Taylor Fladgate Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha 2017
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#13 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2019
Impenetrable ruby black core and narrow purple rim. As usual with the Vargellas Vinha Velha, the nose is beautifully balanced and complete, revealing multiple layers and dimensions of aroma as it opens up in the glass. The base is a coulis of dense, dark berries, with brambly woodland fruit, cassis and black cherry aromas. The voluptuous richness of the fruit is tempered by an attractive flinty, mineral edge and the discreet pungency of wild herbs and cedar wood. As the wine evolves, evocative aromas emerge, such as beeswax, leather and cigar box, like the unexpected resonances of an antique instrument. The palate is supported by thick granular tannins and is packed with dense black and red berry fruit flavor that rises in a crescendo on the finish. A wine of majestic scale and proof, if any were needed, that 2017 was an exceptional year for old vines.
Ideal pairings for this port includes walnuts, blue veined and other richly flavored cheeses are excellent accompaniments to Vintage Port; so too are dried fruits such as apricots or figs.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a magnificent, opulent wine, with rich tannins and equally rich black fruits. While it has plenty of ripeness that gives it a generous character, it never wavers in its firm structure. It will have an immensely long, impressive life. Drink from 2030.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha Vintage Port is a field blend of typical grapes (like Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca) aged for 20 months in French wood. It comes in with 105 grams of residual sugar. The "old vines" here reference centenarian vines on average. This was not quite bottled when seen, but it was the final blend.
Even with some aeration, it is very closed now—not astringent per se, but not expressive either. As fine as this seems today, it is likely to improve dramatically with time. Expression of fruit here will only come to those who have patience, and not otherwise. This tightly wound and rather muscular Port is filled with potential, even if it is all potential just now. It is worth leaning up for the moment. It is highly likely to justify the optimism. In ten years when we taste the greats from this vintage, this will be on the shortlist. However, fair warning—if you lack a cellar, look away.
Rating: 97-99
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Wine & Spirits
This is a blend from several parcels on the walled terraces of Vargellas, all a mix of century-old vines but for one sector, planted in 1927 by Dick Yeatman in monovarietal blocks. The eighth vintage of Vinha Velha since the first bottling in 1995, it was also the earliest harvest ever, two days earlier than 1945, when picking began on September 3. The deep-rooted vines and the early season delivered a Port that emphasizes austerity and muscle. The wine lives in its own world of tannins, as beefy as brisket, branded with the masculine power of a great Taylor vintage.
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Wine Spectator
Zesty and wild in feel, with a broad range of steeped loganberry, plum, red currant, açaí berry and fig flavors all playing out atop mouthwatering bramble and anise notes. A strong woodsy spine cuts through and drives the finish, which picks up tar and chai spice accents before ending on the drier side. Distinctive.
Other Vintages
2009-
Robert
Parker
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F.
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.