1977 Sandeman Vintage Port

[Jay Hack]

• 1977 Sandeman Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto (11/26/2009)
  Decanted 5 hours.
  
  Day 1: This was disappointing because it was way too light for a VP. My brother in law thought it was lightly corked, but I disagree, and corkiness did not increase over the following two days, so I doubt it. The alcohol predominated over the fruit and other flavors and those other flavors were very light. The Touriga Nacional flavor you find in port and in non-fortified Touriga Nacional wines just wasn't there except to a very minor extent. There was a hint of acetone (nail polish remover) on the nose.
  
  Day 2: I am always amazed how a lot of Port fleshes out with an extra day out of the bottle. This is still not a great VP and still disappointing, but much better than Day 1. It's light but definitely Port-like.
  
  Day 3: Getting a little better, but still too much alcohol and a bit on acetone on the nose. You can get a tiny bit of roasted nuts on the nose, and cherry on the palate, but not a lot and the alcohol is still too strong.
  
  Given a choice between this and the dreaded 83 Taylor, I would choose the Taylor, which puts it below what I would say is Roy's Hirsh's benchmark for the low end of mediocre. (84 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[Roy Hersh]

Jay,

The last bottle of this that I enjoyed was in 2009 at some point and if I wasn't in an airport at the moment, I'd look up my own TN and post it here. Anyway, I clearly thought it was a nice and elegant style and not a big or powerful wine. I would buy it again and think I am down to my last couple of bottles of it.

[Andy Velebil]

Jay,
I'd suggest giving it another go. While not one of the "top" VP's of that vintage, I've not had the bad experience that you did with this one. here's my TN on it

After a couple failed attempts at trying this VP I finally suceeded in a non-corked bottle. Decanted about 12 hours before starting in on this older VP....The color has gone from a light strawberry to a dark ruby now. A very alluring nose of dark chocolate and violets which is hard to stop smelling. The palate has a tad bit of heat that detracts from the palate a bit, but it doesn't over shadow the red fruit. Some nice subtle spices mixed with some aged red fruit are balanced out by the soft tannins and moderate acidity. This is by far a more elegant VP than a massive blockbuster, reminds me of an older Warre's VP. While not the top of the heap on the vintage, a very enjoyabe bottle. 91 points.
02/23/09
91 Points (2009-02-23)