Taylor Fladgate Very Old Single Harvest Port Limited Edition (OWC) 1966
-
Wine
Spectator -
Wine &
Spirits -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Spectator
Very elegant, with notes of tobacco and cedar to the lush buttercream, ripe pear and dried apricot flavors. Seductive tropical fruit and spice notes linger on the endless finish, revealing citrusy hints.
-
Wine & Spirits
So mellow and round, this is easy to knock back. But consider what’s behind all the heady, delicious flavor—how the juiciness is perfectly integrated into the fresh scents that somehow lasted through five decades of aging in Taylor’s lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia. Those scents range from green almond to green fig and tobacco leaf. The wine feels complete, all of a piece, showing its alcohol in a voluptuous texture rather than in any sensation of heat, Taylor’s classically narrow Vintage perspective on the Douro expanded into the comforts of great Tawny.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 1966 Single Harvest Tawny Port (i.e., a Colheita) is a traditional blend, aged in French and American oak. It comes in at 183 grams per liter of residual sugar. Surprisingly rich and fresh, this seems younger than its age. The complexity here is not quite as great as with some and the nuances of molasses and the like are controlled. On the other side of the coin, it has a rather sensual texture, finishing with a sugary burst. Underneath is the expected acidity and a bit of pop. Overall, it is rather seductive and quite delicious. Note that this will be released in January 2016, part of Taylor's old Colheita releases.
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.