Porto, over 300 years of Taylor’s

Founded in 1692 by Job Bearsley, Taylor’s is one of the oldest Port wineries that aside from Late Bottled Vintage, its most famous wine, also produces some excellent Porto wines. 

Among the dozens of billboards of caves do vinho do porto that dot the banks of Vila nova di Gaia, up towards the top is the one of Taylor’s, one of the oldest Porto wineries founded in 1692 by Job Bearsley, the first Englishmen to produce wines of the Douro. The estate is still today run the descendants of the English family and it operates today under the aegis of Fladgate & Yeatman , which includes three other estates (Croft, Fonseca and Krhon).

The splendid winery, which is always open except for Christmas Day, hosts a suggestive cellar, restaurant and a beautiful garden as well as a museum where it is possible to trace all the 352 years of this important family-run enterprise. It starts with Joseph Taylor who set the course for the estate’s production of Port carried on by some of the most innovative members of the group: John Fladgate, who in the 19th century battled against the vine diseases that all but eliminated winegrowing in the Duoro Valley; and for descendants Morgan Yeatman, in particular “Smiler” Frank, responsible for over 50 vintages, Dick and Stanley, who have the merit of experimenting with the first single-grape vineyards.

Today the estate is run by Adrian Bridge and Natasha Robertson, the daughter of Alistar Robertson who, after World War Two, was responsible for relaunching the brand and introducing new important products to the market including Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), which officially made its debut only in 1970 and today is Taylor’s most famous wine. It is a vintage Port, aged in 20hl vats for 4-6 years. This is a an interesting product commercially, because it is similar in regard to organoleptic freshness to a Vintage port (the difference being it is bottled later after maturing longer in wood), and it is more economical and feasible because it does not need to breathe after being opened and can maintain its organoleptic characteristics for at least six weeks.

The Vintage  wine, on the other hand, is more expensive and lasts only 48 hours after it has been opened and while brief, its life is full of hopes and difficult decisions. Classic Vintage Port, in fact, is produced no more than three times a decade and its birth is always accompanied by an official announcement that Taylor’s traditionally makes in April 23rd.  The year assigned to the vintage is that of the second spring the select three quinats (Vargellas, Terra Feita and Junco) have aged in barrels and when a team of tasters (usually no more than nine people including the owners, enologists and estate cellar masters) make the irreversible decision as to whether the blend has the rich aging potential to become a Classic Vintage  (the best estate wine for a particular year) or whether it will be a Single Quinta Vintage  (a wine from a single estate). In the first case the wine goes on to age in the bottle for at least 20 or 30 years in order to become a Classic.

Taylor’s also produced the first ‘dry’ white Port (32gr of sugar compared to the classic 80), created in 1934: Chip Dry . It is made using white grapes that ferment long with the must then aging for two to five years in oak vats. It is a pleasing and fresh wine, ideal as an aperitif or as the base for a typical Portuguese cocktail: Porto Tonic.

Like all the great cave do vinho, in its immense cellar Taylor’s also conserves its reserve aged Tawny  Ports, those that are 10, 20, 30 and 40 years old. These wines are preserved in wood containers that every year are emptied and cleaned to ensure continuous oxidation of the must that is mixed with the blend eventually adjusted if necessary. This results in losing some 3% of the wine every year, the so-called “Angels’ share” but it also creates greater concentration of both the aroma and the body. The loss of product, the long periods of aging and the shifting of the barrels’ location in the cellar make the production of vinhos do Porto extremely expensive and complex and, perhaps also for this reason, incredibly fascinating.

	Chip Dry Port  Matured for four years in vats, this has a bright golden, discretely concentrate golden color. The intense and lively aroma has notes of acacia and linden flowers with nuances of apricot and plum together with a more evolved hue of honey and dried fruit. The mouthfeel is intense and energetic, with an excellent freshness and moderate sweetness while the finish is pleasingly almond and a tad warm. Alcoholic content: 20%. € 12 (at the winery)
	20 Years Old Tawny  A blend of wines that have aged for an average of 20 years in oak barrels. The wine has an amber color with nice concentration and still has some garnet reflections. Pleasing nuances from oxidation wrap the bouquet of fruit notes of dates, prunes and dried figs that compliment those from bottle aging of honey, caramel and tobacco. The mouthfeel is sweet, velvety, intense and endless and the excellent acidity ushers in a savory and succulent finish with infinite echoes in the after-aroma of incense, tobacco, licorice and a pleasing smoky sensations. Alcoholic content: 20%. € 40 (at the winery)
	Late Bottled Vintage 2013  Matured in large wood barrels for four years and then filtered before being bottled. The color is a dark and impenetrable ruby. The aroma is initially shy before the bouquet opens with wrapping sensations of dark fruit, both jam and preserved in alcohol, along with gluttonous notes of dark chocolate, tobacco and incense. The mouthfeel is warm, bold and pleasingly sweet and soft with the acidity exalting the flavor and leading to a fruity aftertaste with a hint of Boero chocolate. Alcoholic content: 40%. € 14 (at the winery)
	Vintage Port Quinta das Vargellas 2002  A dark and deep ruby color and an aroma of great complexity that progressively opens with scents of violet, blackcurrant preserved in alcohol, red currant and rhubarb followed by notes of graphite, ink, dark spice, cacao and light toasted sensations. The mouthfeel is vibrant, complex, an authentic explosion of contrasting flavors – sweet, toasted and saline – that evolve with infinite dynamism and persistence. Dangerously drinkable posing no problem in finishing the bottled in just a matter of hours. Alcoholic content: 20%. € 50 (at the winery)

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