1995 Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas Vintage Port

[Al B.]

This was a tasting note taken from a glass poured out of a freshly opened bottle at a restaurant in London.

Opaque dark red, even into the rim. An astonishing nose of ripe blackcurrants soars from the glass and could be smelt even as the waiter stood behind me waiting to put the glass on the table. Closer sniffing brought out spearmint (which others have described as eucalyptus) and fresh grass.

In the mouth the first impression was of blackcurrant cordial. Not overly sweet and surprisingly thick for such a young wine, the midpalate is overwhelmingly fruity but has a lovely core structure of rigid but harmonious acidity. The tannins are present, but have the good grace to stay out of obvious sight. The aftertaste is generous and very long, dominated by black chocolate and dark cherries

This is a much better wine that I was expecting and is remarkably good. On Tom's scale this is in the middle of the above average pack but will most certainly be a better wine in 10-20 years, if I can only keep my hands off it until then. 7/8 or 92/100.

Interestingly, this note was taken just moments after the bottle was opened. After about 30 minutes, the wine had lost much of its balance and had become overly alcoholic and too acidic. However, I would fully expect the harmony to return with enough time in the glass or decanter - it was just too good at first to completely fall apart in the way that it was seeming to.

[Tom Archer]

No-one seems to speak ill of the '95's - it's looking like the best of the undeclared '90's vintages.

Still very early days though. we need to wait till 2020 to get a proper take.

Meanwhile, I'm looking to lay down all the principal SQ's from this vintage (while they're cheap!)

Tom

[Al B.]

Tom,

I think stocking up on the '95s is a good call. I would love to build up larger stocks (especially since its my son's birthyear) but probably won't have the chance to do so for a while.

Alex