Friday we had friends over for dinner, they were supposed to bring their standard poodle, but Lucy is wearing an “Elizabethan collar” and felt too embarrassed. So just the people came, bearing appetizers of sopressata and Bocconcini. We opened the NV Laurent Dauphin Brut Champagne. Round and soft with a sweet edge, acceptable for under $25 Champagne. Others liked more than I did. B-

Dinner was a salad nicoise variant with a lemon/anchovy dressing- belly tuna, potatoes. heirloom tomatoes, green beans, eggs with anchovy, black olives, radishes, and basil, perfect for summer on patio. A couple of roses:

2012 Bedrock “Ode to Lulu” rose
New to me, quite nice. No indication of cepage, but says vines planted between 1880s and 1920s. Very pale, good crispness, a crunchy ferric note over strawberry fruit. Nice! B++

2012 Costes (Bergerac )rose
Also refreshing, light, I prefer the California but this is a good pink for $10. B

I think Ron would stroke out if I did a whole meal without a red, so:
2009 Domaine des Coutures Saumur-Champigny
this light chillable CF is just the ticket. Fresh and bright, black raspberry fruit, light tannins, easygoing. B/B+

Saturday was a friend’s 50th bday party. Nice crowd, good food (salads, grilled meats, grilled veggies, etc), asst wines:

2012 la Colombe ( Coteaux Varois) rose
Strawberry, simple, inoffensive. B-

2012 Ravines Riesling
Smooth, pretty dry with ginger, citrus peel, Granny Smith. Nice. B

2012 Roagna Dolcetto d’Alba
I’m not a big Dolcetto drinker, but this was really quite nice- I’d buy this. Modest tannins, balanced acids, plenty of black plum and raspberry fruit, a nice earthy edge. B+

2010 Pure Cabernet Sauvignon (VdP d’Oc)
blackberry, currant, round, coarse, a bit short. B-/C+

1963 Warre’s Vintage Port
Decanted in afternoon, then returned to rinsed bottle (minus about 3 heaping tablespoons of sediment). Showed very well- dried dates and fig, nutty, spice, lighter styled but quite charming. B+/A-

Fun couple of nights.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

"DaleW" > wrote in message
...
> ........
> 1963 Warre’s Vintage Port
> Decanted in afternoon, then returned to rinsed bottle (minus about 3
> heaping tablespoons of sediment). Showed very well- dried dates and fig,
> nutty, spice, lighter styled but quite charming. B+/A-
.........

There really has to be something that someone can devise to do with the
residue in wines, particularly in such generous providers as Port, Madeira
and such. I mean the bottle residue, not barrel
scrapings such as Vegemite, which I love in its place. Perhaps a cake of
some sort?

pavane

>
> 1963 Warre’s Vintage Port
>
> Decanted in afternoon, then returned to rinsed bottle (minus about 3 heaping tablespoons of sediment). Showed very well- dried dates and fig, nutty, spice, lighter styled but quite charming. B+/A-

I bought several bottles of 1963 Waare's in the early 1970's and still have some that has been properly stored. It has been very good since the 1990's, but before then I would not use "lighter style" in the description. I have not opened any in several years, so I need to open a bottle soon to see how it has evolved.

On Sunday, September 1, 2013 1:38:10 PM UTC-5, DaleW wrote:

> 1963 Warre’s Vintage Port
>
> Decanted in afternoon, then returned to rinsed bottle (minus about 3 heaping tablespoons of sediment). Showed very well- dried dates and fig, nutty, spice, lighter styled but quite charming. B+/A-
>
I found 6 bottles of Waare's Vintage, so I opened one. I bought it in the early 1970s, and it has not been moved and stored on the side since then. The capsule was metal,likely lead and covered with a fairly thin layer of likely wax, but not nearly as heavy as found on some very old bottles. There was no evidence of leaking.Using a very powerful light in a darkened room, I was able to see the fill was at bottom neck. There was much crust stuck to the side of the bottle that had been turned down for several decades. To my surprise, the very soft cork came out whole. I then used a modified old wine machine to flush out the air in the bottle and serve using a very high purity argon.The tube was pushed only about 1/2 down to avoid any loose sediment. I then waited a day before serving to allow any loose sediment to move to the bottom.

The wine was a very pure ruby red with no brown even around the rim. It was very clear and bright. Of course the color is not as intense as for some older ports that are on the more heavy side. I really find no faults, but some might like a fuller wine better.The intense bouquet does do a very good job of covering up the considerable alcohol.The taste is very pure and clean.It perhaps is not as dry as that of the fruit described by Dale. Of course for a 50 year old wine from the same case, bottle variation becomes very important.