1972 Offley

[nac]

The first of two bottles of Offley Boa Vista 1972 offered to me (as part of a mixed lot of Port for not very many £) by WineOwners in mid 2023.

Grubby bottle, but level into neck and no obvious seepage. Cork saturated but managed to get it out in one piece. Fairly heavy sediment, but less than a bottle of Graham 1977 opened last week. Opened, decanted, poured.

Pale, maybe 30%, almost rose colour. But definitely still red rather than brown.
Nose muted, possibly because it's only been open 10 minutes, but a little fruit remains.
Mouth is more forthcoming. Figs, some licorice, orange. Balance is pretty good, although alcohol starting to dominate. Good length.

Wasn't expecting much, so pleasantly surprised. Actually quite nice.

Let's see how it progresses over the next few days.

[nac]

At +26 hours (under VacUVin)...

Nose has opened a bit, but only just. Some leather and wood now showing. Maybe some orange.
Mouth similar but with improved balance - alcohol less obvious now.

Holding up well.

[nac]

At approx +100hrs no change.
I'm going to leave the VacUVin cork out and see if another 24 hours makes any difference.

[nac]

Final glass after five days. Left under VacUVin apart from the last 18ish hours.
The faint nose has now gone and there’s an unwelcome bitterness in the mouth.
Overall, a pleasant surprise but clearly not one for the future.
The rapid decline once un-VacUVined was interesting but not unpredictable.

[PhilW]

Interesting to hear how it held up/progressed under Vacuvin.