Help me understand my '77 Taylor experience..

[Steve South]

This is my 1st FTLOP post... I drink some port (20-30 bottles/yr) but most of it is what most would consider "way too young" (1980's and '90's) The oldest in recent memory is only the 1960 Dow LBV. I favor Dows, Warres and Grahams.

Last evening we opened the '77 Taylor Vintage Port. The botlle was purchased from Premier Cru last fall. The cork was soaked nearly to the top and was an original cork. No signs of leakage were present.

The color was very light and translucent... almost like a Pinot Noir
The nose was sweet and rich and more intense than the color would predict.
The palate was rich with figs, plums and a gentle sweetness with some smoky and nutty/caramel notes and a long finish.. Clearly it had shed it's baby fat and moved into a more mature profile.

My confusion is based on the fact that this seems to be very advanced and at perhaps the pinnacle of it's development.. Could this really be true in just 31 yrs for such a port? Could it get even better?? Is the very light color typical for this bottling??

[Andy Velebil]

First, congrats on your first, of hopefully many, posts here at FTLOP. Great to have you join us.

From a well stored bottle, that is normally an excellant VP that has plenty of life ahead of it. But with any old wine provence can be an issue. But, I do have a couple of questions that may help us answer yours.

Was it decanted?
If so, for how long?
how long was the bottle consumed over (1 hour, 2-3 hrs, 2 days, etc) and if over a long period of time did it make any signifcant changes that you noticed.

[David Spriggs]

This matches most bottles that I have had. There seems to be 2 types of bottles out there... one's that are very dark with lots of life left in them and others that are light for a 1977 Vintage Port. The vast majority of my bottles have matched your tasting note. The palate improves and picks up weight with decanting - or the next day if just left corked in the bottle.

Why would there be two types of bottles? Who knows? Poor storage, poor corks, different bottling runs at the source? I don't know. What I can say is that one case that I have is from Kobrand (the official importer), was bought soon after release from a retailer that has the most perfect storage imaginable. And another case I imported from the UK (from bonded storage) a few years ago.... and they aren't exactly identical, but they are close.

Here is my tasting note and you can read the discussion that follows: http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... .php?t=129

-Dave-

[Steve South]

Andy, It was opened for about an hour but not decanted. I plan to revisit the remaining half that is left tonight *recorked but not sucked out)

David, Thanks for the clarification. I was surprised by a CellarTracker note less than 2 weeks ago that noted "dark dense color" in the same wine. I wholeheartedly agree that the condition of the cork did not seem to bode well for "decades" of continued aging. No signs of bugs of any kind.

(*this was the 4th bottle of the evening for 4 of us, otherwise, none would have remained )... it followed a '90 ZindHumbrecht Gewurz, 76 JJ Prum Auslese, '97 Shafer Hillside select, 'and 98 Noon Reserve Cab)

[Roy Hersh]

Steve,

Nice to see you posting here and welcome to FOR THE LOVE OF PORT. May I ask how long you were lurking before this first post?

I opened a bottle of 1977 Taylor on Wednesday night. It was medium in color and very intense, as it had more time open it turned into a delicious young VP and the color enrichened. What David describes with the Taylor from 1977 is my exact experience with the perplexing Port which seems to be the '77 Fonseca.

[Steve South]

Much more primary and tannic... sweet but otherwise not showing much.. .more to follow

Roy, I have only been watching on ebob.. glad to be here

[Alan Gardner]

Possibly relevant (although I haven't broached my 77's) is that I've had similar experiences with Taylor 70. I bought this on release, and have had two entirely different styles from the same stock.
One style is just like your experience with the 77 - very pale but at the same time very fragrant. Still had full structure - just looked strange.
The other style (and I emphasize bought at the same time, and stored together) was similar to the other descriptions of the 77 - medium-dark colour and seemingly less developed. In particular the nose was far less perfumed, although the taste was similar.
I've always been puzzled by this 'aberration' and can offer no real explanation. But I've only noticed it in Taylor (so far). But possibly also in the 83 Fonseca where ALL my samples have been similarly pale, but other people's notes have been very different.

Speculation: Could this be somehow connected with wines coming out of their reputed "dumb phase"? Could there be variation even between consecutive bottles on a bottling line? For example, a very small variation in bottling level (either because the bottles contain variations or the fill is erratic) would change the amount of oxygen available to the 'evolution process'. And over 20 + years, variabilities in cork "fit" could also change oxidation rates.
But I'm a bit sceptical of 'dumb phases' anyway - pending someone being able to predict when and how these (will) occur.

Still, very strange that such substantial differences have occurred.