1994 Taylor's LBV Port

[Roel B]

Time to taste this filtered LBV, bought a few weeks ago. Pop-n-pour right out of the wine cabinet.

On the eye: the wine has a dark brownish-red color, with an orange/brown discoloration towards the edges. Not transparent at all, instead the wine seems a bit turbid.

On the nose: somewhat closed but opening up as I am writing and the wine warms. Primarily secondary and tertiary aroma's. I smell chocolate, spices, (faint) orange zest and some vanilla. Some dried fruits are also present. Very nice and good complexity for an LBV, but not very expressive.

On the palate: Pretty good! Good acidity level and still has strong tannins. Most of the smells return in the taste. Still very fruity. The aftertaste is one of long lingering dark plum and orange zest, sweetened with brown sugar, all melting together on the tongue.. Yummie!

Getting to the bottom of the glass there is some sediment. Filtering or decanting is advised.

I would not have expected all this from this bottle, given it's location for the past 13 years: standing upright on a store shelf! Great wine at this price level.

Score: 16/20.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Great result from an 18 year-old filtered or ordinary LBV, and not well cellared at that. Imagine if it was an un-filtered LBV and properly stored. My feeling is that the port trade don't promote LBV enough, for what could be a cellaring port for budget-minded consumers.

Just my two cents......................Mahmoud

[Roel B]

I agree.. I do have a number of younger unfiltered (mostly Niepoort) LBV's and am following their development. But I'm an impatient person, so I can't resist buying the occasional old LBV when I see one somewhere -)..

By the way, I bought this together with a '91 Taylor's LBV. Expectations for that bottle are a bit higher now

Roel.

[Andy Velebil]

Not an LBV one sees often these days, that's for sure. Based on experience filtered LBV's can hold over time, as Roel's excellent note shows, but they also don't generally improve much if at all. Always fun and educational to try these older bottles, it also highlights why there is no need to age them as well. Roel, thanks for the TN on this oldie!

[Glenn E.]

I agree.. I do have a number of younger unfiltered (mostly Niepoort) LBV's and am following their development.

I also have a stash of LBVs - all 2003 in my case - that I'm trying desperately to save until they're 15 years old. So far, so good!

I really liked the 1995 Smith Woodhouse LBV when they released it a couple of years ago. That's where my 15 year target came from... if my stash turns out as good as the Smith Woodhouse I'll be very happy.

[Roel B]

I agree.. I do have a number of younger unfiltered (mostly Niepoort) LBV's and am following their development.

I also have a stash of LBVs - all 2003 in my case - that I'm trying desperately to save until they're 15 years old. So far, so good!

15 years after harvest? Or after release? (in which case you're only 1/3 of the way ).

It would be great to organize a vertical (and possibly blind) LBV tasting at some point in the futre to test the claims about filtered vs unfiltered bottle development. LBV from two shippers, one filtered and one unfiltered, approximately 10 bottles each, let's say ranging from the 80's to the present. (Hmm.. working out the details for this idea as I'm typing.. )

Roel.

[David Spriggs]

I love these tasting notes for older LBVs. I know that most people don't hold on to their LBVs, but it's just so fun to see how they have turned out! Keep them coming!

[Mahmoud Ali]

I also have a stash of LBVs - all 2003 in my case - that I'm trying desperately to save until they're 15 years old. So far, so good!

I really liked the 1995 Smith Woodhouse LBV when they released it a couple of years ago. That's where my 15 year target came from... if my stash turns out as good as the Smith Woodhouse I'll be very happy.

The '95 Smith Woodhouse is excellent. It's part of my small LBV collection, mostly from the 90's, that includes Warre's, Churchill, Noval (the famous '94 that still has a ways to go), Ferriera, and Ramos Pintos. It was an '81 Grahams of all things that got me started on cellaring LBV's. It was forgotten in the cellar and when opened at 13 years of age it was quite delightful.

Since this thread was about Taylor's LBV, let me be the first remind people about how good the '03 version is. A quick search should bring up the previous posts.

Mahmoud.