1863 Taylor Colheita

[AHB]

Some background to the launch of the 1863 Taylor colheita can be found here.

TASTING NOTE
Sourced from Wiese & Krohn stocks. Aged in Vila Nova de Gaia (compared to Scion, which was matured in the Douro). 1200 litres bottled as 1600 bottles - concentrated down from around 12,000 litres of original wine. Residual sugar of 170g / litre.

A deep chestnut brown colour, with a wide olive-wood coloured transparent rim. 99% opaque centre - like dark treacle. A huge nose with lots of dried figs, fried almonds and a big dose of salty VA; powerful, intense and attractive. Very thick texture and intense flavours of honey and lime. Fabulous palate, beautifully balanced but so concentrated. The huge acidity burns on the immediate aftertaste and quickly gives way to a stunning burnt sugar and slightly bitter citrus finish that lasts 5-6 minutes! Being bottled now. RRP around £3,000. 98/100. Drunk 03-Jun-14.

[henrygjeffreys]

I was fortunate enough to try this wine recently. Here are my thoughts:
Thick brown colour with yellow rim
Smells of alcohol and varnish initially
Very powerful nose, like a solvent. I ended up wafting it towards my nose like a 15 year old studying chemistry then there I got lots of malt and caramel
Thick texture, lots of sweetness initially
and then lots of acidity, well-balanced, not at all cloying.
Tastes of molasses and then nuts, walnuts
layers and layers of nuts. Some tannin. Very very long
Just goes on and on. Like concentrated essence of port. You could put a drop of this in a glass of ordinary tawny and it would transform it.
A great privilege to try this