1977 Ferreira Vintage Port

[Mike J. W.]

This was a leaker so I decided to open it. The cork was saturated but the cork came out relatively intact. Immediately I got the smell of blueberries with a faint hint of burnt cinnamon on the nose. This smelled promising. I decanted it and the color was a light to medium garnet and at rest, the Port shone like a smooth, sparkling, red sheet of glass. I had never seen a decanter of Port look quite like it. I was excited. I took a small sip and it tasted sweet but unassuming.

5 hours later I had my first glass. It still smelled faintly of blueberries and burnt cinnamon, but there was also a medicinal smell to it like a new band-aid. It had a light to medium mouth feel with a light taste of milk chocolate, blueberries and cinnamon. It was dusty, with some heat on the back end and had an ever so slight medicinal taste as well. The legs on it were thin and that first glass left me with the impression that this Port was past it's peak. That first day I would rate it in the 88-89 range.

I drank this Port over the next 5 days and it continued to evolve. The color became darker and eventually was a dark ruby red. The legs got thicker and more pronounced. It went from a light to medium mouth feel on Day 1 to a medium to thick mouth feel by Day 3. The same flavors continued throughout with the addition of cloves and blackberries. By the last glass on Day 5, the dusty tannins were still there but there was no heat at all to speak of, just a smooth glass of Port. Very nice for a 45 year-old Port. Initially I felt it was past its peak, but it evolved and clearly has another 10 years life to it, minimum. In the end, I'd score this as 91 points.