1975 Warre

[uncle tom]

Although quite often offered at auction, this wine has had little attention of late.

Having a couple of bottles in the cellar, and wondering whether to invest in more, I gave myself the perfect excuse to open one.

Decanted 6pm - cork reduced to crumbs..

Came cleanly off a very small amount of sediment, horribly pale.

First sip, not much nose, bit rough on the palate, but distinctive mouthfeel identified it as a Warre.

More anon..

Tom

[uncle tom]

Re-visited after 5 hrs

Slightly darker, but still woefully lacking in colour, better nose but a bit hot.

My instincts tell me that it will be better tomorrow - so I'll wait!

Tom

[uncle tom]

22hrs,

Darker and earthier now, but also, I detect, very slightly corked.

Even without the minor taint, this is not a star performer. The wine is bereft of body and has an overly hot finish. Not one I shall be stocking up on, I think.

Tom

[Andy Velebil]

Bummer on being slightly corked I've still not had a '75 VP...must track one down near me (getting to hot to ship in my area).

[Axel P]

I had this one in Feb during a Grahams vertical and thought the same thing. Especially because they are not a good value for the fairly high money.

Axel

[jdaw1]

horribly pale

bereft of body and has an overly hot finish

Archetypal 1975.

[SushiNorth]

distinctive mouthfeel identified it as a Warre

What's a warre mouthfeel, relative to other ports? (I ask to learn, not as dev's advocate).

[uncle tom]

What's a warre mouthfeel

That's a bit like asking 'what do oranges taste of?' As a signature it registers (to me) as a slightly smokey note on the roof of the mouth and the rear lower gums.

~~~

I decanted this bottle on Saturday, and was sufficiently unimpressed on Sunday to contemplate ditching the remainder. In the event I deferred to a '75 third growth claret (D'Issan)

On Monday I had a major firework display to put on in Birmingham, which took me out of the house from 5.30 a.m. to 2.30 a.m. the following day (spending much of the intervening period working in the rain.. )

As a nightcap, I polished off the claret, so it was not until late on Tuesday, 72 hours after decanting, that I got to sample this again.

It was very much improved, had much more substance, and the taint was barely detectable. Yet when I finally finished off the decanter yesterday, 96 hours on, the taint was back with a vengeance...

I won't venture a score for this one as it was a flawed bottle, but even without the taint, this is a bottom quartile wine that is quietly dying.

At auction it commands around £200/case + BP, and to my mind it isn't worth half that.

Tom