1996 Taylor Vargellas

[Alex Bridgeman]

From a half bottle. Deep red in colour, deep coloured rim showing plenty of youth in the wine. Closed on the nose, consistent with most port from the second half of the '90s. Lovely smooth texture in the mouth. The flavour profiles are also those of a closed wine, but there is restrained fruit and a very well balanced set of tannin and acidic components to promise a good structure. The aftertaste is gentle and faint, but quite persistent. A very interesting port to follow, there is a lot of promise but enough to question whether the promise will be completely delivered. 85/100. Drunk 17 March 2009.