For The Love Of Port

Graham's Vintage Port 1977

This seems to be a hotly debated Port: some saying it's great, others saying it's a miserable failure because of alcohol which hasn't integrated and fruit which has dropped of suddenly (and ever the contrarian, I stand in the middle!). Since I recently managed to get a bottle for a very fair price, I decided to see for myself:

Upon decanting: alarmingly advanced colour. The nose is however quite nice: a bit spirity, red toned and strawberry-like - very true Graham's style.

12 hours: the alcohol has not integrated. Everything underneath the alcohol is absolutely lovely however. It is a more elegant type of port, very typical style of the producer in sweetness and its red toned aromatics. The palate is on the sweeter end of the spectrum, and has much of the elegant, slightly earthy aromas I hope to see in aging Graham's. Unfortunately the alcohol is very intrusive.

15 hours: The alcohol still hasn't integrated. A shame, as I like the elegant Port underneath the alcohol, but the heat is prominent and harsh enought to be called a flaw.

-O-

Thank you for the note. I must retry from my two-case holding of this, which so far — alas — I haven’t liked.

Yeah, this does seem to bring quite the controversy. I've had it on several occassions now, and I can say it has gotten better from the first bottle I had a few years ago.

LadyR and I recently tasted this port to celebrate LadyR's 30th birthday. We tasted it before at the BBR offline in August 2005, where it was the weakest of the bunch (we tasted Graham, Dow, Fonseca and Taylor 1970 and 1977 side by side). This was a better experience. LadyR posted a TN on the WS board. Her TN is pasted below:

This weekend Ronnie and I opened a bottle of Graham's VP 1977 at the occasion of my 30th birthday. As Graham's has proved not to be our most favourite style (especially when drunk next to Fonseca or Taylor's), it was interesting to taste it in its full right.

Decanted for 2 hrs:
Rusty / rose hip colour, not very intens. Elegantly aged and easy drinking, without losing its complexity. Subtle aromas of dried vigs, leather and star anise with a delegate taste of fresh vigs, red fruit (but what??), brown sugar, liquorice and mild tabacco to the end. The finish does not add any new flavours: nothing is really happening here. Overall, slightly hot VP, but very enjoyable. I'll give it 91 pts!

After 1,5 day:
It became the kind of port you can serve to your parents (in law) who know nothing about wine, but still think they drink the best port ever made I still enjoyed it, but it lost it complexity.

Thanks for the comments. I have the last small glass in front of me now. In a sense one might say it has lasted well for a couple days open (there are only light notes of oxygen working its way - well within the limits that I find charming), but unfortunately the alcohol is still prominent. Certainly not a port I'll look out for.

In case anyone here has a bottle of it and is bothered by the alcohol, drink it cooler than normal and with some strong stilton! This certainly helped with the heat. :)

-O-