Taylor Fladgate - Very Old Single Harvest Porto 1961

For many, Taylor’s is the archetypal Port house and its wines the quintessential Ports. Established over three centuries ago in 1692, Taylor’s is one of the oldest of the founding Port houses. It is dedicated entirely to the production of Port wine and in particular to its finest styles. Above all, Taylor’s is regarded as the benchmark for Vintage Port. Noted for their elegance and poise as well as for their restrained power and longevity, Taylor’s Vintage Ports are blended from the finest wines of the firm’s own quintas, or estates: Vargellas, Terra Feita and Junco. These three iconic properties, each occupying a distinct geographic location and with their own unique character, are the cornerstone of the company’s success and the main source of its unique and inimitable house style.

Taylor Fladgate has substantial stocks of old Tawny Ports that have been quietly aging in perfect conditions in their cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia. A very small quantity of the 1961 harvest has just been released as an exclusive Limited Edition: only 2,900 bottles have been produced. The wine is ready to drink and does not require decanting.

Tasting notes from Taylor-Fladgate: "Core of walnut brown surrounded by a broad rim of pale gold with olive highlights. Powerful nose of extraordinary complexity and opulence, revealing multiple nuances and dimensions of aroma. First to emerge is a mellow redolence of molasses, dried fig and sultana, mingling with nutty marzipan aromas. As the wine opens up, scents of cedarwood and dried tobacco leaf appear, together with subtle spicy notes of black pepper and cardamom and a fleeting fresh hint of citrus. All this is enveloped in an powerful aura of oaky vanilla aroma, the legacy of decades of ageing in cask. In the mouth the wine is dense, round and concentrated, with a thick velvety texture, quite rich and sweet on the mid palate but then lifted by a burst of fresh acidity on the finish, which is crammed with lingering flavours of butterscotch, almond, orange marmalade and dried fruit. A beautifully balanced wine, still clean and fresh in spite of its many years of maturing in wood."