Strakers have recently been selling a huge private cellar (much of it Rhone wines), the property of a late departed wine and food buff who lived in what appear to have been stately surroundings. The catalogue informed us that he had been in the habit of buying at release.
As provenance goes, it doesn't get much better..
I picked up from this sale a ten bottle lot of Fonseca '77.
Of the ten bottles, six had excellent levels, although one had a mouse chewed capsule. Three more had BN levels, and one was at mid-shoulder - a dreadful level for a wine of this age.
Believing in 'survival of the fittest' - It was promptly put on death row..
There was no obvious sign of seepage, and my first reaction was to suspect a problem on the bottling line.
On removing the capsule, there was a small stain on the guarantee slip where it passed over the top of the bottle, but no more. However, the cork had a rough, almost furry appearance.
On removing the cork, I found it to have an open spongey texture that could be compressed with ease between thumb and forefinger. Extraction from the bottle had stretched it, and the branding was almost impossible to read.
First sip revealed some bottle stink, and the dregs were quite hot on the palate. After a few hours, the heat had gone, but it was clearly corked - at least I thought it was...
Returning to it this evening, now some 28 hours after decanting, I can detect no sign of the wine being corked at all; indeed it has developed good integration and is drinking very well.
This is all a bit wierd. A few hours ago I was weighing up the 'moral hazard' of cutting my losses and selling the bottles on to some unsuspecting punter at the Cheffins Xmas sale, and now I'm thinking that I want to hang on to them...
Will re-visit tomorrow!
Tom
1977 Fonseca
- uncle tom
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1977 Fonseca vintage port
Last edited by uncle tom on 08:36 Sun 26 Oct 2008, edited 1 time in total.
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
Re: 1977 Fonseca vintage port
That’s not moral hazard; that’s insider trading.
- uncle tom
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Re: 1977 Fonseca vintage port
Julian said:
I said:
This is a fully mature wine that will probably plateau for a good few years yet. A better bottle from this stash might score higher, but this one gets 8-8
Tom
In Cityspeak, you're probably correct - anyway, I'm keeping them!That’s not moral hazard; that’s insider trading.
I said:
Unfortunately not now - I seem to have an empty decanter this morning..Will re-visit tomorrow!
This is a fully mature wine that will probably plateau for a good few years yet. A better bottle from this stash might score higher, but this one gets 8-8
Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
Re: 1977 Fonseca vintage port
So do we have to re-name this phenomenon as "doing a Tom"?uncle tom wrote:I said:
Unfortunately not now - I seem to have an empty decanter this morning..Will re-visit tomorrow!
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Ernest H. Cockburn
- uncle tom
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Re: 1977 Fonseca vintage port
Downing a bottle in one day is to do a Derek, two days is a doing a Tom..So do we have to re-name this phenomenon as "doing a Tom"?
Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
Re: 1977 Fonseca vintage port
Ah, I misread the initial post and thought you had done a single-sitting drain of the decanter. You obviously need more practice
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Ernest H. Cockburn
Re: 1977 Fonseca vintage port
Tom,uncle tom wrote: This is a fully mature wine that will probably plateau for a good few years yet. A better bottle from this stash might score higher, but this one gets 8-8
Tom
Are you saying that Fonseca 1977 in general is fully mature or just this particular bottle/case? Given the obvious flaws in the condition of this bottle I wouldn't think it would be a good example to use to assess the F77s overall condition? I realise that you have qualified your score but just wanted to understand what you mean by the first part of the above quote.
Derek
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Ernest H. Cockburn
- uncle tom
- Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: 1977 Fonseca vintage port
I last had the F77 at Joost's horizontal in Utrecht in April, when the wine showed a similar degree of maturity to this one. Prior to that, I popped a bottle at home back in Sept '06, at which point I felt it had a little more to offer.Are you saying that Fonseca 1977 in general is fully mature or just this particular bottle/case?
So in terms of maturity, I'd say that this wine has just about arrived, and is now ready for mainstream quaffing..
Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill