1977 Fonseca

[Alex Bridgeman]

Tasted at the 1963 Horizontal on 18 July 2023.

The wines appearing at the tasting were:
1963 Adam, with a cork branded "Carvalhas 1963"
1963 Borges
1963 Burmester
1963 Cockburn
1963 Constantino
1963 Croft
1963 Fonseca
1963 Graham
1963 Martinez
1963 Quinta do Noval, bottled by Army & Navy Stores
1963 Ramos Pinto
1963 Warre
1977 Fonseca, appearing as a mystery bottle poured and tasted blind

[mcoulson]

IMG20230717201429.jpg (380.78 KiB) Viewed 748 times

IMG20230717201433.jpg (366.09 KiB) Viewed 748 times

IMG20230717201632.jpg (395.63 KiB) Viewed 748 times

[winesecretary]

A beautiful colour.

Smells... well, like port (not a given at this tasting). Bit of eucalyptus on the nose from the spirit.

Nice ripe fruit but perhaps a little lighter on the palate than perfection for an F77 (mind you, so many of the 77s are lighter than perfection, or merely perhaps they are not the big bruisers I remember them being 25 years ago)

Top half of the draw on the night.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Served blind, this wine was a mature brick red colour and 50% opaque. Generous red fruit with a twist of woodsmoke and a hint of orange peel give a complex and inviting nose. Smooth red fruit on the palate, with tannins wrapped around the fruit; the two combining to provide an immense and impressive Port that is fresh and full of amazing fruit. A long and lingering strawberry jelly finish, maintaining its impressive balance and complexity. This is a beautiful and complete wine. It was guessed to be an excellent bottle of Croft 1963 and was my wine of the tasting. 97/100. Decanted 12 hours.