A most impressive showing. And it took 2 days sitting in the fridge, without any gas or other preservative, to even begin to be approachable. The last time that happened for me was with 1990 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falletto Riserva at release.
2017 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Porto - from half bottle
This is an extraordinary Port. The deepest shade of purple imaginable with darkest ruby at the rim, when first opened an intense nose of crushed blackberries, blueberries, cassis and tar, on the palate a blazing wave of crushed berries- much like one often sees in a fine young vintage of Montrose, despite the intense deep fruit the tar, tannin and structure make this almost undrinkable- I do not think I have ever seen a young Port so brutal on the palate, painfully intense long finish with plums and white mineral notes almost overwhelmed by the alcohol and acid notes, I then set the half bottle in the fridge- recorked but not gassed and with about a glass already consumed, so plenty of air space, day one it barely budged, it has now been two days and at last this is approachable if still almost painfully intense, the nose is more elegant now and very primary- and still carries across the room from the glass, violets now evident as well, on the palate the sheer power of the wine is still in full evidence but the alcohol and structure are far better integrated, with all its mass it floats across the palate- almost caressing it- with a luxurious semi-sweet chocolate richness coating the primary fruit, the tannins are still evident but nicely buried, length to burn, all the great fruit intensity of a 2016 but with a structure to keep it classic and classy, this promises to be a great vintage for Taylor but one that will take a great deal of time to reach its peak, a long journey ahead- but one I will eagerly take.
Outstanding port vintage, though these have become more plentiful with climate change. Opening another of these in a few years will be Russian roulette - their dumb phase isn’t so much muted but rather boils down to misaligned flavors, and is proportional to the wine’s lifespan. Happened to me recently with 1998s.
This is one of the wines I thought of reading the thread on whether you take life expectancy into account when buying wine. I received a nice offer last week on this wine, but passed, thinking it would be a nice treat to open on my 95th birthday.
Thanks for the note, Tom. I had stopped purchasing Vintage Port after the 2003 vintage came out, taking life expectancy into account. However, in 2017 we were fortunate enough to spend a day in Oporto while on a cruise and visited Taylor, Grahams and Cockburn. It was an wonderful visit and we have bought a few half-bottles and full-bottles to commemorative the visit. BTW, the cellar at Grahams is extraordinary. It is not every day that one see’s bottles of 1868, 1927, 1935 and 1945 Vintage Port laying down!
Quinta do Bomfim, Pinhao (a lovely place on the Douro) : Graham’s Tawny 40 ans : 18/20
Grande réussite également, plus évoluée/solaire/torride, presque dans un registre de Cognac.
Graham’s Very old single harvest Port 1972 (mis en bouteille en 2015) : 17,5/18
Une colheita figuée, épicée, grasse, évoquant un peu un Madère (Boal) voire un cream andalou. Haut niveau mais sans la vibration subtile que l’on trouve dans les meilleurs vins oxydatifs assemblés (les vertus du patchwork).
If the vintage were any less glorious, I would have passed. As it stands I am just doing a mixed case of my favorites plus a couple each of the fancier bottlings, and then some halves to use for monitoring along the way. Besides, I could see myself keeping and indulging in Port to the end of my days even though I think I will tire of the wine hobby in general at some point. It is a nice mix of the complexity of wine plus the kick of a little more alcohol- so for 2017 Porto I am making a small exemption to the life plan
Tom Reddick wrote:
Wow- that sounds awesome. Were the bottles you bought older vintages? Having library access alone would make for a great trip.
My apologies, Tom. I did not frame the story very well. We visited Oporto during the end of September, 2017, and there was already a lot of enthusiasm about the vintage. While we were there we bought some Port glasses, a few Tawny’s and so forth. When the 2017 Vintage was released last year we decided to buy that Vintage as a reminder of when we were there. We bought full and half bottles of Grahams and Taylor. It was a wonderful visit and my wife (who does not normally drink any Port) and I would love to go back and visit some day. Here is a picture of the view from Grahams. Cheers!
The city where I was born, in the parish of Santo Ildefonso! Some port is no longer passed through the Caves in Vila Nova de Gaia, as they become more and more dedicated to visits, but historically it was said that the climate in VNG was decisive in the way that Port developed in the cask. The jury is probably still out on that.
Don’t know if the jury is out. Everyone that I know agrees storage conditions were much different in Vila Nova rather than upriver, before they got electricity. The is the origin of the “Douro Bake.” Nowadays with AC there’s not much difference. Now some places on the Douro were cooler than others and thick stone walls helped, but in general it was much warmer and dryer than close to the Atlantic.
