So, what does it taste like? It has a greenish, tawny rim, quite deep at its mahogany core more than you would expect for a Port of this age. The nose is quite arresting, does not hang about, delivering a cornucopia of aromas: grilled walnuts, espresso, smoke, antique bureau and dried fig, all extremely well defined. Monitoring this over three or four hours, it gains intensity, hints of liquorice and menthol joining the chorus line, just the right amount of volatility. The palate is medium-bodied, slightly viscous on the entry, very spicy with sweet honey and brown sugar notes, completely offset by the combination of natural and volatile acids. Despite its age, this is a fiery Port with extraordinary lingering notes of Japanese shiso leaf, fig jam, damson and stem ginger, clean and poised with that volatility kicking towards the finish. This has wonderful sweetness, with 218g/L residual sugar that counters any oxidation. At around ÂŁ4,000 per bottle, it is not inexpensive. But you are paying to drink history, knowing that it will never be released again. Of course, this 1896 is ready to be drunk now, but such is its concentration and vigour, that it could be cellared if you insist on your fortified wine being at least 125 years old.
Vinous Media | 98 VM
Good things come to those who wait. The last two pipes (casks) of a wine set aside 125 years ago were bottled earlier this year. The 1896 vintage was a watershed for the Port trade as it was much the best harvest since phylloxera had ravaged the Douro valley in the 1870s. The wine came to Taylors through Wiese & Krohn, latterly a small Portuguese-owned company that was bought by the Fladgate Partnership in 2013. Deep mahogany centre with a thin olive- green rim; distinctly and very beautifully lifted on the nose, a touch balsamic or in Portuguese terms, vinagrinho, with a touch of cask dissipating to reveal a wonderful perfume of quince and a hint of roast coffee; richly concentrated with wonderfully mellifluous texture and a fresh streak of acidity which stops it from cloying, there’s a hint of molasses, butterscotch and leather on the finish which, as you might expect, goes on and on and on. The essence of Port: glorious and the last of its kind.
Decanter Magazine | 98 DEC
This is very intense, with burnt brown sugar, toffee, caramel, treacle tart and volatile notes. Burnt orange peel, too. Hint of turpentine, but it’s no bother. It’s full-bodied, very sweet and dense like molasses, but it remains liquid and lightly syrupy. The finish is intense and powerful with a light acetone note to the caramel character. It was aged 125 years in cask in a forgotten cellar in the Douro Valley and bottled in 2021. A tiny-production, uniquely historical fortified wine. Drink now.
James Suckling | 97 JS
