1977 Rebello Valente

[jdaw1]

The presence of Alex B. in New York triggered a tasting (arranged via this thread, and discussed in this review) to which:

• Alex B. brought Kopke 1985;
• jdaw1 brought Warre 1985 and Warre 1977;
• g-man+♀ (Stephanie) brought Sandeman 1977 and Rebello Valente 1977;
• Bob Heckart brought Graham 1985.

This thread contains the tasting notes for the Rebello Valente 1977.

[jdaw1]

Cloudy brown-red, and nosing of bottle-stink. Initially widely hated. Some said mint, others grass.

Then the bottle-stink faded, helped by a larger glass, and so found more favour. Later: very floral.

[g-man]

My second fav wine.

I thought it initially tasted like York peppermint patties.

the finish started a bit short ...

but as the wine opened up it went a 30+ sec finish ..

it was the lightest wine of the bunch. Cloudy brown-red.

for me this was like drinking a light milk chocolate covered red berries.

I also agree with a floral component to this wine.

[uncle tom]

What was your decanting time like?

The 77's often need a lot of time to get their act together..

Tom

[g-man]

Was decanted at 7 in the morning
re corked and stuck in the fridge until around 2pm?

it might have gotten shaken around tho on the NY subway system.

[AHB]

Double decanted for 7 hours before being tasted. Light centre, pale rim, weak / watery looking orange rim. Chocolate and cocoa powder on the nose, with some odd cabbaginess. Sweet and full bodied entry but with a dirty and earthy mid-palate. The bottle stink on this wine blew off after an hour or two in the glass and revealed a lovely and delicate wine that was drinking very nicely but unlikely to improve with further bottle age. 6-6 or 90/100.

This wine suffered significantly from bottle stink (which I learned a few weeks ago comes from a combination of high sulphur content and insufficient oxygen working its way through a bottle seal/cork) and this bottle stink was persistent and got in the way of appreciating this wine for what ot could really offer. After a small remains of my first pour had sat in my glass for a acouple of hours this wine was really elegant and floral. Sadly when I had drunk and loved that pour and topped my glass back up, the bottle stink was back with a vengeance and we did not have enough time to allow it to blow off again. However, I did love this wine without the taint.