1977 Gould Campbell Vintage Port

[Roy Hersh]

1977 Gould Campbell - deep purple-red color right from the get go and it did not get much darker with 10 hours in decanter. This is one immensely extracted wine with medium weight and not as big as I remember this being in past visits. Lots of smooth, juicy and Kirsch-like fruit that is very straight forward and a bit simplistic. Nice acidity and mild tannins that show up on the back end. I really enjoyed the fruit filled finish of this wine, with hints of bittersweet chocolate, yet the mid-palate seemed a tad hollow to me. I have enjoyed previous bottles more than this, as they've been "bigger" and had more concentration and complexity than this one. 88 points.

[Jay Woodruff]

Sounds tasty even if not up to past bottles.

I seem to too often forget to open a bottle until too late to take decant time into account except on a weekend when I plan it. Your 10hr decant made me think of this.

[Jan-Tore Egge]

Thanks for reminding me to buy this, even if your last bottle didn't show to well. I've only tasted it once, at a tasting last year, and was quite impressed -- by its relative youthfulness, too.

[NickA]

I've had one that didn't impress this year, but I couldn't help thinking there was just a hint of mustiness coming in and out of play holding all the fruit in check. Opening another bottle restored faith in this wine - it comes across as as one of the biggest '77s, and one of the few to maintain really deep levels of fruit extract. It's certainly one that will be one of the longest lived (along with Smith Woodhouse). But will it attain greatness? Certainly its managed to scalp all the big names in many a blind tasting...

[Stuart Chatfield]

Thanks for this note - I can't make up my mind about this one having had it many times. I'm not sure about my own judgement when it comes to predicting future life. It somehow seems so young to me that I feel it will become a legend in its older days, but on the other hand it can be unformed, disjointed and a bit cloying so end up tasting a bit like this year's Cockburns Fine Ruby (no disrespect to that wine which was my staple diet at University :!: ). On the whole, though, I think it will turn out good.

I certainly just favour the SW for 77. (As these two are always compared).

[Roy Hersh]

In case you did not know this tid bit, Gould Campbell is produced at Smith Woodhouse, both of which are owned by the Symington Family.