KPB
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Joined: 11/25/2012
From: Ithaca, New York
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Meanwhile, I've been comparing the 2003, 2011 and 2016 Taylor vintage port (I was just in Portugal where, ironically, I didn't drink much vintage port or do any real wine tastings except for whatever was available by the glass in the restaurants we ate in).
As everyone probably knows, 2016 was given off-scale reviews by Parker, who would have awarded 110 points if there was a way to do that. 2003 also was a 100 point wine for him. I think 2011 was 96 for him.
I don't like to give 100 pt scores to newly bottled wines, and in the case of VP "newly bottled" means "within a few years". But if I were going to do so, the 2011 is absolutely astonishing and would deserve that kind of score, for me. It has the richness and intensity of the best Taylor vintages, but in a remarkable balance, with just a hint of menthol that avoids it seeming monolithic. Drinking extremely well now, at age 8, but I think that in the time frame 2025-2035 it will be offscale and easily a genuine 100pt experience (for me, I'll call it 98pts right now).
2003 and 2016 are kind of a tie for me, once I sort through their relative age. Even after 16 years the 2003 is sweet and rich and hedonistic. It hasn't really changed much, and if it suffers relative to the 2011 this is because it is just a bit unstructured -- not flabby, but a tiny bit one-dimensional, with that dimension being sweetness (or maybe two-dimensional, and the second dimension being the velvet mouthfeel). 2016, in contrast, is like 2011 but with the volume, bass and treble cranked to the max: a bit too much in every way. Oddly, I think this says something about Bob Parker's palate: he is probably a little burned out on wines and ports and this issue of the wine being a bit too assertive is maybe not obvious to him. As people get older, that does happen -- someone commented on a different thread that their hearing and vision was a bit muted lately. Same for taste buds as you age. Call the 2003 97 right now, and the 2016 96, with the potential for both to hit maybe 98 at age 30?
I find it interesting that Taylor has shifted stylistically towards Graham's, by the way. It probably says something about the global sweet tooth -- we all have seen articles about sweetness in wines. Port producers have seen them too. To me a vintage port like the 1985 Graham's (my favorite mature port for a decade now) appeals precisely the way that dessert appeals, and I just love the stuff. If I think of the great classic Taylor VPs, like 1977 and 1970, as far as I can tell they were never as sweet as Graham's, or as rich in the mouth, as the 2003, 2011 and 2016. And similarly for Fonseca 1994: a rich, sweet style (that got 99 or 100 points on release, too).
Anyhow, if you have a love for sweet dessert wines, try any of these now. The 1985 Graham's and the 2003 Taylor are real bargains on wine-searcher. 2011 is only a little more costly and well worth owning if you plan to live for another 30-40 years to try it at maturity. And I should add that a hard to find rarity, 2016 Quinta S. Jose Vintage Port, is also worth finding if you can (I think only people in Europe have much chance). Lovely stuff, and again, a real bargain compared to the Taylor 2016...
< Message edited by KPB -- 1/20/2020 7:51:33 AM >
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Ken Birman
The Professor of Brettology
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