
I've booked in for a session with a Trick-Cyclist, and I'm going to tell them that I'm willing to change, but really, I'm quite happy being a Teapot!

A slightly twichy Alan.

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:31 pm

First,
Alex is a total lunatic for glueing corks

and shows just how crazy he is about wine

To update my list. The top two newest editions to my bottle collection are
1963 Quinta do Noval Nacional
1970 Dow's VP Magnum

The Dow's was my very first Port from a magnum and the NN is the oldest that I've had to date. Both those bottles were carried home in my backpack all the way from Portugal. The NN still has the sediment and an ounce or so of nectar in it....lots of quick explaining to get that through the TSA security check points in Newark airport. But the memories surounding those bottles are priceless.

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:34 pm

You glue corks!!!

Can anyone else hear that music from the Twilight Zone??? Its quite Loud. Now I like you guys, and I'm looking forward to meeting you all some day. But if its late at night and one of you brings up this subject, and I look nervous and scared....Dont worry, its just because I will be!!!

Alan,

We're the ones who should be scared! :o

Black shovel collection eh? Is their some symbolic or subliminal rationale behind this fetish?

Alex wrote:

An interesting question. Pulling together my answer made me realise just how important memories and the occasion were as I chose the bottles that I kept. There are bottles which I have pulled out of my cellar and drunk which I did not keep but where the score I gave to the port was higher than the scores for the ports where I did keep the bottle. Hmmm.

Yes, that is exactly why I asked the question and knew it would require some reflection on your part. Thanks for playing along!

I guess I should not be surprised by how many of the specific vintage Ports mentioned in your list and Andy's as well, (even if they were not the identical bottles) that I have drunk with you gents.

Alan C. · Post by **Alan C.** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:46 pm

Roy,
I can seee me and you need locking in a room with a few old bottles, so we'll connect like good drinkers do. To iron out the subtlies of language and humour. I was amazed at the meaning of the word crafty, when I had meant it so innocently. This time I was trying to highight how obscure gluing corks would be, to all but the Port Nut, by giving you mythical, but equally obscure topics, i.e. Shovels and Rain Records!
Needless to say, when we have our bonding session, you'll be picking the Port. I'll bring the odd sense of humour.

Keep up the good work. Alan

Steven Kooij · Post by **Steven Kooij** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:24 pm

Great to see this topic again; it made me realise I never took that picture of my fly curtain...will do so later this week!

I've got two small display shelves (sad, I know): fortified and non-fortified:

Qta. d. Loureiro 1871 Colheita (oldest Port tasted)
Oliveira 1900 Malvazia Reserva (oldest Madeira tasted)
J.M. de Fonseca 1934 M.d.Setubal (oldest Setubal tasted)
Presidential 1952 Golden Reserve Colheita (oldest white Port tasted, and the gift of a good friend)
Taylor 1970 VP Magnum (opened at my first truely international offine at BBR in London)
Niepoort 1952 Garrafeira, 1963 VP and NV Presidente (I just love Niepoort)
Warre 1963 (opened at my 30th birthday dinner for my parents and my three best friends)
Turley 1998 Delinquent Fortified Zinfandel (a gift from a friend from WS)

Petrus 1983 (my first Petrus, tasted blind - and wow!)
Bollinger 1988 RD (opened at a great evening with Australian friends from WS)
Paloma 2001 Merlot (a WS WOTY, again thanks to a friend from the WS-forums)
Királyudvar 1999 Lapis 6 Puttonyos Tokaji (a single vineyard 6P - to taste it again...ohhh)
Krug 1988 Brut (the best champagne I ever tasted)
Mouton Rothschild 1975 & 1983 (birth year label and just great label)
S.A. Prum 1976 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Goldkapsel Auslese (best white ever tasted)
Gaja 1997 Sperrs (this wine (and the company it was shared with!) was so good, it brought tears to my eyes)
Tirecul la Graviére 1995 “Cuvée Madame” (one the best dessert wines ever tasted, only surpassed by d'Yquem and Climens 2001)

As I've typed this out, I've come to realise that apart from the Niepoort NV Presidente and the Mouton '83, every other bottle I've saved was either provided by someone I know through a wine forum, or I opened it for someone I know through a wine forum...

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:52 pm

Steven,

As long as you don't have any black shovels hanging around, I'd say you are pretty safe.

Al B. · Post by **Al B.** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:57 am

I thought it was just me that could hear the music from the Twilight Zone

Derek - you are clearly not keeping enough of your corks if you can still fit them all in a magnum box. Or you are not drinking enough .... no, I can confidently say that you are clearly not keeping enough of your corks. But what's this about carefully cutting off the tops of the capsules and fixing them to the top of the cork? How do you fix them to the top of the cork? Ha! I bet you use glue :twisted:

Steven - great list and thanks for adding the memories next to each bottle. One of the things that I have always marvelled at is how generous wine and port drinkers are to each other. I have been given (and have given back) many bottles of port where the only benefit of the gift is knowing and hoping that the recipient enjoys the wine as much as the person giving it. Long may this continue, I think it is one of the civilising aspects of wine culture.

Phew! That was a bit serious.

Roy - its probably not a great surprise that we have drunk many of the top wines on my list and Andy's list together. Any occasion when we can get together a group of people from the forum is an occasion to open those really good bottles since you know they will be appreciated.

Andy - thanks for the comforting words. I feel much better now. I also have some empty bottles for you to collect from me and carry back half-way around the world.

Alex

Al B. · Post by **Al B.** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:50 am

Derek said

If I do the same thing each year for the next 10 years I may thaw them all out and make my own bottle of Noval Nacional

It just occurred to me that if Derek did do this then he would have the only ever bottle of Noval Naçional Crusted Port. How cool would that be 8)

Alex

Derek T. · Post by **Derek T.** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:45 am

Alex,

I can confirm that the inadequacy of my cork collection is purely a result of the number that go in the bin

I am now hooked on the idea of making the 1st ever NNC - I must bring back more grapes next time 8)

Alan, I have just remembered another aspect of my twilight side - Alex mentioned in another thread that we tasted a 2006 in the Douro in October 06 that brought tears to his eyes. This was unfortified fermenting must from a lagare - I still have the unwashed glass in a cupboard at home and a piece of grape skin stuck in my notebook next to the tasting note :?

Welcome to our world......

Derek

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:09 am

Derek Turnbull wrote:Alex,

Alan, I have just remembered another aspect of my twilight side - Alex mentioned in another thread that we tasted a 2006 in the Douro in October 06 that brought tears to his eyes. This was unfortified fermenting must from a lagare - I still have the unwashed glass in a cupboard at home and a piece of grape skin stuck in my notebook next to the tasting note :?

Welcome to our world......

Derek

And me this.......

Derek T. · Post by **Derek T.** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:17 am

Hey, give me back my glass :x

Derek

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:19 am

Just try and come over here and take it

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:22 am

BTW, here is a pic of the Dow's magnum I shleaped home

Derek T. · Post by **Derek T.** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:23 am

bridgema wrote: Derek - what's this about carefully cutting off the tops of the capsules and fixing them to the top of the cork? How do you fix them to the top of the cork? Ha! I bet you use glue :twisted:

No, not glue - I carefully fold in the edges of the lead disk so that the grip the top of the cork, a bit like to top on a milk bottle. So not strange in any way, unlike your glue fetish

Derek

Alan C. · Post by **Alan C.** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:24 am

I'd help out Derek, but I've been trawling the Archives and saw your Scottish and supported Portugal against England in the World Cup! :twisted:
So I think you'll find Andy has quite rightly seized that glass as a Crime Exhibit.
Alan

Derek T. · Post by **Derek T.** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:31 am

Alan,

Just to make you love me more I can tell you that I am currently sitting in a bar in Dublin drinking Guinness only 1 mile from Croke Park 8)

Derek

Alan C. · Post by **Alan C.** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:38 am

I'm envious of the Guiness and the trip....but should you really mention Union!!!

You'll be lucky to win the wooden spoon this year! :twisted:
Isn't the Guiness expensive over there, considering they make it out of cheap natural ingriedients and mostly water! (Its a myth it comes from the Liffey). You'll struggle to find anything other than cooking Port, if its like it was when I was there last.
Alan

Al B. · Post by **Al B.** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:30 am

Now I have often offered to help Derek out with the names of a few restaurants and bars in Dublin where you can buy port by the glass. Last time I was there I was drinking the Niepoort 2000.

But he has refused my kind offers every time and instead prefers to drink from the Liffey.

Alex