List of placemats

The theme being ‘8’s, the placemats were laden with eight-pointed stars, octagons, and ±8° from horizontal. Upon reflection, maybe it was a bit childish — but only a wee little.

An echo of the “Port Fit For a Queen” theme of the E2>V tasting.

Some might be interested in a spreadsheet showing that each side of the heart is a single Bézier cubic.

In the printouts was a slight bleed, a very thin line of filled black showing outside the clipped white stars at the edge of the Titles. Henceforth this can be prevented by setting to false the new parameters ShapesTitlesClip, ShapesAbovetitlesClip, ShapesBelowtitlesClip, ShapesOvertitlesClip, and ShapesPlaceNamesClip.

Several errors — I hope that my usual standard is better than this. SCD had withdrawn but was still on the placemats; DRT was on twice; and WG who replaced SCD wasn’t at all. And, after the event, comment was made about there being different values of OvertitleFontSizes. All of which was sloppy.

The fonts /Didot and /Didot-Bold echoed the 1922 bottle.

Zoom-in on some of the many Union Jacks (in foreground filled in colour; in background stroked thin):

DejaVu fonts are open-source, free, and cover a large subset of unicode characters. So tested here were /DejaVuSansCondensed-Bold (TitlesFont), DejaVuSerifCondensed (CircletextFont, HeaderFont) and /DejaVuSerif (NamesFont). Not much liked.

Maiden usage of VoteRecorderMonkeyWhenShowTotalRow and VoteRecorderMonkeyName.

There are twelve n/m stars with n, m coprime; and inner radius, and angle at point, between that of a 7/2 and 7/3. These are 5/2, 7/2, 7/3, 8/3, 11/4, 12/5, 13/5, 17/7, 18/7, 19/8, 22/9, and 26/11. But the output wasn’t elegant: the high‑n stars looked too similar.

Also, the spelling error is regretted.

Cancelled or Postponed (venue booking failure)

On 30 Nov 2002 placemats switched from being artisanal to being industrial. These placemats—more accurately, the glasses pages of these placemats—are very similar to the not-used last of the artisanals.

Two of the fonts were not the most splendid victory.

/CircletextFont /Estelle      def
/NamesFont      /DobkinScript def

The parameter VoteRecorderCrossedBox is not intuitive to use. Perhaps the parameter could be somehow reorganised: suggestions welcomed.

/JDAW (JDA) {-0.04 Kern} (W)] def …

/VoteRecorderCrossedBox {VoteRecorderShowTotalRow VoteRecorderSheetNum GetEU dup {pop Titles WithinTitles get ASCIIfy ThisName ASCIIfy eq ThisName length 0 gt ThisName JDAW ne and and Titles WithinTitles get JDAW eq ThisName (IDJ) eq and or} if} def

Elegant design:

/ColourSchemeTitles /MidGrey def
/ShapesInTitles true def
/ShapesToUse [/Star] def
/ShapesTitlesFill {1 setgray fill} def
/InlineTitles false def

/ShapesInTitles true def
/ShapesToUse [/Flower /Star /Heart] def
/ShapesTitlesFill {1 setgray fill} def
/ShapesTitlesStroke
	{0 setgray 0.18 setlinewidth stroke}
def

First use of /Harrington font since 20^th September 2016; first use of /MidGrey since the Dow magnums on 17^th January 2013 (4¼ years before); and the first use of /MidGrey with a serif font since 22^nd March 2012 (5 years before); and the first use of /MidGrey with /Harrington since 20^th November 2008 (8½ years before), the previous occasion having been 26^th December 2007 (shortly before that, 9⅓ years before this).

/TitlesFont /Harrington def
/CircletextFont /Harrington def
/ColourSchemeTitles /MidGrey def
/ExclusionAnnulusProportionInnerRadiusTitlesAboveBelow 0.005 def
/CircletextMaxFontSizeAbsolute 18 def
/CircletextMaxFontSizeProportionRadius 0.2 def
/InlineTitles false def
/CrossHatchingInside true def
/CrossHatchingTitles false def

Several images of this set of placemats were posted on JancisRobinson.com, and the tasting itself was reviewed in the weekend edition of the Financial Times (posted online late on 31 March 2017).

/GlassesOnSheets [
	[ 0 1 2  3  4  5 ]
	[ 6 7 8  9 10 11 ]
	[ 12 13 14 ]
] def
% Omitting some less interesting parameters
/PackingNestingColumnMajor true def
/PackingStyles [
	[ /RectangularDislocation /GlassesNumMin 5 ]
	/RightSide
] def

Stars made as for tasting on 01 Feb 2017.

/Magnum (Magnum) def
/TappitHenSans [(T) {-0.08 Kern} (appit Hen)] def
/DecanterLabelsNumCopies {Belowtitles WithinTitles get dup TappitHenSans eq
	{pop 3} {Magnum eq {2} {1} ifelse}
ifelse} def

Also a very complicated PrologueCode, which creates [n,m] data and forms for the stars, then execformed by PaintBackgroundInsideGlassCircles (with /InlinePrefillWhite true def). That allowed the stars’ parameters to be computed together, to maximise resonance with CirclearraysN.

Maiden use of PaintBackgroundInsideGlassCircles.

/LogThisExtra (Glasses on these sheets might be the cover photograph of The Book. Hence: Names omitted from Circlearrays, though not from CirclearraysTastingNotes etc; and three copies of JDAW glasses sheets, to allow post-spillage retakes.) def

For which purpose:

/JDAW [(JDA) {-0.05 Kern} (W)] def

/Circlearrays [ CirclearraysTastingNotes
	{dup length 2 ge {dup length 1 sub 0 exch getinterval} if}
forall ] def
	
/GlassesOnSheets [
	[ 0 1 2 3 4 5 ]
	[ 0   2 3 4 5 ]  % AHB and his SW63 are expected to be late,
		             % meaning presumably post-photographs
] def  % /GlassesOnSheets

/GlassesNumCopies {ThisName JDAW eq {3} {1 SheetNum sub} ifelse} def

The branding of its cork revealed the purported SW63 to be a SW66.

/TitlesFont /Geo112ThinBold /def
/CircletextFont /Gabrielle def
/ShapesInTitles true def
/ShapesToUse [/Star] def
/ShapesStarsPointsAndStepsArray [[3 1.31844] [4 1.79214] [5 2.27823] [6 2.77012] [7 3.26502] [8 3.76162] [9 4.25925]] def

After the placemats were printed it was discovered that the “proposed GC70 is actually Oporto-bottled”, so it was replaced by a Warre 1963; and “a small issue with the BN55 — in that I could not find it! Can I respectfully offer another 55 — A Mackenzie bottled by J Harvey and Sons Bristol.”

These placemats caused re-observation, and this time understanding, of a bug in Adobe Distiller. If FlightSeparationPaintSeparately is false and there are multiple lines on one page, the apparent ends of some lines are controlled by setlinejoin rather than setlinecap. (See manual.)

Maiden usage of CrossHatchingOutside.

Maiden usage of ShapesPrintQuickerDistillSlower, and of BackgroundTextsDecanterLabels (both of which were added to the software for these placemats).

Zodiac characters, ♈ ♉ ♊ ♋ ♌ ♍ ♎ ♏ ♐ ♑ ♒ ♓, in fonts /Menlo-Regular and /Menlo-Bold (seemingly with identical zodiac glyphs), made as follows.

/Zodiac [ [ /uni2648 (Aries) ] [ /uni2649 [(T) {-0.04 Kern} (aurus)] ] [ /uni264A (Gemini) ] [ /uni264B (Cancer) ] [ /uni264C (Leo) ] [ /uni264D (Virgo) ] [ /uni264E (Libra) ] [ /uni264F (Scorpius) ] [ /uni2650 (Sagittarius) ] [ /uni2651 (Capricorn) ] [ /uni2652 (Aquarius) ] [ /uni2653 (Pisces) ] ] def

/Circlearrays [ Zodiac { [ exch dup 1 get exch [exch {/Menlo-Regular CurrentFontSize selectfont} exch 0 get {CircletextFont CurrentFontSize selectfont} ] ] } forall ] def

/Titles [ Zodiac {0 get} forall ] def

/SubtitlesTastingNotes [ Zodiac {1 get} forall ] def

/TitlesFont /Menlo-Bold def

• The zodiac was too confusing for the sommelier. Next year Titles to be ‘1’, ‘2’, …, ‘12’.

/PaperType /A2 def, then trimmed in accordance with /OuterGlassesMarginB 3924887 1696576 3 sqrt mul sub 6 mul 18161 div def (≈ 325.862pt ≈ 115mm).

Activation of CrossHatchingBackground (renamed to CrossHatchingInside) and CrossHatchingTitles has become rare. Which is fortunate, given the clash with TastingNotesCirclesBehind. Bug fixed as of version dated 16:00 Monday 15th February 2016—too late for this tasting.

AP’s translations into German:

/TastingNotesColumnHeadings [ (Zeiten) (Auge) (Nase) (Gaumen) (Punkte) ] def
/VoteRecorderInstruction (Punkte, not rank.) def
/DecantingNotesTopText [(V) {-0.06 Kern} (erkostungsnotizen)] def
/DecantingNotesColumnHeadingTimes (Dekantierzeit) def
/DecantingNotesColumnHeadingNotes (Korken, branding, &c) def
/CorkDisplayTopText (Die Korken) def

Maiden usage of PagesToBeInserted: insertion of the food order into the PDF doesn’t break the page numbering, and that inserted page has an entry in the Table of Contents.

Test inclusion of the new Accounts page type (discussion thereof).

Traditionally in The Bell, Wendens Ambo; in 2015 in The White Horse, Newport.

There are sticky labels, seemingly without glasses sheets. But the sticky labels are merely copies of what is on the glasses sheets. So there are glasses sheets, zero copies of which are shown: /GlassesNumCopies 0 def.

Font /Albertus-Medium, as used for street signs in Lambeth. And precision kerning, both vertical and horizontal, in BackgroundTextsTNsTexts.

Complicated default value of new parameter BackgroundTextsAlignmentVertical worked well.

Change in default fonts, Titles in /TrebuchetMS-Bold (sans-serif, pleasingly weighted, with bright negative spaces); Circlearrays in /Garamond (which I now prefer to /Garamond-Bold).

/GlassesClusteredOnVoteRecorders [
	[   [ 0 1 ]  [ 2 ]  [ 3 4 5 6 7 ]  [ 8 9 10 11 ]   ]
] def

Maiden usage of software with BackgroundTextsOrientation. BackgroundTextsGlassesPaintCode very faint, 127⁄128, because my printer prints greys dark. The /Cochin font looks good.

Also see the letter from Buckingham Palace.

Parameters GlassesCirclesFadingFactor and GlassesCrossedOut added to the software for this tasting. Comment welcomed, ideally in the software thread.

TitlesFont = /Cardinal-Alternate; CircletextFont = /BeagleCondensedNormal.

/Rays true def:

And with rays emphasised:

Though I dislike the numerals in /GillSans, the letters are very elegant, and nicely different to /Harrington.

Review in The World of Fine Wine, issue 50, 2015.

Unusually, Titles, TitlesTastingNotes and TitlesVoteRecorder all different; and SubtitlesTastingNotes different from all of Abovetitles, Belowtitles, and Overtitles.

It would have been better if the parameter since called PackingNestingColumnMajor had been true. Anyway, Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, Neon, Sodium, Magnesium:

Having just devised the parameters to reproduce the pre-software placemats used on 12 May 2001, similar was used here.

Font: /AccanthisADFStdNo3-Italic.

Decanter labels without glasses sheets, by /GlassesNumCopies 0 def.

On the small sticky labels (5×13 on A4) the CircletextFont is an element of Names; everywhere else it is part of the wine description. Hence /CircletextFont {TypeOfPagesBeingRendered /StickyLabels ne {//true} {StickyLabelsTypeThis 0 eq} ifelse  {TitlesFont} {NamesFont} ifelse} def

Also the wrong date: this error is regretted.

Echoing the formatting of the placemats of 16^th January 2012.

/InlineTitlesMaxNumberContours {Belowtitles WithinTitles get length 0 eq {2} {1} ifelse} def

First use of the functionality controlled by BackgroundTextsPrePourRefit, StickyLabelsShowBackgroundTexts, and StickyLabelsShowCirclearraysInCircle.

Wrong date: 28^th August, not 27^th August. This error is regretted.

Format chosen to match the bottle bags (Arabic numbers in Times Roman font), which is why not that agreed in the thread entitled Naming blinded bottles.

Lots of complicated parameters, available in full from the P’s post.

Much faffing with margins, so that those on the glasses sheet are different, MarginB being large.

/FlightSeparations true def, and, even more unusually, with /FlightSeparationPaintSeparately true def. The first three items of FlightSeparationLines define /Closed paths, used by FlightSeparationPaintCode (“FlightSeparationLineNum 0 eq”, then 1, then 2) as clipping regions. Decorative lines, very thin, are painted. The remainder of FlightSeparationLines defines the boundary paths. FlightSeparationPaintCode does nothing with these until the last one, so these are in effect not …PaintSeparately’d. And that last item paints a thick black line inside a gsave … grestore, and then a less thick white line. The setlinecaps avoid bleed.

There is a broader lesson from these complicated parameters. The program is written in PostScript, and is structured to allow, perhaps even encourage, code injection. In almost all parameters the user has full access to the whole of PostScript, and to the values of the variables maintained by the code. E.g., FlightSeparationLineNum is there to be used. That gives great power, but full access to that power requires being able to use PostScript.

The most useful lesson from this tasting might be the explanation of the blinding technique.

/ShrinkRadii [ 0 0 1 ] def and /MaxRadius 180 def to have larger table-wine glasses.

/InlineTitles {WithinTitles 9 le} def for the differential patterning.

Example element of Titles: [(Ch) {UnderlineBegin} (8) {UnderlinePaint} (5)]

Temporarily, /EmptyGlassesPageAtStart true def, just to make this image which was used here. Image having been made, EmptyGlassesPageAtStart was reverted to false to make the printed and retained PDF.

Also, after the tasting, the maiden use of GlassesAnnotations.

Six sheets used for decanter labels only, not-needed glasses pages being suppressed by code in NonDecanterLabelGlassesNumCopies (later renamed to /GlassesNumCopies).

New version of code in which an upper bound for InlineTitlesMaxNumberContours is computed automatically (as asked on 02 Apr 2014), and in which CircletextsTweakSize causes Circlearrays to be tight packed (as asked on 21 Mar 2014).

Some planets: ♂ ♃ ♄ ♅ ♆ ♇. Example element of Circlearrays: [ (Neptune) [{TitlesFont CurrentFontSize selectfont} /uni2646 {CircletextFont CurrentFontSize selectfont}] ]

Can InlineTitlesMaxNumberContours be computed automatically? An algorithm question has been asked on comp.lang.postscript. (Edit: done as InlineTitlesAttemptMinimiseNumContours.)

/CircletextsMinCopies {WithinTitles 3 eq {5} {1} ifelse} def

This gave the tightest packing. Does it suggest a need for a new parameter that automatically does a tight-packing optimisation? Hmm. Maybe. (Edit: done, as CircletextsTweakSize.)

Also, the maiden usage of FontSizesTitlesEquivalences.

(Opening words of the twelve books of Milton’s Paradise Lost.)

Crosses (✠ ☩ ♰ ♱ ☨ ☦), in font /Menlo-Regular, glyphs /uni2720, /uni2629, /uni2670, /uni2671, /uni2628, /uni2626.

/VerticalMiddlingTitles /MatchNone def looked more elegant with the single Greek letters.

Vanilla, except /TitleMaxHeightProportionInnerRadius 1 def to constrain the size of the asterisk.

There are sticky labels, seemingly without glasses sheets. But the sticky labels can only contain copies of what is on the glasses sheets. So there are glasses sheets, zero copies of which are shown: /NonDecanterLabelGlassesNumCopies 0 def (later renamed to /GlassesNumCopies).

The previous usage of the font /SnowtopCaps was ghastly. This usage was better.

Large Circlearrays array, from which other arrays and formatting computed. There are similarities with placemats of and referenced in the Graham and Malvedos on 13 Nov 2012.

/TitlesFont /HelveticaNeue-CondensedBold def

/CrossHatchingBackground {WithinTitles 5 le WithinTitles 3 ge and} def
/CrossHatchingTitles {WithinTitles 6 ge} def
/InlineTitles {WithinTitles 5 le} def
/InlineTitlesMaxNumberContours {WithinTitles 2 le {12} {2} ifelse} def

(March 2016: CrossHatchingBackground renamed to CrossHatchingInside.)

/RaysLinesPerGlass 68 def
/MaxRadius 130 def

Greeks only:

/Greeks [
	/alpha /beta /gamma /delta /epsilon /zeta
	/eta /theta /iota /kappa /lambda /mu
	/nu /xi /omicron /pi /rho /sigma
	/tau /upsilon /phi /chi /psi /omega
] def  % /Greeks
/Circlearrays [
	Greeks {[
		exch dup dup length string cvs exch
		[exch {/Helvetica CurrentFontSize selectfont} exch]
	]} forall
] def  % /Circlearrays
/Titles [ Circlearrays {1 get} forall ] def

/PrePourReverseOrder false def
/PageOrderingNonDecanterLabelGlasses [ 0 1 2 3 ] def
/PageOrderingTastingNotePages [ 0 1 2 3 ] def
/PageOrderingVoteRecorder [ 0 1 2 3 ] def
/PageOrderingCorkDisplay [ 0 1 2 3 ] def

Sunday 20^th only: /FooterCenterText-Backstage [ 0 2 4 {ExternalLinks exch get (   )} for pop ] def, which has never before been changed from its default value.

A complicated array in PermittedPackingStyles (since renamed to PackingStyles); and a rare use of FlightSeparationLines.

There was lots of code in the elements of Names, which in newer versions of the software can be done more easily using NamesTastingNotes, NamesVoteRecorder, NamesStickyLabels, and NamesPlaceNames.

This was then the usual format for a vertical of VP and SQVP: (e.g., Graham and Malvedos on 13 Nov 2012). But the variation in brightness makes it difficult to compare colours. Hence for this class of designs my enthusiasm has diminished.

Perhaps both OutlineTitles and Rays was too psychedelic?

Rotate180AlternateNames.

A compound string can include code that makes a path. Maybe this was excessive.

Also the maiden usage of cork-display pages.

The font /Didot-Bold worked well, especially for the two-digit years.

The usual format for a vertical of VP and SQVP: see Graham and Malvedos on 13 Nov 2012.

It was from these placemats that the log page was shown by default—the log-page code having been present since 20^th January 2008.

Fonts: /Baskerville-Bold, /Baskerville-Italic, and /Baskerville. In summer 2011, the scaling of the pre-pour pages was much improved, such that the content became bigger and the wasted space became less.

My enthusiasm for the OutlineTitles has greatly diminished. YMMV.

Maiden inclusion of vote-recorder pages. And /TitlesFont /BasqueThinNormal def.

Maiden usage of pre-pour pages (though with a Penrose tiling since removed from code).

This has become the canonical format for a vertical comprising a mixture of VP and SQVP: see the Smattering of Graham and Malvedos tasting for links.

Aggressively kerned.

For a pure vertical, without a need for VP-SQVP distinctions, the elegance is enhanced by the slender font /Geo112ThinBold.

A rare example of SideBySideGlassesTastingNotes.

The spelling error is regretted.

Also, the maiden outing of InlineTitles.

Both fonts, /ScottsdaleNormal and /BernieBoldItalic, were horrible.

Good font choices, /GillSans with /Palatino-BoldItalic.

Ca → MsC.

What was I thinking? Just gratuitously gaudy. Also reprehensible is the redundancy between the Titles and the Overtitles (as they have since been renamed). Please, readers, do not do this. Additionally, Messias Cachão is ‘MsC’—more awfulness.

Maiden usage of OutlineTitles.

Perhaps this tasting was postponed until 9 June 2007?

An early version of the TN page code, the name appearing at the top. And the /Cochin-Bold font still looks good.

The cork of the Cockburn “believed 1950’s” said Cockburn 1960. So not perfect, but not bad.

A draft of these placemats was made using Adobe Illustrator, about three weeks before the event. (The Illustrator file was converted to PDF in March 2015.) Placemats for earlier events were also made in Illustrator. But the used placemats were made in PostScript. So this seems to have been the event at which placemats switched from being artisanal to being industrial.

Before the software: made using Adobe Illustrator. (The Illustrator file was converted to PDF in March 2015.)

The names of the people are in the wrong place. Perhaps the names were guillotined.

Before the software: made using Adobe Illustrator, with the two pages in separate files. (The Illustrator files were converted to PDF in March 2015.) And abbreviating Quinta do Noval to a ‘Q’ is slightly embarrassing.

This design can be nearly replicated in the early-2015 software using the following parameters.

/Circlearrays [
	[ (Taylor 1960)  (T60) ]
	[ (Taylor 1970)  (T70) ]
	[ (Taylor 1977 Magnum) ]
	[ (Taylor 1977 Single) ]
	[ (Taylor 1985)  (T85) ]
] def
/Titles [ (T60)  (T70)  (T77)  (T77)  (T85) ] def
/Belowtitles [ () () () () () ] def
/Overtitles [ ()  ()  (Magnum)  (Single)  () ] def

/ThePortForumIconPlacement /None def  
/HeadersLeft [] def  /HeadersCenter [] def  /HeadersRight [] def  

/PermittedPackingStyles [ /Diamonds ] def
/WaterBoxes /None def

/TitlesFont     /Baskerville-Bold def
/CircletextFont /Baskerville def

/ColourSchemeTitles /Black def

/AbovetitleMaxFontSizeProportionTitles 33 90 div def
/ExclusionAnnulusProportionInnerRadiusTitlesAboveBelow 0.1917 def

/InlineTitles false def   /InlineOvertitles true def

/CircletextsTweakSize false def
/CircletextMaxFontSizeMayBeSlightlyExceeded false def
/CircletextMaxFontSizeProportionRadius 0.5 def
/CircletextMaxFontSizeAbsolute 33 def
/CircletextsMaxCopies 2 def

/NamesFontSizeMin 9 def   /NamesFontSizeMax 9 def