Stock Check!

[DuncaninFrance]

Today, at the insistence of my good lady wife I carried out a stock check of the wine cellar at Chez Andrews. Quite surprising..............
198 Bottles ( + 12 in stock for one of our regular gîte guests)
3 Magnums
2 Champagne
3 Vintage Port
20 ltrs Bag in Box
I think that may see us through to the Wine Fair in April................

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[joseyclosey]

Nice inventory, I do like the sound of the vintage port.

It could be a very merry christmas at maison Andrews.

[dhtaxi]

You can not be drinking enough Duncan you need to up your intake. Vintage port yummy.

[DuncaninFrance]

You can not be drinking enough Duncan you need to up your intake. Vintage port yummy.

Certainly is Dave, looking at drinking it in the next 2-3 years! The great thing about a Vintage Port is that it needs to be drunk within a day of opening at the very most, I love the stuff!!

Passing the Port.......
Once a Vintage Port has been decanted and the moment has come to enjoy it, tradition dictates that the decanter should be placed on the table to the right of the host or hostess. It should then be passed to the left, travelling round the table from guest to guest in a clockwise direction until it comes back to its starting point. Although the tradition is most often observed when serving Vintage Port, it is also often followed with other Port styles.

There are many arcane and colourful explanations for the custom of passing the Port to the left.

One theory is that the custom arose from the need to keep one’s sword arm free in case of trouble. It is sometimes said to have originated in the Royal Navy where the rule was ‘Port to port’, meaning that the decanter (most likely a ship’s decanter) should be passed to the left. In the Royal Navy the Loyal Toast is traditionally drunk in Port and, in contrast to the other branches of the British armed forces, the officers remain seated.

However, the reason why the custom is followed today is quite simple. If the decanter keeps moving in the same direction, every guest has the opportunity to enjoy the wine and no-one is left out. The decanter travels clockwise because most people are right handed.

If a guest fails to pass the decanter on to his or her neighbour, it will come to a standstill.

This usually happens because a guest does not notice that the decanter is there, does not realise that they should pass it on or, more rarely, hopes that no one will notice so that they can have a second glass.

Guests waiting further down the table for the decanter to arrive may become impatient. However, it is considered bad form to demand that the decanter be passed on. Instead, the person who is preventing the decanter from continuing its journey round the table is asked politely ‘Do you know the Bishop of Norwich?’ This is a gentle reminder to get the decanter moving again. If the meaning does not sink in, the less subtle alternative ‘Is your passport in order?’ may be used.

The origin of ‘Do you know the Bishop of Norwich?’ is attributed to Henry Bathurst who was Bishop of Norwich from 1805 to 1837. Bishop Bathurst lived to the age of 93 by which time his eyesight was deteriorating and he had developed a tendency to fall asleep at the table towards the end of the meal. As result he often failed to pass on the Port decanters several of which would accumulate by his right elbow to the consternation of those seated further up the table. A bon vivant said to possess a prodigious capacity for wine consumption, he was sometimes suspected of using these frailties to his advantage.

Some authorities claim that that ‘Do you know the Bishop of Norwich?’ originated with John Sheepshanks, who was Bishop of Norwich from 1893 to 1910, and although Bishop Bathurst would seem the most plausible source of the tradition it appears that Bishop Sheepshanks did his best to perpetuate it. A portrait of Bishop Sheepshanks, kindly donated by his grand-daughter, hangs on the wall at Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas as an encouragement to guests to pass the Port.

The need to invoke the Bishop of Norwich can, of course, be avoided by the simple expedient of using a Hoggit.

A Hoggit is a round-bottomed decanter which can only stand up when resting on a wooden support placed on the table to the right of the host or hostess. As it cannot be put down, it is passed directly from one guest to another and travels round the table in one continuous movement without stopping until it returns to its base at the head of the table.

[Niner]

Wonder who thought up all that ceremonial stuff? Passing the bottle to the left seems like a good idea....right handed people being in the majority... but who had enough time on his hands to invent the round bottom bottle and the base to set it in? Why not just give everybody his own bottle....like beer? Or just say..."Please pass the bottle" the same as "please pass the butter". Or is there a rule for passing the butter too? Maybe just give the butler a look and he'll come over and butter your roll for you? Or....just give the butler the bottle and tell him to keep em all filled up.