For The Love Of Port

Dow 1977, from a very dark bottle, though the cork came out in one piece, and wet all the way through.

On decanting through muslin the port appeared light purple, though in the glass—immediately after—it was an even dark red, with neither purple nor brown. Very lightly cloudy.

Decant+0: nose and taste predominantly alcohol. A very slight sour note in the mouth, which may well clear with the passage of a few hours. Time, perhaps, to walk the dog?

Decant+3 hours: still too alcoholic. A dark fruit taste, which i can’t pin down, though have excluded the obvious suspects of blackberry raspberry prune fig. Also a complete absence of Dow’s signature mint.

Decant+16 hours (9:30 in the morning, with wifely disapproval): the sourness has gone. There isn’t quite the grip of a great port, but a medium-weight medium-length lovely soft plum taste. The long-decant-time people proved right again!