1985 Taylor

Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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uncle tom
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
Posts: 3518
Joined: 23:43 Wed 20 Jun 2007
Location: Near Saffron Walden, England

1985 Taylor vintage port

Post by uncle tom »

An odd bottle, part of a job lot bought a couple of years ago, the others all now history!

Very sound cork extracted in one piece. Decanted last night, average amount of fine gritty sediment. Excellent colour.

First sip - superb nose, free of bottle stink, young.

+ 2hrs, a nightcap. Approachable, but a young and powerful wine; little more than half way to full maturity.

More anon..

Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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Frederick Blais
Taylor’s LBV
Posts: 170
Joined: 02:53 Wed 11 Jul 2007
Location: Montreal, Canada
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Post by Frederick Blais »

Happy to read that you look excited with this port. I like it a lot too and don't understand why some say it is underachieving...

Waiting to read more 88)
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uncle tom
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
Posts: 3518
Joined: 23:43 Wed 20 Jun 2007
Location: Near Saffron Walden, England

Post by uncle tom »

+ 20hrs

Not greatly changed from last night. A very sound wine but very immature. The only negative I can give this is a very slight element of dilution, but that's really being a bit picky!

However, the raw tannins do make this bottle hard work (for me, anyway)

What amuses me is the 'drinking windows' assigned by the good and the great to this wine:

Broadbent says 2005 - 2025

Mayson says now (2004) to 2020

- and Suckling reckoned it should have been drunk to extinction eight years ago...!

My own take is that this is not a wine I want to re-visit for another five years, and then only in the interests of science!

Broadbent's pitch is not unreasonable for those who prefer young tannic wines, but those (like me) who like their port properly mature, need to wait much longer.

I would pitch the optimum drinking window for this wine at around 2020 - 2040

Will score tomorrow

Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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DRT
Fonseca 1966
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Post by DRT »

I had this recently. Here is the TN, which isn't far removed from Tom's.

Definitely a keeper.

Derek
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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uncle tom
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
Posts: 3518
Joined: 23:43 Wed 20 Jun 2007
Location: Near Saffron Walden, England

Post by uncle tom »

48hrs on, and very little evolution since it was first decanted

Time to give this bottle a score.

For immediate gratification the wine is substantially compromised by its lack of maturity - it is still quite closed.

Those who like the young stuff might be more generous, but as a quaff for today this only just manages a 5 in my book.

Where's it going?

I'm far from sure that this will be fully mature in ten year's time, but I feel that when it does reach maturity, it will be celebrated as one of the Taylor greats.

If it had a little more substance I would pitch this as a prospective 10, as it is, I'm happy to give it a score of 5-9

Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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Frederick Blais
Taylor’s LBV
Posts: 170
Joined: 02:53 Wed 11 Jul 2007
Location: Montreal, Canada
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Post by Frederick Blais »

I like this wine too and I agree that it is young and more will come in the future from this.

I got 3 bottles of this and always with the same conclusion. I think it is a matter of taste that some thinks it won't evolve well, because there is quite a few that don't like this Port.
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