1977 Croft

[DRT]

D+4h
Dark bright red. Slight bottle stink hiding red fruits. Lovely thick texture. Typical Croft oranges dominate but also some cherry and dark chocolate. The tannins are soft but still kicking around. Beautifully composed and complex. Fabulous juice.

More later...

[DRT]

D+28h
Cherry truffle nose. Thicker than last night with much the same flavour but now slightly spicy in the finish. A fantastic glass of Vintage Port.

[g-man]

I found this really hit the spot around the 6 hour in open decanter mark. lovely zest of oranges!

[DRT]

I found this really hit the spot around the 6 hour in open decanter mark. lovely zest of oranges!

I had a glass around that time last night and it was excellent but I was past the point of taking notes

[uncle tom]

lovely zest of oranges

I've yet to indulge one of these at my leisure, but Derek bought four of my bottles a year ago, and I think this is the second.?? he's popped. The first was at AHB's '80 horizontal last year, when it was less than impressive; but that bottle may have suffered from a lack of time to compose itself after decanting.

The Croft orange signature is perhaps the most easily recognised of the house identifiers, but it is also a bit mercurial - now you see it, now you don't..

..those who follow the wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone.. et al..

- have absolutely nothing on us when it comes to the evolution of our little treasures..!

Tom

[DRT]

Derek bought four of my bottles a year ago, and I think this is the second.?? he's popped. The first was at AHB's '80 horizontal last year, when it was less than impressive; but that bottle may have suffered from a lack of time to compose itself after decanting.

It is actually the 3rd bottle from that lot. The first was said to be badly corked by many of the group last summer. The second will have a TN here (I think?) but I don't recall it being as impressive as this one. For future reference, Tom, this is one of those that had obviously been under the floodline at its previous home. The cork was pretruding, sodden and very stinky at the top end but unaffected for the last 3rd or so above the wine.