1977 Graham's Vintage Port

[Mark D]

Opened 04/14/10.

Inauspicious start; leaky cork and then it fell easily into the bottle! (Retrieved later using the plastic bag trick)

Translucent, pale red fading to a hint of tawny on the edges.

D+0 Warm nose, brown sugar, peel, almonds. Medium bodied, sweet, warm, watery feel in the mid palate, but quickly heat takes over and dominates through to the finish, some bitterness lingering too. Slight spritz? Worrying.

D+12 Same nose, though seems hotter. In the mouth much better, heat less sharp revealing some tawny qualities.

D+27 Still some heat, though not imposing now. Good acidity, bubble gum and long marzipan length.

D+60 Last glass. Smooth and better balanced. Clearly on its way to developing a lovely sweet and tawny style. Deliciously long and sweet finish.

I'd hazard that it's caught at the end of its ruby stage and has a way to go to develop a tawny style. The first few hours seemed very consistent with other notes on this forum, and elsewhere, but after a lengthy decant time is so much better.

[Roy Hersh]

Mark,

Thanks so much for making your first post on FTLOP a tasting note. This has always been a controversial Port and it is very good to have as many opinions as possible to see how the wines are showing. If you would like to introduce yourself on the PORT BASICs Forum here, the first topic ("thread") is for doing so and it would be great for others to get to welcome you too.

Please come on back and we look forward to your ongoing participation.

Roy