NV Berry Brothers Vintage Character Port -- by Taylor's

Derek T. · Post by **Derek T.** » Sat May 12, 2007 2:37 pm

A bottle from Tom's cellar, believed bottled around 30 years ago.

Decanted cleanly off lots of sediment, much more than I expected from a filtered wine. The colour is still quite dark red but starting to brown. For me this has quite a typical Taylor's nose. It has nice thick tears on the glass. Mouthfeel is light but smooth and still some attractive fruit showing. A slightly burnt taste emerges quite quickly and then the kind of warm glow that one would always expect from a Taylor's port. Although obviously past it's best this is a very pleasant drink.

Link to May 2007 Virtual Tasting

Score: 4-3

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Sat May 12, 2007 3:38 pm

You didn't waste any time popping one then..

Tom

Derek T. · Post by **Derek T.** » Sat May 12, 2007 5:59 pm

Oops - this one's gone "DaD"

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Mon May 14, 2007 3:20 pm

I didn't expect much of these, and based my initial assessment (as a passable quaffing port) on a quick glass drawn straight from the bottle.

Decanting off the remains of the bottle I was using for rinsing decanters, I now realise that this juice is actually much better than I previously thought - a very nutty wine.

I'm sure it was not drawn from vintage or reserve stocks - there is some concentration of the sugars, and distinct tawny characteristics. There being no guarantee strips on the bottles, it was presumably UK bottled.

My best guess is that this was originally intended to be LBV stock, matured in pipes and shipped over after about five years.

When did the bulk shipment of non-vintage port cease? Was it at the same time as VP - or later??

Tom