1977 Warre's Vintage Port

[Eric Menchen]

Opened in accordance with the Peter W. Meek Every Day is Worth Celebrating Axiom (See this thread for a discussion.)

This was a half bottle with a soiled label. Fill level was good, however, and I don't recall the selo showing signs of seepage. The cork was dry on top when I removed the two capsules and and sandwiched selo. The cork was pretty soft, but came out in one piece.

Decanted for about 6 hours before first tasting, at which point I did not take detailed notes. Some warmth but nice flavor and finish. Some fruit and dried leaf, kind of a minty eucalyptus.

Just a small pour left for day two, D+32 hours, after being left out at room temperature overnight with a stopper. Color is light ruby with a touch of amber and bricking a couple of millimeters to the edge. The aroma is mostly alcohol tonight, with a slight floral note. In the mouth, cherry sucrets and some dried candy fruit, like the orange peel that goes in a fruitcake. Long tangy finish with some remaining pucker I didn't really notice before. Still warm going down. I usually find dried fruit aroma in the empty glass, but this had a toffee/brown sugar character. I wish there had been more of that earlier.

This was still enjoyable the second night, but was much better the first. Last night I would have given it a 92-93, and if my wife were to give scores, probably a 94 as she likes this one more than I. Today, however, just a 90-91. I have a couple 750s, and I'm interested to see if they show a little younger and hold up a little longer than this half.

[Roy Hersh]

Well stored 750s will definitely provide better/more youthful color and should definitely provide less developed nuance. Can't wait to hear your own opinion though. Your experience is EXACTLY why I am not a fan of 375s. When older they almost always show significantly more development than their larger bottle brethren. We'll see what you think.