For The Love Of Port

I think it is time to meet some of the NY/NJ contingent here for the very first time and maybe catch up with a couple that I've met before. Although I grew up in Bayside, Queens and have lived there and in Park Slope, Bklyn at various times for what amounts to half my life, I have not been back in several years as I no longer have a home to go back to. That said, I'll figure out a place to stay, so the venue and location matter not to me (as long as someone in NY can do the organizing).

Is anyone free to do this on either March 8th or 9th? I am only in the city for a few days but would really like to meet up for an offline. The theme doesn't matter to me. Totally up to you, but to make it memorable we could do: MARCH MAGNUM MADNESS?

Let's get the party started! In moderation of course; which means no more than 1(magnum) per person please.

It might be tough

i think I have an 82 bordeaux tasting that week and have a port offline the week after.

Are you able to join us on the 17th?

if not, I'm happy to just bring a bottle, but can't do a full tasting

Hi Jeff,

I will be coming from ATL to NYC. In ATL I will be hosting a Madeira seminar followed the next night by hosting a Port seminar, followed the next afternoon by a first and second growth horizontal of 1982 Clarets.

Then comes NY for only a few days, ending with a Madeira tasting on the 10th and departure on the 11th, so it would not be possible to join you guys on the 17th and besides, I'll be seeing plenty of Glenn in March.

So my window of opportunity is for those two nights. If it can't work out, I understand, but really hoped to hook up with you guys in NY to share some Port; and it would certainly be nice to see you again and meet that Sushi guy and others in the city.

Again, if it doesn't work out, no harm, no foul. I just don't know when I will be back in NYC again, as it has been a few years.

I've been hoping that another NY offline would come around so if this happens I would be more than happy to attend. I don't own any magnums but I would be happy to contribute something. Hopefully there are others in the NY area that are up for it...

Want to make it informal offline?

just bring something to share?

i might be able to sneak out if so.

If you guys arrange a restaurant, choose a time for us to show up, we can discuss bottles afterwards. Now with only a few weeks, it would be great to see you. Lamont mentioned he'd like to taste a 1980 GC, I am happy to bring that and another ... we could so a 1980 horizontal if you guys want to?

I am open to anything but am overloaded in planning events, so would need someone else to do this in NYC.

Roy

Roy Hersh wrote:If you guys arrange a restaurant, choose a time for us to show up, we can discuss bottles afterwards. Now with only a few weeks, it would be great to see you. Lamont mentioned he'd like to taste a 1980 GC, I am happy to bring that and another ... we could so a 1980 horizontal if you guys want to?

I am open to anything but am overloaded in planning events, so would need someone else to do this in NYC.

Roy

That's fine ,

People let me know by end of week how many people are interested

if it's only the 3 of us, I dont need any planning and i can just tell everyone to show up at a time / place restaurant and we'd be fine bringing bottles in.

4 or more I'd need to plan.

Sounds good to me. Jeff, it would be nice to share some port with you again and Roy, it would be great to finally meet you. I don't own any 80 VP but I'd be happy to source something if that's the theme. Just let me know how things pan out and whether I can be of any help it putting this together but I'm definitely in whatever the plan happens to be.

I'm booked both nights, but I can get free for friday night.
We could do a small 80's horizontal, or perhaps just "everyone brings/splits one." The latter allows me to accidentally make things interesting :)

Jeff and I will take care of finding a suitable place for a small friday night gathering. should i anticipate 4 of us total? 6?

I've got something on that Friday--perhaps it can be moved. Would be nice to meet some fellows port lovers.

I know of one other person who will likely be attending, who is a very infrequent poster here nowadays, but he'll be in NY at the time too. Add him for sure; esp. if it is Friday night which works best for me too. 1980 was just a suggestion but we can go with that if everyone is ok with it.

Lamont, am I mistaken or were you out here a year ago for one of the FTLOP events at the Holiday Inn that Glenn organized?

Does Michael Whitehead still live in NY or is he back in LA due to his wife's work (IIRC?), he's a friend of mine and I know he used to participate with you guys too?

Roy

Roy Hersh wrote:I know of one other person who will likely be attending, who is a very infrequent poster here nowadays, but he'll be in NY at the time too. Add him for sure; esp. if it is Friday night which works best for me too. 1980 was just a suggestion but we can go with that if everyone is ok with it.

Lamont, am I mistaken or were you out here a year ago for one of the FTLOP events at the Holiday Inn that Glenn organized?

Does Michael Whitehead still live in NY or is he back in LA due to his wife's work (IIRC?), he's a friend of mine and I know he used to participate with you guys too?

Roy

Are you talking about Tbird? Tbird is back to LA

Roy Hersh wrote:
Lamont, am I mistaken or were you out here a year ago for one of the FTLOP events at the Holiday Inn that Glenn organized?

No, the only offline I've had the chance to attend was the Dow's vertical that Jeff and Josh organized last year, although I did meet Glenn there.

I may be able to join you if it's on Friday, so please keep me posted. Thanks!

wel ifyou guys ahve enuf people

i'll step aside with teh planning
as i'm already doing the planning for 3 other offlines in march.

Lamont Huxley wrote:

Roy Hersh wrote:
Lamont, am I mistaken or were you out here a year ago for one of the FTLOP events at the Holiday Inn that Glenn organized?

No, the only offline I've had the chance to attend was the Dow's vertical that Jeff and Josh organized last year, although I did meet Glenn there.

Fyi there is another march tasting

it's 100$/person for food
and 200$/person for the port if you're interested. or provide a bottle of similar quality.,

I can make Friday night.

Steve P. and Eric. I., good to see you guys will join too. Friday night seems to work for those of us who will be in town. It seems that the guys who live in NY are seemingly already overbooked with events to plan anything while we are there. I heard from another person who will be in NY that would also like to join us too. Let's wait for another round of replies and if we need to put something casual together, we can still do that. It is not like a lot of effort needs to go into this one.


So far it looks like if we do Fri. night we would have the following participants:

A. Jeff Ghi
B. Lamont Huxley
C. Steve Pollack
D. Eric Ifune
E. Josh S.
F. John M.
G. Sean C.
H. Roy H. - GOULD CAMPBELL


Let's keep this simple, so planning will really ONLY require glassware and a restaurant reservation. How about everyone mentions a bottle of 1980 Vintage Port you can bring to the party and we'll go from there?

I will be happy to help coordinate the bottles right here in this thread to minimize the work.

So we really just need to put in a reservation at a restaurant that will allow us to bring in our own bottles and make sure we have glassware. Can any of the NY guys step up to assist us with that?

not an easy task

8 people on a friday and taking over those spots for potentially 3-4 hours, while imposing byob and bringing your own stemware.

The few places that come to mind will be north of 150$ for food (tax/tip probably included though)

Unless someone knows someone that can hook us up,

I'd say bring 2 bottles total and we all meet at a bar.

Roy Hersh wrote:Friday night ...
put something casual together...
It is not like a lot of effort needs to go into this one.
{8 participants}
Let's keep this simple, so planning will really ONLY require glassware and a restaurant reservation. ...
How about everyone mentions a bottle of 1980 Vintage Port ...
a restaurant that will allow us to bring in our own bottles

To echo Jeff, you're trivializing the effort that goes into these tastings. Restaurants in NYC make their money off of liquor on thursday-saturday nights. It's the only way they can pay their rent. They expect people to occupy tables for 1.5hrs, we take 3-4hrs. Finding a suitable and available BYO place, or even a place with minimum corkage, is difficult. And at 8 people with 8 bottles (64 glasses), decanting, bottle adoption, and setup also make this less-than-casual. Each person we add is incrementally more glasses that I have to carry on the train, or pay to park my car so I can get them all there -- it also means my wife (who doesn't drink) needs to get involved as someone has to drive us an hour home afterwards.

All that together with the fact we're doing an insane 1960's Taylor tasting one week later with Glenn, Sandy, Ruth (and hopefully some of the UK crew)... you sure you don't want to just extend your trip a little?

We're happy to host guests from out of town, but if we're going to do a casual tasting we should aim for a couple of nice bottles (2-3) with fewer glasses. Jeff -- what about Duck House (like we did with Oscar) or Square Meal (even though they dropped a half case of glasses at the 85 tasting)?