For The Love Of Port

1977 Dow’s Vintage Port
The had great depth of color still and was showing no signs of age. However, one smell told me all there was, corked! N/R
01/31/09

Oh, no! I hate to hear that it was corked...

That sucks. I bet you were looking forward to that bottle.

My buddy opened a '77 Dow a week or so ago and it was corked too

The Dow '77 seems to run the whole spectrum from sublime to down the drain.

The Dow is quickly becoming the "83 Cockburn" of the '77 vintage. I've had and have recently heard of a lot of corked bottles of this. A true shame, as with the Cockburn, when the bottle shows perfectly it's a great VP.

Andy Velebil wrote:The Dow is quickly becoming the "83 Cockburn" of the '77 vintage. I've had and have recently heard of a lot of corked bottles of this. A true shame, as with the Cockburn, when the bottle shows perfectly it's a great VP.

:stupid:

Do you think the corks are to blame?

Moses Botbol wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote:The Dow is quickly becoming the "83 Cockburn" of the '77 vintage. I've had and have recently heard of a lot of corked bottles of this. A true shame, as with the Cockburn, when the bottle shows perfectly it's a great VP.

:stupid:

Do you think the corks are to blame?

No, I figure it's the alignment of the moons and stars in relation to the angle of offset the bottle was at when filled on the bottling line.

Andy Velebil wrote:No, I figure it's the alignment of the moons and stars in relation to the angle of offset the bottle was at when filled on the bottling line.

Ah yes, but of course.

Andy Velebil wrote:The Dow is quickly becoming the "83 Cockburn" of the '77 vintage. I've had and have recently heard of a lot of corked bottles of this. A true shame, as with the Cockburn, when the bottle shows perfectly it's a great VP.

You know, I was really close to buying a bottle of this yesterday, but, after reading this information, I am going to pass... It's just too big of a risk. What a shame, too, for I often read (and hear) wonderful things about the Dow's 77!

Jonathan S wrote: You know, I was really close to buying a bottle of this yesterday, but, after reading this information, I am going to pass... It's just too big of a risk. What a shame, too, for I often read (and hear) wonderful things about the Dow's 77!

It's not as risky as Cockburn '83, if that helps. I've had this port maybe a dozen times and 2-3 bottles have been off, 1-2 showed just OK, the rest have been splendid... Hope that helps clarify things some?

No it's not as bad as the '83 Cockburn's....but I do keep hearing about more and more corked bottles of this. I recently bought my last batch of them, only because it was a great price, and I have no plans on buying any more. The risk vs. price is generally to great IMO.

Sorry to hear Andy. 2 bad ones this past year for me. One when Eric visited us last Summer. This is now officially black listed with me.

Paul David wrote:Sorry to hear Andy. 2 bad ones this past year for me. One when Eric visited us last Summer. This is now officially black listed with me.

Has anyone tried Dow '77 in a magnum recently? Were magnums hand poured and corked back then?

I've only had the 1977 Dow twice, and according to others both bottles were off. I have to say "according to others" because I didn't even notice that the first bottle was corked (and neither did anyone else until the next day), and the second came late enough in a tasting that my palate had already been overwhelmed but I have been assured that it was off also.

Not a great track record, but then again I liked both bottles the day I tasted them and had to be told later that they were off.

Glenn E. wrote:Not a great track record, but then again I liked both bottles the day I tasted them and had to be told later that they were off.

Just imagine how much you will enjoy the 1977 Dow's when it is "on."