Taylor Fladgate Very Old Single Harvest Port in Gift Box 1968
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Pair with figs, almonds, pecorino, apple pie, Comte cheese, Cornish game hens, pecan pie or even creme brulee.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Gorgeous from the get-go, with toasted sesame, green tea, walnut husk, pistachio cream and peanut toffee notes seamlessly layered atop one another, framed by a subtle singed alder hint. Everything glides with grace through the finish, like a gently wafting plume of white smoke off of burning incense.
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Tasting Panel
Tawny, brickish color; lovely, toasty rancio nose; silky and sweet with creamy, rich, and complex flavors; layered, mature, and very long; the fifth in a limited-release series.
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Wine Enthusiast
One of a series of releases by this Port producer, this Colheita, or Port from a single harvest, is beautifully poised between red fruits and mature almond and an old gold character. It has intensity, a product of the aging in wood that has just concentrated the wine. Like all Ports of this type, it is ready to drink.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 1968 Very Old Single Harvest Tawny Port comes in with 173 grams per liter of residual sugar. Taylor's started its ongoing 50-year Colheita program with the 1964 (or, as they prefer to say, "single harvest tawny port"). This is the newest release, scheduled to be in the marketplace by the Fall of this year. It was bottled in 2017 with a bar-top cork. It is hard to go wrong with any of the wines Taylor's has been releasing in this series—they all have something special to offer. We can debate endlessly which is better—often, the style difference is more important than a minor qualitative difference. This year's style shows finesse and more finesse. It is relatively elegant for an old tawny, with a controlled, sweet edge. Hints of brandy do periodically pop up, but they are not hard or harsh. It lingers beautifully on the finish as fine, old Tawnies do. The finish is often the best part of these oldies. This will last indefinitely, but it is meant to drink on release and needs no aging. Most do not hold Tawnies with bar-top corks. Drink it around 60 degrees Fahrenheit—and definitely not too warm. Most producers recommend 58 to 62 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on your preferences and the wine.
Other Vintages
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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.