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1977 Taylor's Vintage Port

Posted: 08:10 Fri 22 Jun 2007
by RonnieRoots
My TN from the BBR offline, August 2005:
This is a primal scream! Still hard, although the fruit seems to come around a bit. Very dense. One for the very long haul and IMO a great example of what this port is capable of. Didn't really make detailed notes, because I was too busy emptying the bottle. My no. 2 of the evening.

Posted: 09:06 Fri 22 Jun 2007
by RonnieRoots
A note from 2004, written up by LadyR:
A month ago we bought 7 bottles of this near perfect vintage port for only 50 euro's a bottle.
Since two are slightly leaking, we decided to open one of those to see if it is infected. (Actually, we got 2 Fonseca '85 for free extra because two Taylor's bottles did not look nice :D)

Decanted it for 22 hours before drinking.

Medium ruby colour, with a rim going from orange to pinkish on the side. Still a very 'young colour'.
First smell is a little medical (iodine), but soon figs and orange peel extracts are coming through. It seems like this glass of port is still very closed, though one can smell it's very delicate.
Taste is closed as well, but what I can taste is very well integrated and elegant. Medium to thick bodied, lots of vigs, some plums and surprisingly still cherries and blackberries. Creame milk chocolate and brown sugar at the midpallet. Nice balanced medium tannins. Delicious! Unfortunately, there is also something 'dusty' or even fungy, which reveals that this port might be slightly infected.
The finish is long, but bitter and rather hot. Again lots of vigs and caramel hints that last forever.

Overall, very elegant and still young of character. Too closed. I did not like the hot component in it.
Think we are going to seal the other leaking bottle and try the next one in about 10 years time. This port really needs more time to mature.
I'll give it 92 points (it did not had the WOW I expected to give it the JS 98 points. Maybe also because it might have been infected.)
I'll try it tonight again to see if it's still closed.

Posted: 09:08 Fri 22 Jun 2007
by RonnieRoots
And another note, from October 2006, when we drank it together with tyee:
We tried a second bottle from the same lot. This bottle was the one with the worst fill level (low shoulder). As LadyR mentioned in her original post, we received a bottle of Fonseca 85 extra, because of the state of the bottle. A good deal IMO. :)

I opened and decanted the bottle around 2.30PM and we drank it around 10.00PM in the company of Tyee and his wife Patty. Tyee made the TN's so I only have my recollection to trust on.

I wasn't sure what to expect because of the bad fill level / leakage. Straight in the decanter it had very little colour, a bit of a dusty nose , very spiritous. Taste wasn't much better. Although thick-bodied, it hardly showed any fruit or complexity. Hmmmm.

I tasted it several times during the day, and each time it got a bit better. Around the time we drank it, it had gained lots of colour and it became a very enjoyable port. Not on the same level as the previous bottle, but good nonetheless.

We saved a bit (stored in half bottle in the fridge) for drinking together with StevieCage two days later. It was still in the same shape. This bottle was probably around 91 points for me, and I hope the 'replacement' bottle of Fonseca '85 reached Canada in pristine condition!

Posted: 22:27 Thu 28 Jun 2007
by KillerB
From the BBR off-line:
Dark, very little bricking and very young. Distinctly difficult to drink with a bit of sharpness but obviously a Port with style.

Posted: 17:43 Mon 17 Sep 2007
by uncle tom
One of a pair of bottles bought a couple of years ago, both with mouldy and stained labels.

One bottle has a respectable level, but the other is at VTS

No obvious seepage until the capsule was removed, revealing a slightly spauled cork with a heavy crystalline coating of dried port.

Decanted a few minutes ago, after removing the cork intact. Plenty of fine sediment.

First sip:

Heavy bottle stink and intitial fire on the palate - could easily alarm someone who didn't know about decanting time - but I think this is going to be OK

More anon..

Tom

Posted: 18:12 Mon 17 Sep 2007
by Conky
Tom,

This is probably a question for another place, but what the hell. What smell do you associate with Bottle Stink? Is it a universal smell, or can it be different things, and to differing degrees?

Alan

Posted: 18:36 Mon 17 Sep 2007
by uncle tom
It's a slightly 'off' smell that masks the bouquet, and can make some people believe that the wine is corked.

You'll know it when you encounter it!

Tom

Posted: 17:00 Wed 19 Sep 2007
by uncle tom
I re-visited this after 3 hours for another sip, but being a '77 did not expect it to be ready - although the bottle stink had blown away, it wasn't.

19 hours on and it had found some composure, and has not altered much since.

The wine's biggest asset is it's superb bouquet, and lingering finish.

On the flipside it is very much a child of '77, with persistant juvenile tannins coupled to the beginnings of old age - the 'Peter Pan' characteristic.

With that old age there is some excess of spirit.

But this is good wine, and very Taylor.

To score:

For immediate gratification, this is very much on a par with the Graham '85 I recently consumed - top quartile, but not quite in the dizzy heights. Those who are less tannin averse might rate it higher, but I will give it an 8.

Where's it going?

Here it differs from the Graham in that I think this wine is marginally past it's best. I'm not predicting that it will fall off a cliff anytime soon, but I don't believe this wine is well set for the long haul - so a point off.

Score 8-7

Tom

Posted: 16:12 Wed 26 Dec 2007
by ajfeather
For me Ronnie hit the nail on the head this one is delicate, reddish/orange colour, some heat after 5 hours in the decanter, hints of blackberries on the palate with delicate tannins and quite a long after taste.

Posted: 22:21 Fri 08 Feb 2008
by Tsunami
one bottle destroyed by raynair.com :evil:

after we missed the flight for 2 minutes due the extreme lenght of the security-check, our trunk was riped out of the plane an trowed down.
one bottle did smash an paint my samsonite nice purple :oops:

Posted: 22:46 Fri 08 Feb 2008
by Alex Bridgeman
That is a really rough bit of luck. Sorry to hear the news but glad all the others made it back to Switzerland safely.

Alex