1977 Dow Vintage Port
Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 5:51 pm
Hello all, from Santa Fe, at 7,000 ft! I've just come upon this site and have been appreciating your collective wisdom and experience. I've been enjoying port for years now, and, while I can't match many here in terms of breadth and (particularly) depth of experience--not to mention wallet!--it seemed like a good idea to join.
Presently I own less than a dozen bottles, but am an opportunistic buyer when the price is right. The nicest port I have are 3 bottles of '94 Fonseca and another 3 of '94 Taylor. These are to be drunk at my daughters' college graduations and weddings. The first such event will be in about 15 years from now.
On to the title of this message. Visiting my parents in Connecticut for Christmas, while helping retrieve wrapped presents from their undisclosed location on Christmas Eve (...all right, it was a chilly downstairs storage closet), I unearthed an opened bottle of this '77. It had a cork rammed into it and looked to contain about a cup of fluid. My father must have opened it some time ago and then forgotten it.
I pulled out the cork and sniffed. A wave of intense alcohol hissed its way into my nose. With some disappointment, I resolved to revisit the situation the next day. I loosely re-corked it and continued the present-fetching. Given it already seemed shot, what harm could another 12 hours do...?
Next day. I went back down and secured the bottle. Brought it to the kitchen and decanted it. First surprise: the port was a deep amber color--nothing like what I expected. It was the color of dark honey; or maybe a fine small-batch bourbon. It took a long time to strain all the gunk.
Then I just let it sit around for a few hours in a Pyrex measuring cup. Interestingly, the strong alcohol odor was gone.
I have drunk some perfectly good port in my just-40 years. A '63 Cockburn; various 77s, 83s, 85s and so on. I mention this only to provide some perspective on the following. That port, sitting in its Pyrex cup, was the best port I ever had.
It was fantastically smooth, like velvety, mellow fire in my mouth. The flavor was powerful without being even a little edgy--wonderfully fruity and mellow. It finished like a dream, leaving potent flavor in my mouth and nose without even a hint of harshness. I could not believe that not only had this wine survived its unknown time in the storage room, it seemed to have thrived there. Every sip was literally amazing.
So, I guess you never can tell for sure, This wonderful, powerful, robust wine we have chosen to admire has the strength and durability to endure, and far better, even in conditions far from perfect. Cheers!
Presently I own less than a dozen bottles, but am an opportunistic buyer when the price is right. The nicest port I have are 3 bottles of '94 Fonseca and another 3 of '94 Taylor. These are to be drunk at my daughters' college graduations and weddings. The first such event will be in about 15 years from now.
On to the title of this message. Visiting my parents in Connecticut for Christmas, while helping retrieve wrapped presents from their undisclosed location on Christmas Eve (...all right, it was a chilly downstairs storage closet), I unearthed an opened bottle of this '77. It had a cork rammed into it and looked to contain about a cup of fluid. My father must have opened it some time ago and then forgotten it.
I pulled out the cork and sniffed. A wave of intense alcohol hissed its way into my nose. With some disappointment, I resolved to revisit the situation the next day. I loosely re-corked it and continued the present-fetching. Given it already seemed shot, what harm could another 12 hours do...?
Next day. I went back down and secured the bottle. Brought it to the kitchen and decanted it. First surprise: the port was a deep amber color--nothing like what I expected. It was the color of dark honey; or maybe a fine small-batch bourbon. It took a long time to strain all the gunk.
Then I just let it sit around for a few hours in a Pyrex measuring cup. Interestingly, the strong alcohol odor was gone.
I have drunk some perfectly good port in my just-40 years. A '63 Cockburn; various 77s, 83s, 85s and so on. I mention this only to provide some perspective on the following. That port, sitting in its Pyrex cup, was the best port I ever had.
It was fantastically smooth, like velvety, mellow fire in my mouth. The flavor was powerful without being even a little edgy--wonderfully fruity and mellow. It finished like a dream, leaving potent flavor in my mouth and nose without even a hint of harshness. I could not believe that not only had this wine survived its unknown time in the storage room, it seemed to have thrived there. Every sip was literally amazing.
So, I guess you never can tell for sure, This wonderful, powerful, robust wine we have chosen to admire has the strength and durability to endure, and far better, even in conditions far from perfect. Cheers!
