1977 Dow’s Vintage Port | Wow. My first 70s era port!

A gift to myself from some time ago that I finally decided to treat my lady and I to, paired with some lovely films from 1977. My first vintage port from the 70s! The bottle appeared to have great provenance for its age – intact capsule, top shoulder fill, just a slightly retracted cork with a hint of mold on the top – and came out amazingly clean with the Ah-so. Prepped by keeping it upright for a day prior to pouring to let the sediment settle. Stored at 55, popped and poured using a cheese cloth for any additional sediment or cork fragments – but decanted only in the bottle – enjoyed one glass within an hour, the second within eight hours.

Visually, the first few milliliters of the pour were slightly tawny, but the rest a vivid, strong garnet with hints of orange hue at the rim. Just a spectacular color to me, was afraid it might be bricked (for no reason tbh).

The nose, my friends, the nose! What an intense variety of notes. Smokiness and wood at the rim; chocolate, caramel further in – orange peel, and to my surprise, stewed/dried raspberries and cherries still notable. Being used to tawnies, this bit of red fruit was a welcome treat. By the last glass, most of the red fruit had faded to stronger tobacco, caramel and dark chocolate scents.

On the palate, perfect balance. Everything in harmony. Silky tannins (pardon the nonsense here lol) tickling the tongue, with a zippy acidity balancing the sweetness (present, but not yelling for your attention). At 20.6% (!), the warmth was notable on the way down, but in that sitting by the fireplace kind of way, not the shot caliber strength l've felt elsewhere. Flavors of those aforementioned red fruits, raisins, caramel, honey, chocolates. Finish well over a minute long. I’m running out of adjectives.

I've had plenty of port over the years – I drank that primarily for over five years until I made my way finally to non-fortified wines. My first vintage from the 1970s, and I was just completely blown away by the complexity and integrated elements of this wine. Was able to find this 375 for $50, hopefully I can track down more in the future. Loved the entire experience!