1970 Taylor

[uncle tom]

A lone bottle from a small mixed lot of well cellared bottles, bought three years ago.

English bottled, bottler unknown, but as most EB T70's have the same label and dark blue foil capsule, it was probably a contract bottler, working for the shipper.

I feel a bit selfish, hogging a bottle of this all to myself, but you only live once!

Decanted 7pm, not the cleanest decant, average amount of sediment.

First sip - minimal bottle stink, little bit of fire and initial lack of composure, but the classic fruit of this wine is fully there.

Looking good - more anon..

Tom

[Glenn E.]

I'm jealous! I love a good T70.

[Alex Bridgeman]

So how has the T70 developed?

[uncle tom]

The wine was drinking very well at D + 7 and was little changed by D + 26.

Taylor always has 'a little bit of a beast' about it, but this wine has just a little bit too much spirit for my liking. I'm inclined to think that in maturation terms, it has probably peaked.

Still an excellent wine though, a class act and a great quaff.

Still have half the decanter left, so will check it out at D + 48 before venturing a score.

Tom

[uncle tom]

At D + 48 the wine had much better integration, but with a touch of jamminess creeping in.

To score.

For immediate gratification, this is a top quartile wine, but that's about it. I certainly hope to enjoy several better bottles before the year is out; so an 8.

Where's it going? Some '70's are firmly seated on a lasting plateau, and a few still have more to offer. While I wouldn't flag this as a drink-up wine, I doubt this will be showing quite as well in another decade.

So score 8-7

Tom