An oversize crowd—possible because the bottles were all Magnums and Tappit Hens—gathered on Wednesday 1st February 2017 at the Boot and Flogger, to taste these large-format 1977s.
Thanks for an excellent evening, with a magnificent line up of large bottles. Apart from the Dow, which seemed to me a little disjointed (perhaps it needed a few more years?), all were very good indeed.
A great evening that was well organised (Thank You Charles). Most bottles were library releases except (T & F). There was good consistency across the 77's except Dow which showed a little weaker.
This was my first tasting in The Ovens room at the B&F- In my humble opinion the room is more accommodating for this size of tasting. The table is wider and it can be extended to accommodate 20. The temperature was about right at this time of year. However there is no air-con so it may be a problem later in the year when the outside temperature increases.
Just back from the 77-tasting. Thanks again for organising Wednesday, Charles.
Location fine, no big plus or minus to the other room at B&F.
My biggest lesson learned after comparing the two tastings:
No need to open Magnums or bigger formats from strong years with 40y of age other than to show off or for academic reasons. Most of the Ports showed better from the regular format, because we want the evolution in the bottle and the aromas which need development in the bottle. I would guess that this will change with another 40 years in the bottle. So if we do this tasting at its 80th birthday, Magnums would be the proper choice.
If you have some 75 Dow or Grahams, this is much better from the Magnum, because much more in its prime than from the regular bottle. Even stuff like 79 Malvedos it is a nice drink from the Magnum, but faded from the Regular.
Wines of the night were alike Wednesday Taylor, Fonseca and Warre, but lots of follow-ups present. Even producers like Messias or Offley put something very nice in the bottle. 1977 is not as heterogen as I firstly thought
I thought the ovens worked well, with more space than in the usual area (both per person, and behind for moving around); I liked this room. Service was excellent, as was the food.
A very enjoyable evening, thanks to Charles for initiating and all involved for supply of bottles and organisation.
The Warre from Tappit Hen took WOTN, and showed superbly (as did most of the wines, the Dow '77 being the only notable underperformer).
Splendid evening - many thanks Charles for the excellent organisation and to Charles and Tony for the decanting and pouring labours on the day.
The Ovens is certainly the best room for hosting > 14 attendees. Plenty of space at the table and behind chairs. Not quite so useful when you have numerous bottles to decant and need a sink and running water to wash funnels, decanters etc.
On the night, top notch service as ever.
As Phil noted, a fine showing from all bar the Dow.
Would it be correct in saying that there was a significant difference in scores between magnum and Tappit Hen bottlings for the two Houses that allowed comparison? If so, I wonder how a larger bottling of Taylors or Fonseca would have performed!
