Frappato lunch and 1980 port horizontal

Just a brief one today to record a couple of tastings earlier in the month. 

At the start of October, I was invited by G to a lunch involving copious amounts of Frappato, from Sicily. He had visited a couple of years ago and come across the wines of Ariana Occhipinti, then acquired three different cuvees. Notes were not taken, so what follows will be brief!

We started with the "bog standard" version from 2018 which was pretty good. Having never encountered frappato before, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be lighter and more minerally than a big sunny red of the nero d'avola tendency. ACC compared it to a Beaujolais.

Then we had the three special cuvees, all from 2017. BB stands for Bombolieri, FL is Fossa di Lupo and PT is Pettineo, all different vineyards. We drank them in alphabetical order and the general consensus was that the BB was relatively light and pretty, the FL was weightier and also more alcoholic at a whopping 13%, and the PT was the best of both worlds. A fascinating comparison!

Then last week, I was able to attend a 1980 port vertical organised by G for the Port Forum. There were 12 of us present, and 14 ports. I was tasked with bringing along the Dow and G gave me very precise instructions on what to do. Unfortunately the cork was very crumbly and I didn't have a spare, but a champagne stopper saved the day. 

It's always interesting to see the aerial view. The Dow, in the middle at the back, was a particularly dark colour and G thought it wasn't ready yet. 

The general consensus was that 1980 wasn't a very exciting or complex vintage, but as someone who doesn't drink that much port, I still enjoyed it. Points were awarded and the winner was the Gould Campbell, whereas my favourite was the Offley Boa Vista which looked absolutely beautiful and reminded me of chocolate-covered berries. Once again, the Quinta do Noval Nacional didn't justify its exorbitant price tag, being considered merely "quite pretty". None of them were obviously duff - the Burmester was a bit murky and had a slightly odd nose, possibly because it was at the end of its drinking window. Another fascinating evening and thanks G for inviting me.