For The Love Of Port

Drank at dinner - 25/9/06


1970 Taylors Vintage Port

One of the last bottles of a case lot that I purchased a few years back. Decanted for 1 hour at 5.00pm, then poured carefully back into the original green glass bottle. Although the label did not state it, my guess is that this is an English bottling. After the cork crumbled and I managed to pour it out, its youthful colour still surprised me. How can a 36 year old Port wine still managed to look medium strawberry red? The clear rim gave me a clue to its youth, and the fresh dates mingled with seemingly ripe raspberries. At the restaurant, the sommelier decanted it at around 8.00p, and we began drinking it at 10.00pm. So it had 3 hours total time in the decanter. It could easily have used another 1-3 hours. So youthful, slightly alcoholic to being with, the luxurious and finely balanced red fruits just powered their way elegantly across my tongue. Jeff and I talked about the ageing profiler with Ports he had tried in the USA and he remarked how young this appeared and tasted for its age. More air would have revealed further layers of pleasure, but I am splitting hairs. My third favourite Port of the 1970 vintage, after Noval Nacional and Fonseca, but this holds a special place in my Port world. Tonight, it was pretty bloody good. 95/100.

Great note Nicos I'm planning on drinking one in a couple of weeks, I can't wait.

i've always noticed this amazing and exotic "tar" like element with this wine.

Nicos, as you probably recall, I posted a TN on this wine on Sept 9. You had a favorable reply.It is some really fine stuff. It seems like we had a similar good experience. Lots of fruit and youth in this 36 year old wine.

Richard,

This was the first "WOW" Port ever drank and it still continues to give me pleasure.

I am glad that the first time you ever had it from Magnum was with me here in Seattle. I know it was disappointing after having the Magnum of 1970 Fonseca the evening before. Now that was quite the party weekend, eh?

Thanks for the excellent note on one of the great wines made by Taylor.

Nicos, how do you think the 1970 Taylor will fare against the '77 Taylor in terms of historical perspective?

Roy Hersh wrote:I am glad that the first time you ever had it from Magnum was with me here in Seattle. I know it was disappointing after having the Magnum of 1970 Fonseca the evening before. Now that was quite the party weekend, eh?

That was a legendary weekend. It was unforgetable and I was honoured to have have attended...

Roy Hersh wrote: Nicos, how do you think the 1970 Taylor will fare against the '77 Taylor in terms of historical perspective?

You do know how to ask me tough questions! For me, the 1977 is NOT a younger version of the 1970. It is still showing younger traits now, with a certain youthful purity that still surprises me every time I taste it. The 1970 is a wine that, although drinking well now, I do not see improving a great deal over the next decade. However, the 1977 is still a puppy and has decades of development, and is more in the mould of the 1963.

In fact, well stored bottles of the 1963 are incredibly youthful. I have the honour to try one about 2 years ago in London. I did post on it as I opened it and did all of the decanting. I watched it evolve over 6 hours and its youthfulness almost shocked me. This bottle had been bought on release and stored in the same cellar in England. I am doing my best to try and try another bottle of this from the same cellar. Provenance is so important...

You do know how to ask me tough questions!

Yes of course. But it is solely because I trust your palate, which for Port is one of the best I have seen, plus I know you won't shy away from answering a tough question ... even if yours was to be the ONLY dissenting opinion in a group. That is why I respect you so much.

Thanks for your insight to the 1970 vs. 1977 Taylor. We are very close in our viewpoint on this (shocking). I'd much rather drink the 1970 Taylor today, as it is a wonderful Vintage Port that is evolved and will live on for another decade or two in harmony. We agree that it won't get much better from here, if at all ... most likely it may just gain more tertiary nuances in the future, but it will remain on this plateau for years. The '77 has 3-4 decades ahead of it and although there are folks who simply disagree and are not all that fond of it, I think it was the best Taylor made VP bet. 1963 and 1994. I don't touch my '77 Taylor's except 2x/decade now (drank through my first case in the '90s), but I am always willing to open a '70 for the right occasion. I feel one coming up soon.

Nicos, I very much look forward to the next time we can share some good laughs, meals and open fine bottles together!

Roy,

Thank you for your extremely kind words. I am looking forward to meeting up wiuth you again for more fun. Of course, I can't guarantee another Hollywood actress.

Um abraco,
Nicos