Bottling Year and Ratings?

[Fred S]

I just picked up a Taylor 40-year tawny, and immediately looked for ratings in the usual places (WS, WA).

WS gives the 40-year old Taylor an 86, however I notice that their review is dated Jan. 1996, and my 40-year Taylor was bottled in 2004.

Does WS's 86 rating apply to all 40-year old Taylor tawny?

If not, shouldn't Port reviews indicate the bottling year, as is the norm with other wines' vintages?

Thanks for answering this noob question.

Fred

[Glenn E.]

That's not a noob question at all, Fred, it's a very good one that slips past most people.

The bottling date of tawnies - especially Colheitas - is very important, and really should be included in all ratings. The producers do their best to keep the style of their tawnies with an indication of age (10, 20, 30, 40+) consistent from year to year, but there can still be subtle variations. A rating from 1996 really can't give you much more than a very general impression of what your 2004 bottling might be like.

It's even more important for Colheitas because once bottled they stop gaining the characteristics that you normally look for in a Colheita. They're no longer in wood, so they can't pick up wood-aged flavors anymore. There's a case of 1987 Kopke sitting at a California retailer that I keep seeing and wanting (because that's my anniversary year), but it was bottled in the mid-90s so it would be at all what you'd expect from a 23-year old Colheita. In reality it's an 8 or 10-year old Colheita with a further 15-odd years of bottle age.

Also remember that there can be significant bottle variation in any wine including Port. If you can only find a single rating for a wine, you're trusting that the one bottle that one person opened was in fact a good example of that Port. There's a decent chance that it wasn't, so I wouldn't trust a single rating unless you know and trust the critic. I've read enough of Roy's TNs, for example, that I trust him to identify an off bottle. Some random guy on CellarTracker? Eh, not so much.

[Andy Velebil]

Fred,

This is an excellent question and one close to my heart. For a long time I was careful to record the year of bottling for Colheita's and tawny's with an indication of age....and got made fun of for it. Now those people have realized the importance of this issue and also take note of the bottling year . Glenn's already gave sound advice so I'll just add a little. Year of bottling is VERY important. A bottle you tasted 20 years ago won't taste exatly the same as the one you tasted today. Same goes for tasting an aged tawny/colheita bottled 20 years ago and the same one bottle yesterday. House styles and blends change over time. Tawny port develops in bottle (good or bad depending on who you talk to) and it develops the longer it stays wood barrel too.

IMO, one area where professional reviewers often fall short is periodically re-reviewing tawnys and colheita's. The older their reviews become the less relevant they are. While it's not really practicle to review a tawny with an indication of age each bottling run (which can be 2-3+ times a year for some producers), they should at least re-review them every couple of years, and each time a new bottling run is done for a colheita.

[Moses Botbol]

Tawnys for sure decline in the bottle. I had a Ramos Pinto 10 & 20 a few years ago, bottled in the mid 90's and they were far from fresh tasting. They were "bad or off" tasting, just lacked vibrancy and freshness that I like in tawny. That is not to say I didn't enjoy the bottles.

Taylor 40 is better than 86 points. Heck their whole range of tawny is better than that. Their 20 I think is the best of the bunch.