1970 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage
Community Tasting Note
Border Boss Likes this wine:
Friday, April 14, 2017 - Decanted 7 hours before service. Purchased recently. Oddly, this wine was disappointing, yet successful this evening.
The disappointing part was the wine itself. The color was light brick red, far to light for this producer and this vintage. Clearly it had not been stored properly. It still had a lot of alcohol heat, which did not die down while in the glass. I expected a whole lot more. On the palate, the wine showed 55% cacao dark chocolate and Luxardo cherries, which turned out to be its savior (see below).
The successful part was the pairing with the food. The dessert course was a warm chocolate soufflé with a dark cherry sauce. The Taylor in its current condition paired marvelously with the dessert. The lighter dark chocolate worked well with the chocolate level in the soufflé, and the Luxardo cherry in the wine was perfect with the cherry sauce put inside the soufflé. This is a perfect example of why I look at wines in the context of the food, not just in and of themselves.
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Comment posted by snipes:
4/15/2017 12:20:00 PM - I drank up the last of mine a few years back, but I am curious why you would assign a score to a wine that you clearly feel was heat damaged?
Comment posted by Border Boss:
4/15/2017 2:08:00 PM - I never said it was heat damaged. I said that the wine was showing a lot of alcohol heat. This is common for ports that haven't been decanted with enough advance time to have the alcohol heat blow off or moderate.
This bottle was likely not stored properly, or it could be a result of bottle variation. Either way, the points I awarded it was appropriate for this bottle. I'm sure a well-stored bottle would rate mid-90s, based on the reputation of 1970 Taylor.