1985 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port

[John Danza]

I had this wine yesterday at a friend's house. He had purchased it upon release and kept it in an excellent passive cellar. It was decanted 3 hours prior to service.

The wine was dark red with no evidence of browning, but I expect was losing color as Taylor is usually a pretty black wine when young. It was a little hot from the alcohol, which never really resolved. The flavors were sour cherries and very dark chocolate. It was a good port, but frankly seemed a little disjointed to me. Are there any issues with '85 Taylor that anyone knows of, or am I just reading something into this bottle that isn't there?

Have a Merry Christmas!

John Danza

[Roy Hersh]

John,

I think your impressions are spot on. This has never struck me to be a top notch VP regardless of the bottle, whether at Taylor's Lodge or at a lunch/dinner where they've supplied this Port or from other sources in the USA ... just a mediocre bottle of Vintage Port from a producer and vintage, both of which can provide much more enjoyment than this.

[Andy Velebil]

I agree with your TN John. I've had this many times and never been thrilled with it or the '83, although the '85 is a tad better. I've read some others notes that have given it a good review (low to mid 90's points), but I think the best I've ever had was an ex-cellars bottle at the Fonseca lodge and I gave it either 90 or 91 points, so I'll let that speak for itself.

[Roy Hersh]

Andy, what is your typical or average score for this bottling?

[Andy Velebil]

Normally its around the 87-89 point range for me. Oh and I checked my notes, 91 is my best score of it to date.

[Todd Pettinger]

I had this wine yesterday at a friend's house. He had purchased it upon release and kept it in an excellent passive cellar. It was decanted 3 hours prior to service.

The wine was dark red with no evidence of browning, but I expect was losing color as Taylor is usually a pretty black wine when young. It was a little hot from the alcohol, which never really resolved. The flavors were sour cherries and very dark chocolate. It was a good port, but frankly seemed a little disjointed to me. Are there any issues with '85 Taylor that anyone knows of, or am I just reading something into this bottle that isn't there?

Have a Merry Christmas!

John Danza

John,
I wrote a year ago that the '85 Taylor was dead as dead could be. No nose (even after 11+ hrs of decant time) although my impressions are based upon a single bottle and thus should be taken at face value... comments from a guy who barely knows what he is talking about! Several others have validated this to be the norm. If it wasn't so darned expensive in my area (simply because of the Taylor name) I would buy a couple of bottles to do further "research and discovery" with myself...

Todd