A mini 77 horizontal at home
Posted: 01:16 Sun 24 Feb 2013
Returning from my 54th consecutive day of toil in 2013, i was delighted to discover a care package containing three samples of 77 port (Dow, Graham, Warre) had been delivered courtesy AHB. Labels indicate that these were opened on Thursday, meaning a 48-60 hour decant.
Making use of coloured headbands, these ports were decanted unsighted into three glasses for a semi-blind tasting.
Initial thoughts
all quite similar in colour, none obviously corked on the nose...none particularly spiritous...so no immediate way of picking the Dow and Graham.
Detailed notes
Port 1 - Orange headband: Some age to nose, though still lovely and fresh red fruit. Initial impact on palate is sweet but - if critical - slightly hollow and flat, though flavour builds thereafter with a citric mid-palate bite leading to a long cough mixture finish full of pleasant heat. This is good port. Combination of heat and sweetness make me think Graham.
Port 2 - Blue headband: smells like mature port, hint of sweet strawberry fields makes me think Warre. Really very inviting. mid-weight, with flavoursome red liquorice and cranberry dryness and at finish (actually...is this Dow?). Disappears a bit at end, though in a way that invites another sip. Glass soon emptied. Not as strong overall as Port 1, but the nose was beautiful. Warre / Dow.
Port 3 - white headband: similar to Port 2....both in nose and flavour - same dryness - but this seems somewhat bigger with much more complexity and persistence at the finish, lovely peppery aftertaste that leaves a long tingling in the tongue and cheeks. Yum. WOTN. Blind i could imagine guessing this as Taylor.
Port 1: revealed to be Graham
Port 2: revelaed to be Warre
Port 3: revealed to be Dow
Conclusions: I'd be more than happy to have any of these in my cellar - particularly the Dow if it could reliably taste like this! I didn't get the feeling with any of these that they need a massive amount of extra time. That said, i'm sure they'll continue to drink well for two or three decades.
Very many thanks to AHB!
Making use of coloured headbands, these ports were decanted unsighted into three glasses for a semi-blind tasting.
Initial thoughts
all quite similar in colour, none obviously corked on the nose...none particularly spiritous...so no immediate way of picking the Dow and Graham.
Detailed notes
Port 1 - Orange headband: Some age to nose, though still lovely and fresh red fruit. Initial impact on palate is sweet but - if critical - slightly hollow and flat, though flavour builds thereafter with a citric mid-palate bite leading to a long cough mixture finish full of pleasant heat. This is good port. Combination of heat and sweetness make me think Graham.
Port 2 - Blue headband: smells like mature port, hint of sweet strawberry fields makes me think Warre. Really very inviting. mid-weight, with flavoursome red liquorice and cranberry dryness and at finish (actually...is this Dow?). Disappears a bit at end, though in a way that invites another sip. Glass soon emptied. Not as strong overall as Port 1, but the nose was beautiful. Warre / Dow.
Port 3 - white headband: similar to Port 2....both in nose and flavour - same dryness - but this seems somewhat bigger with much more complexity and persistence at the finish, lovely peppery aftertaste that leaves a long tingling in the tongue and cheeks. Yum. WOTN. Blind i could imagine guessing this as Taylor.
Port 1: revealed to be Graham
Port 2: revelaed to be Warre
Port 3: revealed to be Dow
Conclusions: I'd be more than happy to have any of these in my cellar - particularly the Dow if it could reliably taste like this! I didn't get the feeling with any of these that they need a massive amount of extra time. That said, i'm sure they'll continue to drink well for two or three decades.
Very many thanks to AHB!
