1977 Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port

[Mike McCune]

I started with 3 cases all purchased at basically the same time from the same source.

It looks like these are finally opening up for business. I knocked off too many of these in between the late 90's (when they were drinking unbelievably well when James Suckling wrote a separate review and gave it 99pnts) and 2006 when they just weren't showing well. I'm done wondering if this is going to come back or not in a balanced way. It's baaaack!!

This came out of the bottle with a wonderfully lifted fruity bouquet and also seemingly primary aromas, feshness and a note or two of minerals/stone. No wierd green streak (as per Jancis a few years ago) that definately existed for a while when this wine hunkered down. It has a not quite opaque purple colored core fading to a pink rim. It immediately came across as balanced even without decanting. A pop and pour surprise for sure.

Big purple fruity plummy entry with additional black fruits (blackberry) with some red ones trailing along (red cherry, raspberry), slight herbal touch (in a good way), moderate smooth tannins and moderate yet fresh acidity.

This did not change much over the several days I drank it undecanted out of the fridge.

93 points

[Andy Velebil]

Thanks Mike. A very tasty Port indeed.

[Todd Pettinger]

Thanks for the note on the '77 SW. I have two bottles in the cellar, one I am planning on opening at an offline in Boston at the end of the month.

Todd