For The Love Of Port

1970 Taylor's Vintage Port
UK Bottled by Grants of St James's
Green glass embossed with plastic capsule
Tasted on Saturday, 16 May 2009
Decanted at 12:55pm and tasted between 6:30-8:30pm.

This Grants of St. James's bottle had a fill level within neck. This is the lightest of the 1970s. There is a powerful nose of brighter and red fruit. In the mouth the redder fruit immediately explodes into the mouth. There is some residual sugar and spicyness. The finish shows some heat and the aftertaste is the least complex.

Some discussions about this particular one now being at it's apex. You've nailed that characteristic bit of heat on Taylors that I also get as they age. It's that Vargellas backbone showing through.

When I first tasted the three 1970s I preferred the Taylor's. There was power, spices, and an explosive nature to the fruit that made it stand out. With time the nose and flavors began to fade and never gained in complexity. This is my only experience with 1970 Taylor's so I've tried to only draw the vaguest of conclusions.

Looking at "Port Wine Quintas of the Duoro" Vargellas has a lot of old vines. More so than most others? How do the proportions of Touriga Francesa and Tinta Roriz contribute?

Aaron

Touriga Francesa has been renamed Touriga Franca in the Douro by the powers at the IVDP, to give it less of a French inflection and more strongly Portuguese.

I have many fine 1970 Taylor's in my cellar that do not show like some of the weak bottles I hear others mention. The color and flavor profiles and power are more prevalent than lots of what I read about here and elsewhere. Back in the early 1990s lots of this came into the USA from gray market brokers who let's just say, were not as concerned with "checking provenance" of the cellars these bottlings came from. That is why so many avoided going through the typical channels of auction back then. There were a lot less auction houses around back then and they did a great job of checking the consignments. Those who had known "lesser storage" but the need to sell, would avoid them and go "gray" instead.

My bottle was imported by EWR but I don't know when.