1987 Taylor Vargellas

[benread]

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.

Bottle kindly supplied by Nicos Neocleous.

[DRT]

The difference in colour between this and the ’78 and ’82 was remarkable. It looked more like a 10 year old VP. Molasses on the nose. Classy and beautifully thick and chewy. This was the first wine of the night to show any hint of tannin and it had it in spades. This isn’t even close to being mature.

I was a lonely voice in the wilderness when I voted this as my ‟Wine of the Night” and I’m sticking to that opinion.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Deep red, just off opaque. Quite closed on the nose, a touch of bottle stink rendering the smell quite unattractive. Neutral entry, but then a huge wave of tannins swamp the mouth. Hard work and lots of air forces the tannins to soften and releases a pleasant sweet fruitiness. This wine is hard work it is still so big! The aftertaste is huge and full of brooding black chocolate. At least 10 years from being ready and will likely merit a much higher score. 87/100. Drunk 24 March 2009.

[uncle tom]

It was very noticeable how similar the wines all were in terms of style, the only one to deviate noticeably was this one.

A very good wine, still tannic and not fully mature, but what set this one aside was the powerful note of chocolate on the palate.

Great juice, will keep and improve for decades..

Tom