40 Year Old Tawny Port by Taylor

[*John Trombley]

This is the bottle given to me recently by Cousin Ron from Evansville, Indiana, who is much more likely to have a top reserve California Cabernet in his glass, but who has some other good tastes, it seems.

This wine is a true Tawny in color--a reddish-brown, transparent wine. The nose goes to a nice wood note and some airplane glue and is mildly spiritous, evolving to some orange peel and walnuts. Fairly hot on entry but with a great nutty note, girded by cherry, and with a hint of vanilla, finishing with a pleasant chocolaty earthiness. Acidity is good, and the chocolate and cherry are blooming a bit in the glass. Probably the first wine that actually tasted somewhat like chocolate to me, although it's a common enough tasting descriptor.

Strangely, a 20 year old Taylor tawny recently enjoyed by me is much more to my taste, with much greater complexity and force. Is this an example of a 40-year-old that was on the shelf for a little too long? As usual, I'll be tasting this over a day or two to provide some more data for an answer to this question.

Over the next six days, the wine does put on some color, adding subtle reddish-purple hues. While the chocolate and earth seems to fade into the background, the nose gains in depth and force, while adding layers of asphalt, plum, and mint; the wine takes on an integrated 'sweet' spirit note, which is among the most attractive parts of its presentation. All in all, shows that it wasn't entirely tired out, and had more to offer than it first showed; still hangs together very nicely with a very suave mouth-feel.

90-91 points out of 100, conservatively.

Just happen to have opened a bottle of the Taylor Fladgate Late Bottled Vintage 2000 this week, available at the usual Ohio over-markup at our local Ohio state-licensed beverage outlet, and paid a predictably high $25 for it. I must say that I have been rudely disappointed with past efforts of Taylor LBV, it not even making the grade as an inoffensive ‘restaurant wine’. The 1994 was among the worst of this lot. So after writing the company a few times to complain, and never getting a reply, I had begun to avoid this LBV product line entirely. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the tasters of this this forum gave the 2000 much higher marks than in the past.

This wine was bottled in 2005 at 20 pabv. Although we are told on the label that the wine 'needs no decanting', it ccontains definite dark tarry deposit. It shows a dark blackish-purple opacity with a slightly dusky edge. It shows a typical Taylor liquorice and cherry profile, with a dusting of fine ripe tannin and sailing spearmint and showing a minimal spiritousness and a note of Ranier cherries on the finish. Interesting that the 40-year old and the late-bottled vintage show sufficient family likeness, especially in the fruit. I'd call the LBV a 90 pointer.

Best, John Trombley