1977 Dow's Vintage Port
Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 5:45 pm
I found this port about 5 years ago in a wine shop which is part of a underground shopping center in the tourist town of Frankenmuth, MI. The bottle was dust covered and the price of $5x.xx appeared to be the original price. It looked like the bottle had layed on it's side in the same store since the day it was stocked nearly 25 years ago. On the downside, despite being underground the store is kept at about 74°F and there seemed to be signs of seepage. I knew better, but I bought the bottle home with me & hoped for the best, intending to drink it right away. But... I didn't. And then when I next thought about I felt too much time had passed to bring the sad, undrinkable swill back to the store without a hassle so the bottle languished in the corner of my cellar port pin. But I decided to open it today for the sake of holiday cheer & to face up to the truth of poor judgment.
The cutting of the foil confirmed my fears: encrusted wine & corroded aluminum. Uh oh.
I knew the cork would crumble & I couldn't find my cork-fragment fisher. As I pulled the cork there was sign of red wine, around the entire cork, from the top downward. But, the long cork, longer than all other Dow VP's I remember having that had short corks ('63, 90, 91, 92, 94), did not break and, to my pleasant surprise, the port decanted rose colored with a brick rim & smelled OK. Plenty of grape skin sedment. Wine off the dregs is subdued and a bit tannic - no off flavors or aromas at all.
+ 6 hours: same rose w/ brick rim it showed on decanting. Some aroma of sandalwood, maybe cloves?. Muted black fruits on the round pleasant palate. Chewy but tame tannins. Cinnamon? Hint of clove. Medium finish. Fine tannins. Very pleasant VP. So, far a solid 91 and a testament to the robustness of VP. This was a seeping bottle that had been treated indifferently by spending most of it's life at relatively warm room temperature and under fluorescent lighting most everyday. And still, it's drinking pretty well. Merry Christmas, everyone.
Bill
The cutting of the foil confirmed my fears: encrusted wine & corroded aluminum. Uh oh.
I knew the cork would crumble & I couldn't find my cork-fragment fisher. As I pulled the cork there was sign of red wine, around the entire cork, from the top downward. But, the long cork, longer than all other Dow VP's I remember having that had short corks ('63, 90, 91, 92, 94), did not break and, to my pleasant surprise, the port decanted rose colored with a brick rim & smelled OK. Plenty of grape skin sedment. Wine off the dregs is subdued and a bit tannic - no off flavors or aromas at all.
+ 6 hours: same rose w/ brick rim it showed on decanting. Some aroma of sandalwood, maybe cloves?. Muted black fruits on the round pleasant palate. Chewy but tame tannins. Cinnamon? Hint of clove. Medium finish. Fine tannins. Very pleasant VP. So, far a solid 91 and a testament to the robustness of VP. This was a seeping bottle that had been treated indifferently by spending most of it's life at relatively warm room temperature and under fluorescent lighting most everyday. And still, it's drinking pretty well. Merry Christmas, everyone.
Bill
