Summarise a vintage, concisely

[LGTrotter]

1977; the vintage of the century (in 2025).

[LGTrotter]

1985; the best of this vintage are among the finest ports of the century for drinking now.

[DRT]

1977; the vintage of the century (in 2025).

Is that how long it takes for dodgy corks to come good? Excellent. Stock up.

[Chris Doty]

1977; the vintage of the century (in 2025).

Lgtrotter is fast becoming my favorite forumite! Yes, buy all '77s!!!!

Drink the 83s while they wait to mature! Genius!!!

[Chris Doty]

1985; the best of this vintage are among the finest ports of the century for drinking now.

Uh...puff puff PASS, brah

[jdaw1]

1983 - The best bottles can be excellent. But many bottles of all the shippers are rubbish.

[Glenn E.]

1977 - stellar vintage; dodgy corks and production standards

Though I do still like my original summary:

1977 - potentially excellent port with disturbing bottle variation; buyer beware

[LGTrotter]

I have been turning over the problem of this thread with the aid of Spinoza and Will Self and have come to the conclusion that we are being required to achieve the impossible here. The position of sub specie eternitatis is not one we can occupy, we can only be partial and in the 'now'.

1912; better than originally envisaged.

[djewesbury]

I don't think that relativism is going to cut much ice here. These guys all believe that they occupy the eternal.

[LGTrotter]

I don't think that relativism is going to cut much ice here.

Which is why I thought I should return to Spinoza, a man not much given to relativism. Will Self prompted by his musings on 'A point of view' about fiction. The 83 being like Anna Karenina, doomed, despite all the perigrinations of her character, to perish under the train. Whatever she (the 83s) may think about her capacity for free will and the potential for an alternative ending.

1983; Vronsky could have done better for himself.

Which is where the 1970 has difficulties for me. To choose a slightly less highbrow example I would suggest this vintage is as if Sam Gamgee took it upon himself at about chapter five to take the ring off Frodo as he knew he couldn't destroy it in the end. It is a minor character which has usurped the central role.

1970; Count Oblonsky/Perigrine Took.

[LGTrotter]

The thought of Ultravox and Vienna elsewhere has brought to mind another obvious comparison in the same style as the one above.

Those of you who can cast their failing senses back to March 1981 will remember the lush beauty and narrative drive of Ultravox's video, coupled with the anthemic song, right on the zeitgeist of the new wave of electropop. But this masterful addition to the oeuvre was baulked of the Number 1 position in the UK charts for three weeks by an altogether different sort of song.

1977; No.2 Ultravox, Vienna.

1970; No.1 Joe Dolce, Shaddap You Face.

[DRT]

1977; No.2 Ultravox, Vienna.

1970; No.1 Joe Dolce, Shaddap You Face.

Get a grip of yourself man. Those are patently the wrong way around. 1977, the year that was over-hyped in its day, 1970, class showed through in time.

[Chris Doty]

1983 - The best bottles can be excellent. But many bottles of all the shippers are rubbish.

fine.

[LGTrotter]

1977; No.2 Ultravox, Vienna.

1970; No.1 Joe Dolce, Shaddap You Face.

Get a grip of yourself man. Those are patently the wrong way around. 1977, the year that was over-hyped in its day, 1970, class showed through in time.

I have taken a perfect illustration of what I wished to say from pop history and you turn it on it's head. I'm sorry but Joe Dolce was number 1, as is 1970. I don't make the rules, I play by them.