For The Love Of Port

Hi all,

I've been away for a while...busy with the birth of my first... a boy. So the VP excel sheet is on hold but I do intend to finish it off during my paternity leave.

So, my last 77, a Graham's will be opened on Sunday for the occasion. And thanks to the shared experiences here I guess I will open and decant it 24hrs before.

I'll share my TN after.

Oh... i hear crying for milk...
paba

CONGRATULATIONS

Paba,

Congratulations

Take a tip from me, port helps you sleep through the noise

Derek

Thanks..

I hope 2007 turns out to be a vintage year, this little fellow will grow-up to discover his old man took care of him by buy a nice case for his adult live.

cheers
paba

Congratulations! I'll agree and state "let's hope 2007 is a vintage year"

Todd

Paul

My congratulations as well. Can I suggest some names for you and your wife to consider? Since Taylor is clearly a girls name, perhaps Fonseca or Delaforce?

But seriously, I hope all goes well for the new family of three and that those long sleepless nights are seen as conditioning for the future when you know that you need less sleep and can therefore spend more time awake and drinking port or working on port spreadsheets.

All the best.

Graham would work perfectly for the name of your son!

Congratulations to you and your wife. You are in for the ride of your life. As "they" say: It only gets better!

It is really true. Then again, it is easy to say that as I have not yet experienced my child's teenage years yet.

Hi all,

first off thank you for the nice words and encouragement! For the record the name will be Jérémy (Jeremy when accents are not possible).

Ok, back to the Graham's 77. So the objective is to serve it to my guests tomorrow Sunday at 2PM... hence I just opened it it and decanted it Saturday at 9PM in my Atlantis crystal ship's decanter.

I had my fears when I peeled away the metal wrap on the bottle''s neck.... no wax! just some extra silverish foil under the mandatory black foil. The cork was not very reassuring so I feared the worst. I inserted the cork screw and pulled gently and it was 99% wet. I owned this bottle since 93. I've strived to give good conditions but only the last few years have been truely wine storage conditions.

Ok the cork came out entirely and instantly and at arms length away the wine cellar was filled with a blueberry scent or atleast field berries. I was happy since that was almost confirmation that the bottle wasn't corked.

I poor a few mililitres into a wine glass and the first word to my mind was "light" in color and in viscosity. The color was that of an old port that has gone maybe too far. Not sure how to describe it but certainly not dark or ink or purple, we are starting to see shades of tawny... I'm exaggerating but you know what I mean when I say since of age.

I took those mL's to my nose and it was nice a few swirls and a taste and again the word light came to my mind. But it was clear that this was a nice wine and needs some time because after the rush of the alchool gone, you can taste some fruit and substance underneath.
I poored the rest via cheese cloth into the decanter.

Let's see how it evolves, stay tuned for the next report.

Paul

Hi again,

final comments....

so after 12 hours, the alchool was too dominant....

then came time to to serve to the guests, 18hrs after the decanting started.
The alchool had tamed down to a nice compliment. The field berries were still very present in the nose and the taste was very "classy" or smooth. well rounded and well integrated but over all was very soft or gentle... we are far from the tannin or grip. The sweetness was perfect, not too much.

In the end I was pleased but not blown away. My guest enjoyed the wine and many don't even like port commenting that they can see the difference between the low cost LBVs and this wine.

I'm still a big Graham's fan but clearly this one was overrated I should have opened it as i had originally planned to do back in 95.

So let's hope my remaining Graham's 94, 97 & 2000 will do better. Perhaps I'll have them at the 20 year mark instead of the 30 year mark.

cheers
Paul

From my experiance, G77 needs ages in decanter - a couple of days or more - to show it's best.

Early samplings from the last bottle I opened lacked composure and integration, but it DID come round very nicely.

I seem to recall noting that it is not a wine for the impatient!

G75 on the other hand is the complete opposite, and is on form almost immediately after decanting.

~~~

Now for a bit of 'mystic Tom' !!

2007 will be a generally declared year, but an economic crash in europe and north America (possibly in October 2009) will prove ruinous for the producers of many luxury goods.

Stocks of the 2007 vintage will fail to sell well, and will be sold off at heavy discount in 2012.

So plan to lay down some cases for young JB at the time of his fifth birthday!

- print this out, file it carefully, and see if I'm not wrong

Tom

Tom,

While I can certainly live without your predicted economic crash, I can certainly hope that the latter half of your prediction, the sell-off of a potential 2007 Vintage at bargain prices, does!

Todd Pettinger