For The Love Of Port

Wow! What a treat!

Roy Hersh wrote:Slightly off topic, but within the guidelines of the original posting. A small group got together the other night to indulge in a pristine 1948 Taylor, with the fill level well into the neck and gorgeous coloration. The bottle was one of the two best T48s of the handful I've tried. Absolutely stunning and fresh. This bottle was in my friend's cellar for 40 years and only moved once and it was his only bottle of this Port.

What a fabulous opportunity to have been a part of. Did you have a 1994 alongside it to compare to see which was best

Yes and no.

We did have another Taylor that followed after the 1948, but it was a 2003 (god knows why) but then a 1994 ... Warre's. The latter two were opened as youngsters to sip and then drink in earnest with some Cuban cigars. Had this been at my home, I would have been happy to sacrifice a 1994 Taylor for the sake of the experiment.

I 'm a huge fan of the 1970 Taylor which seems like it will hold well for twenty more years putting it up to the exalted level of the 1948. The 1955 and 1963 are nice ports but have both been on the decline for a while. After 1970 maybe the 1977 will hold up but I do not think so. The fun is drinking these over the years to see if we are right. The decade of the 80's did not produce long lived ports for Taylor, so the last possible candidate is 1992. I haven't had it for four years and have never found it to have the depth of fruit to put it in the league of the 1948. The 92 is much tighter style and I'm not sure how it will evolve. It is almost twenty years old and did get good reviews so it should show itself soon.

1994 Taylor has big fruit with big but round tannins so it has the stylistic characteristics to hold for decades and evolve like the 1948 - I sure hope so!