2009 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port

[John Trombley]

$200 per six pack of 750s, obtained locally to me because of an importer moving to a new storage facility. Grabbed $30 and drank one on the spot:

2 mm edge, edge-dusky basically opaque prune color, with an almost grainy optical texture; very full sheeting and thick legs. Comes across very shy at first but with a little work begins to yield itself up. First notes are clearly thyme, just-ripe plum, gentle graphite, and mint, earthy baked biscotti scents. Rich bacon fat, leather, and violet scents appear over a most unusual and lovely earth-laden minerality and the scent of an old unused brick fireplace, if that makes sense. There's something about this wine that reminds me of an old wooden schoolhouse building, too. Predominance of sesquiterpenes quite apparent.

This is one of those wines whose fruit is so intense that it coats the tannin and hides it. Very, very grapy in the best sense, and having a gentle sweet-plum note, with an impression of sea salt; a huge but highly disciplined wine. It has that cotton-candy Taylor sweetness, even though of course that's not very sweet. Most of the fruit force is borne between ripe plum and sweet plum/prune juice. Much of the subtlety on the nose is translated into the palate impression, and its remarkable sensory integration really cries out 'very old vines'. Like to know if a Velha Vinha was made this year, truly (it was--author's note). This facet can be found in recent great Taylors (like the 2000, to pick a for instance), but it seems to have reached an apotheosis here. Let me point out that this wine shows fine storage efforts, still noticeable for it having days open in the fridge. Only after quite a few swallows does the guts, energy, and punchy tannin begin to show itself, and a sweet and lovely sailing anise note sings out as a top-note. Today after nearly a month, the fruit becomes more expressive of tannin, Calamata olives, and thyme honey, but is still a heavenly tipple.

This wine will undoubtedly outlive those who began their careers or saw the birth of a new baby in 2009. It is a compete Taylor and meets with a well-deserved 99 points. I agree that it's on a different pole from the 2000, but both are very long-lived, potentially. 99/100. May be drunk very young but it would classically need another12 years at minimum. Drink now-2020 and onward.

[Eric Menchen]

That was a steal. I'll take 6

[Andy Velebil]

Get all you acn

[Moses Botbol]

Save me 6

[John Trombley]

Save me 6

It's too bad I'm not in the wine business, because this would be kind of fun. In any case I'd probably have to charge $267 a six pack to make it worth my while, if my other retail experience would apply to this. (33 percent on the selling price for cost markup). Don't think my retailer here is into the email business, sadly!

However, I do believe that there is at least one more six-pack to be had for $200 plus 6.5 percent sales tax for someone who can come to Ohio to pick it up within a week, say. I'd have to check with the retailer how long he'd want to hold it--perhaps if it was prepaid he'd hold it for longer.

John