1968 Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas

[Celia C]

This bottle was a freebie - thrown in with others that I'd bought because the fill was down to mid-shoulder. We removed the wax capsule to find that the cork had sunk in about 3/4". I managed to remove most of it in one piece, but the bottom quarter or so fell into the bottle.

On decanting, I was worried - it presented with a distinctly unpleasant nose - funky, earthy and quite stinky. I wondered whether it might be corked - I'm not very good at picking mild TCA. I was tempted to tip it down the sink, but figured that a 46 year old bottle (and the oldest port I've ever tried) deserved a fighting chance.

After eight hours in the decanter, it was fine - the funky aromas had disappeared, the palate was a little simple and the finish quite short, but it was pleasantly sweet and mellow. The colour had deepened over the breathing time to a dark browny-red. The neighbours came round for a taste (we never drink a bottle alone), and one commented that it reminded him of an old tawny. I have another bottle with a fill into the neck - quite optimistic about that one! 87 points

[Bradley Bogdan]

Port is one of the few wines that seems to survive unintentional oxidation in bottle very nicely as often as not. Glad this showed well!


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