Golden West Wines – celebrating 40 years in wine – 1977

Golden West Wines was established in 1976 and this year we are celebrating 40 years in wine. Join us every week as we look back on each year of our journey, and at what else was happening in the world at that time…

1977 – The year Elvis died and Carter took over in the White House. Fleertwood Mac released Rumours and crowds flocked to see Star Wars. The Raiders won their 1st Super Bowl and the shuttle Enterprise took its maiden flight. In the world of wine, it was pretty much a year to forget overall, apart from one key wine which was, in the future, to shape and truly establish Golden West Wines on the domestic and international stage.

That wine was vintage Port, a love affair with which we have had since those early days and continues very much today. Port has always thrilled the cognoscenti and traditionalist, sometimes unfashionable, it now sits loftily as one of the world’s most unique and savoured wine styles. After release and over the years we have stocked and sold virtually all the major houses’  1977 vintages.

1977 Ports
1977 was truly one of the great vintages of all time, and the Ports from that year can be summed up as being elegant and powerful with rare complexity and longevity. Today we carry two of the standout wines of that year, Taylor’s and Fonseca.

“The 1977 [Fonseca] has consistently been at the top of my list of vintage ports in this great vintage..a mammoth, opaque, statuesque vintage port of remarkable depth and power.” Robert Parker