1977 Niepoort Garrafeira

The port went into glass demijohns in 1982 and into bottle in 2007. This was served by Dirk Niepoort to compare with his 1863 Garrafeira, and I see that both Julia and I have already tasted it. But it was still a bit cloudy from having been brought to London and, as Dirk said, should have been decanted and served a little cooler. It seemed so sweet and bumptious compared with the ethereal 1863. Big, bold and mouth-filling. I found myself unable to make comparisons with any other sort of port because it's nothing like an old tawny (obviously, since it has seen so much less wood) and nothing like a vintage or even ruby, having been put into – large – glass later. A one-off! (JR)

Aged 4-6 years in old wood and then for nearly 30 years in demijohns of 8-11 litres bought in the late 19th century by Eduard Karel Jacob van der Niepoort, though it was his son, Eduard Marius van der Niepoort (Dirk's grandfather), who had the idea of using them to create the garrafeira style. Vinified in lagar with full stems. Bottled 2007. RS 109.7 g/l, TA 3.96 g/l. Reddish tawny colour and still revealing some fruit and plenty of spice on the nose. 'Fruitier than Colheita, less fruity than non-vintage ports', suggests Niepoort. It is a little bit spirity and there's spicy rancio character. Surprisingly powerful and so fresh. (JH)

Decanted in 2007. Dark tawny with a pale rim. High VA. Very sweet start and very luscious. Finishes much drier and has some rancio character. Tea-leaf flavours. Racy and quite chewy. Persistent. (JR)