#366 Older Vintage Port

The problem when you are trying new release vintage ports is that sometimes you need a reference point to see how these wines are going to age over the next few decades.  So, most port companies put on a selection of older wines that show how the wines are going to evolve in the future, and the 2009 Fladgate release tasting was no different, with a range of wines going back to the mid 1980's.

Before I get to the wines, a little story!

I've spoken in the previous post how the 2009 vintage was about a third smaller than the average of 14,000 cases.  Well in 1985 Taylor's made 25,000 cases of vintage port.  It wasn't only a high yielding vintage, but the '85 had wines from properties outside of Taylor's ownership.  After the '85 vintage, Taylor's and Fonseca stopped using juice from other properties, as they want their vintage ports to be entirely foot trodden, and the properties they bought juice from went to automated pressing.  It might seem a pretty daft thing to be so fussy about, but foot treading is still the best way to extract everything from the skins quickly without getting bitterness from squashing the pips in the grapes.  There is no point in spending man hours in the vineyards, making sure that you have the best grapes possible, and then to screw them up with squashing the seeds and making the wine bitter.  The attention to detail that the Fladgate Partnership put into their wines is very obvious when you taste the Croft wines.

Anyway, back to the two leading wines, from the high volume, and high quality 1985 vintage - Taylor's and Fonseca.  The 1985 Fonseca had a dark, menthol aroma with some full juicy fruit notes.  There was a meaty element, some dark cocoa and some very bramble coming off too.  The palate had a lot of big, juicy fruit, bundles of spice, leather and very rich, blueberry and cherry fruit.  It is a very big and juicy wine, voluptuous is a good word, but there is a bit of tobacco and spice on the back end that gives it a bit of testosterone!  Very tasty.  95pts

The sister wine, 1985 Taylor's was very gentle with fresher berries with some light raspberries, strawberries and a bundle of blueberries.  There is a dark sweetness, some lovey spiced berries with a touch of menthol on the nose.  The palate is a dark, leafy, twiggy flavour, mixed with some very rich but fresher fruit, tobacco and some mint.  A little savoury, woody element.  Very tasty, a very elegant wine that is showing more age than the Fonseca, and refinement.  A beauty of a wine, but this bottle was maybe a bit older than it should have been. 94pts

As I said earlier, this company puts an emphasis on quality and this is shown in the Croft house.  Fladgate bought Croft in 2001, and they tipped all the Croft 1985 into a Tawny because it wasn't any good. As we couldn't try that wine alongside the other two '85's, so a bottle of the 1991 Croft was brought to sample.  This wine, made before the Fladgate takeover, shows how Croft used to be in the dark days, and it is leagues different from the newer house style.  Instead of being a fruit forward wine, it was quite sweet, quite ballsy with some up front bramble fruit.  There is some semi-dried fruit on the nose as well, with herbs backing it up with some coffee.  Very balanced, but with some savoury, cocoa and chocolate with a herbal flavour coming up and then a bit of alcohol hits on the finish.  It is tasty, but just a bit too gutsy and crude.  86pts

The Quinta de Roeda is the main property of Croft, although it actually started being owned by Taylor's until the 1890's.  The 1997 Croft Quinta de Roeda had a very sweet and jammy aroma with lots of bramble, coffee and very juicy fruit.  The palate is very sweet, dark chocolate and with a lot of alcohol and spice coming out.  Big and gutsy with a dark, woody element.  It is very drinkable, but again, just a bit powerful and crude compared to its new house style.  87pts

I much prefer the newer, fruit forward style of Croft port.  It has a purity of fruit, is very clean and much more 'simple' and that is a good thing.  Older Croft appears to be trying too hard, trying to tick a lot of flavour boxes and not having an identity of it's own, whereas the new vintage has a clear house style that is delicious.  This old port house's new owner has done a very good job.

Single Quinta wines offer younger drinking, cheaper styles of vintage port.  Most port producers have at least one single Quinta wine as they will have one property that shines above the others, but larger producers will have different properties with different styles and will release these separately in non vintage declaration years. 

We tried the 1998 Fonseca Quinta do Panascal, which is the lead property for the company.  It was bought in 1978 and has been organic since the mid 1980s.  There is some very big, gutsy, fleshy fruit, a sweeter savoury aroma with a bit of honey, a lot of raspberries mixed in with the darker berries. Bacon the hits you!  The palate has a dark, jarring palate, lots of savoury notes, with a lot of earthy fruit. Ok, but it is not showing well. 82pts

The 1996 Fonseca Guimeraens is not a single Quinta port, but occupies the same sort of level.  It is a blend from the company's properties, and released in non classic years - essentially, it is the vintage port from non vintage years!  There is an aroma of sweet tobacco, sweet herbs and sweet fruit! This is a lovely sweet elegant aroma with juicy, full on berries.  Lush fruit, some woody elements with a lot of tobacco, good brambles, a bit of higher alcohol and spice, but with a dried fruit finish.  Quite dry and spicy, bit of alcohol, but with plumskin and leath on the finish.  Very clean and great value.  87pts

Finally, two single quinta wines from Taylors, showing the terroir differences of the two properties.  The 1999 Taylor's Quinta de Terra Feita has a little wet earth aroma and some Ribena!  Some alcohol comes off immediately with some herbal - rosemary and mint - emerging too.  The palate is a bit meaty, quite sweet, but with lots of earthy elements and a gutsy, spicy, leather flavour.  It is rich, with gutsy tannin, but is very nice with a savoury finish.  86pts  This is in contrast to the 2001 Taylor's Vargellas, which is all pretty with light, fresh fruit.  Quite floral with a brightness to it.  There is some dark, powerful spicy flavours, quite dark and chunky, and with a chocolate, bramble and spice note to it.  It is tight and dark but with loads of potential.  92pts

I love old vintage port, but Single Quinta is the way to go if you want to go out, buy a bottle of aged port and drink it.  These wines are all around the £20 to £25 price and are good value for money.  The exception being the Taylors Vargellas, this is a wine that will need some time to age, and is exceedingly good value for money.