1965 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 DRT

[DRT]

Decanted at 21:30 on 23rd March. Cork extracted in one piece using polly bag method. Colour is quite light but nice and bright. Not much on the nose at this point.

[JacobH]

Unfortunately, I managed to mislay my notes so this is from memory. This was my wine of the night; many thanks to Derek for bringing it considering its rarity and personal significance!

On the nose of this was a huge amount of toffee and caramel. In the mouth, I remember it being quite similar to the 64, with perhaps ever-so-slightly less fire and pepper. This was very unlike what I expected mature Vargellas to taste like, but, at the moment, I thought this was an excellent example of a mature Single-Quinta Vintage Port.

[DRT]

Voted Wine of the Night by 3 of the 9 participants.

This was the lightest colour of all the wines in the line-up, slightly pink. Lots of toffee on the nose. More weight than the 64. Delicious entry and a good long finish that ended up slightly bitter.

I retained a sample of this in the fridge from decanting so that I can enjoy my birth year ort on my Birthday on Satuday. Will report back then.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Light red in colour, with a rose centre and a pale rim. Open and warm on the nose with sweet red licorice. Well balanced entry, not sweet but not dry either. Plenty of excellent mature fruit in the middle and lots of development and layers. Delightful aftertaste - big, fruity but with a lovely lingering sweetness. The only drawback to this port is the burn just after swallowing which leads to a slightly one-dimensional aftertaste. However, it should be noted that by the end of the evening, the wine had been sitting in the glass for about 4 hours and was much improved, ending up being the wine of the night for many. 90/100. Drunk on 24 March 2009.

[uncle tom]

Initially a bit hot, pale and weak, but it found more composure as the evening progressed, and was really quite pleasant when I finally emptied the glass.

Not a wine that is going to benefit from further ageing.

Tom

[DRT]

Not a wine that is going to benefit from further ageing.

That is true of most things from this vintage

[DRT]

D+5 days in the fridge
Darker than at D+24 hours. Pepper nose but now also showing some red fruits. Nice soft, thick texture. Dark chocolate cherry truffle. Much better than at 24 hours and now quite delicious. Reasonable length and still has that slightly bitter finish.

This sample drunk on 28th March 2009 to celebrate my 44th birthday and ensure continued immortality.