Thanks to Martin for arranging a most interesting horizontal. Graham, Smith Woodhouse, Gould Campbell (magnum), BBR, Fonseca, Taylor, Niepoort all good. I have a fair bit of Fonseca and Warre and am happy to own them. But the only ones of which I may now buy more are Taylor, Smith Woodhouse, and (if I can find any) Niepoort.
This was a great tasting of 1977 Vintage Ports - none of them stank of TCA. I am coming to the conclusion that my introduction to this vintage 20 years ago was just unfortunate. At one point I was running at a spoilage rate of about 50%. Looking through my tasting notes I can see that now down to 10-15%.
This tasting also led me to a conclusion, that 1977 is just starting to go through a closed phase like 1960 was 15 years ago. Many of the wines were delicious, but a fair number of them were disjointed and out of balance, nothing like as delicious and finessed as they were a couple of years ago.
Maybe, as Neil suggests, some were underdecanted. Or maybe some need a couple of years of slumber to wake up with a clear vision of what they want to be.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
That was a very interesting tasting. Thank you for inviting me.
Several broad observations.
• There is much very drinkable Port in the 1977.
• But greats, to be wistfully recalled aeons later, not so much. Indeed, not at all.
• F77 used to be a great. It was the biggest of this vintage, and of the of the near-sequences of Fonseca stunners: ’63, ’66, ’70, ’77, ’85. Where did it go?
Many thanks to Martin for the organisation and efforts on the night. What to take away?
- the ports are mature (nothing wrong with that!)
- the evening served as a reminder to me that '77 is not anywhere near as deep as '70, neither in declarations, nor in ports that reliably perform well
- on this occasion, some of the big boys were not on best form
As Alex has noted above, perhaps some of these are in a slumber? Let's see in 3-4 years from now. Perhaps the better ports will settle into an elegant and graceful place.
Thanks to Martin for organising, and for the chance to try a broad range of very enjoyable wines. Certainly the most enlightening mature port tasting of my relatively fledgeling career! I'm fascinated to hear that many thought this might be a slight lull in the 77s as I was impressed, but I would be delighted if true as I've already acquired a case of Graham '77 and will be keeping an eye out for more across several of these houses.
I'd agree with the sentiments here and thank you Martin! I opened eight 1977s in 2021 over a long lockdown weekend (it took me a few days to recover from that I can tell you) and was left underwhelmed though for some unknown reason I didn't open Taylor. Fonseca was the best of them closely followed by SW, GC and Graham.
Perhaps Alex is right and they are in a dumb phase. The F77 I had last year at Panascal was very fine but then it's been stored in Oporto so is likely maturing at a different rate.
Thanks for arranging Martin, its a lot of work and you did a world class job!. A great evening and some good research done. Enjoyed catching up with old friends and new
I have always avoided this vintage and just have a few bottles of Smith Woodhouse and Gould Campbell plus some of the Tappit Hens ( which are fantastic ). I came out of the tasting with my view confirmed and that money is better spent particularly on current prices on the 1970 vintage. Perhaps a bit broad brush but 70 is just such good value and I think will be going after the 77's in general.
Christopher wrote: ↑15:47 Fri 19 Jul 2024
Perhaps a bit broad brush but 70 is just such good value and I think will be going after the 77's in general....
Christopher wrote: ↑15:47 Fri 19 Jul 2024
I came out of the tasting with my view confirmed and that money is better spent particularly on current prices on the 1970 vintage. Perhaps a bit broad brush but 70 is just such good value and I think will be going after the 77's in general.
Yep, get your 1970s while they're still a good value. Based on the cost curves we've seen over the last decade or so for 1963 and 1966, the prices of 1970s are about to start climbing.
