Vintage Port Notes September 2013

Institute of Master’s of Wine, Diamond Jubilee Banquet

I attended the most fabulous dinner tonight at the The Banqueting House in Whitehall to celebrate 60 Years of the Institute of Master's of Wine. We began by drinking Bollinger from magnums in the undercroft (the drinking den of James I) then climbed the stairs to dine below a ceiling painted by Rubens. It was all rather magnificent including the wines: among the line up were Chateau Margaux 1999, Ridge Monte Bello 1990, Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron 1988 and Cockburn’s 1955 Vintage Port.

2011 Vintage Port - Part II

These are two wines to which I didn't give very fair coverage when I first tasted them earlier in the year so I received new samples and have now had the chance to re-taste them at leisure (and in cooler weather). Although the labels read 'cask sample' these wines have evidently been bottled as the samples I recived had the Port and Douro Wine Institute seal under the capsule.