The Fladgate Partnership with Chris Forbes: Uncorked: 9 November 2022
Posted: 15:18 Tue 15 Nov 2022
Julian and I went to this tasting. It was the first time I’ve been to Uncorked’s new shop which is quite nice and has a good space for small tasting. The staff continue to be fantastic and I would continue to recommend it as a place to buy Port in London.
The tawnies were enlarged from the advertised 20 + 30 YO to the 20, 30, 40 and 50 year old. This was the first time I’ve tried one of the new “50 YOT” Ports so that was a very welcome surprise.
We also tried the following vintage ports:
2016 Croft
2013 Taylor's Quinta De Vargellas
2011 Taylor's
2008 Fonseca Guimaraens
2004 Croft Quinta De Roeda
2004 Fonseca Quinta Panascal
2000 Fonseca
1985 Fonseca
1985 Taylor's
I will try to type up and post notes in due course.
As a summary:
The 50 year old tawny is fantastic. It is a huge step up over the 40 year old. It’s seriously expensive, of course, but I think I would prefer to drink two bottles of that for every three of the 40 year olds, if that makes sense. From memory, I think it is much better than some of the recent Taylor / Krohn colheitas. Really excellent Port.
Of the vintage Ports, the stand out was the 2016 Croft. I haven’t tried this before but it was fantastic: beautiful to drink now but clearly with long aging potential. I’d like to try it against some other 2016s. Incidentally, I didn’t realise that this was a SQVP from Roêda (although not advertised as such). The next best was the 1985 Fonseca. This was showing beautifully.
I also enjoyed this tasting as being the first in a while when I’ve tried some Taylor and Fonseca against one another. It really reinforced my preference for the latter against the former. This is helpful to know for further purchases!
The tawnies were enlarged from the advertised 20 + 30 YO to the 20, 30, 40 and 50 year old. This was the first time I’ve tried one of the new “50 YOT” Ports so that was a very welcome surprise.
We also tried the following vintage ports:
2016 Croft
2013 Taylor's Quinta De Vargellas
2011 Taylor's
2008 Fonseca Guimaraens
2004 Croft Quinta De Roeda
2004 Fonseca Quinta Panascal
2000 Fonseca
1985 Fonseca
1985 Taylor's
I will try to type up and post notes in due course.
As a summary:
The 50 year old tawny is fantastic. It is a huge step up over the 40 year old. It’s seriously expensive, of course, but I think I would prefer to drink two bottles of that for every three of the 40 year olds, if that makes sense. From memory, I think it is much better than some of the recent Taylor / Krohn colheitas. Really excellent Port.
Of the vintage Ports, the stand out was the 2016 Croft. I haven’t tried this before but it was fantastic: beautiful to drink now but clearly with long aging potential. I’d like to try it against some other 2016s. Incidentally, I didn’t realise that this was a SQVP from Roêda (although not advertised as such). The next best was the 1985 Fonseca. This was showing beautifully.
I also enjoyed this tasting as being the first in a while when I’ve tried some Taylor and Fonseca against one another. It really reinforced my preference for the latter against the former. This is helpful to know for further purchases!