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Drunk as part of the Vargellathon- a tasting of Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas port from 1964 to 1996. Held at The Crusting Pipe on Tuesday 24th March 2009.

This bottle was bottled by Corney & Barrow in London in 1969.

Bottle kindly supplied by JacobH

This was decanted at about 2345. The cork came out cleanly in one piece. Oddly the neck of the bottle seems a little wider than is usual: none of my T-Corks properly fitted back in. Equally unusual is that there had been very little penetration of the cork by the wine, although the branding on the cork had completely faded. I hope this doesn't mean that it was cooked in the sun at some stage in its life. On decanting, there was quite a lot of mud-like sediment.

I had the same problem with the 1978 - the neck was too large for my T-corks!

Unfortunately, I managed to mislay my notes so this is from memory.

I think this was mine, and most other attendees' first chance to compare bottlings of the same Port; one shipped to the UK and bottled after 2 years, the other after 3. There was some debate as to which of the two '67s was better. I think there was very little in it, although that's not to say that they tasted the same or that, if served blind I'd have any chance of guessing that they were the same wine.

To my palate, the Corney and Barrow bottle had a touch more maturity and complexity (perhaps a consequence of its extra year in the bottle); it felt more like the '64 and '65 whilst the Oporto bottle was heading towards the '72 and '77.

This was one of the two bottles left at the end of the offline so, thanks to Derek lending me a couple of sample jars, I’ve now had a chance to contemplate this in a little more detail.

The nose is now not as I remember the other Vargellas. It’s surprisingly subdued, with a slight tumeric-like spiciness. In the mouth, it is quite lovely; it is showing a bit of the traits of the ’64, with only a little sugar, some pepper and tumeric. This leads to a surprisingly bitter aftertaste, although not in an unpleasant way. Although the tannins have faded, it is still quite complex and it lasts a great deal of time in the mouth.

Considering that this was far from being the best port of the night, it has rather restored my faith in Vargellas; I think the bitterness and consistency of Vargellas over the years (which particularly came across having tasted 10 of these in a row) rather jaded me at the offline and I was beginning to wonder if I the mature ones were any good. However, trying just a couple, on their own and with some time for individual attention, seems to be allowing me to appreciate the qualities of them more. I suppose this might be a feature of SQVP: being made in minor years will result in Ports that do not stand out as boldly as an orthodox VP would do.

Very dark for its age. Pepper on the nose, very similar to the nose of the 64. Initial taste of oranges but then quite hot and a bitter finish. I preferred this to the other 1967 in the line-up.

UK bottled by Corney & Barrow in 1969. Deeper in colour than either the 1964 or 1965 shown alongside this wine, with the centre being only just transparent. Perfumed nose, floral and less overtly fruity than the previous two vintages. Some black licorice mixed in with raspberry jam. Sweet, balanced entry but some woody harshness in the mid-palate. Surprisingly, some of the tannins still show through. A short aftertaste. Overall, this is a decent port, but falls well short of greatness. 85/100. Drunk 24 March 2009.