1970 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port Port

1970 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port

99 WE

Featured Review

This wine's dark garnet color with minimal bricking suggests a relatively youthful wine and this certainly could age longer, although it's also delicious now. Wonderfully complex floral and herbal scents easily move into deep, rich flavors of chocolate and cherries, sprinkled with a healthy dose of Douro minerality and spice. Drink or hold. Wine Enthusiast

Wine Enthusiast | 99 WE

The 1970 Taylor's Vintage Port has a tight nose, youthful with notes of liquorice, raisin, boot-polish and lemongrass. It is well defined and displays a little more intensity than the 1963. The palate is full-bodied with firm tannins, very cohesive with superb ripeness: wild strawberry, lemongrass, smoke and dates with an incredibly persistent finish. There is an effortlessness to this Port. It has such weight on the finish that it will cruise past another two decades in bottle. Tasted in the Factory House in Porto for "Taylor's - The Story of a Classic Port House" book.

Vinous Media | 98 VM

Clearly lives up to Taylor's superb reputation. Deep ruby, with intense violet and chocolate aromas, full-bodied, with gorgeous fruit flavors, full but well-integrated tannins and an extremely long finish. Amazing balance and finesse. Still needs time.

Wine Spectator | 98 WS

This house must certainly be the Latour of Portugal. Their ports are remarkably backward yet still impressive when young. Of all the vintage ports, those of Taylor need the longest time to mature and even when fully mature seem to have an inner strength and firmness that keep them going for decades. Their tawnys are also among the very best, though somewhat expensive. The 1970 fabulous, a broodingly dense-colored, backward port that has all the signs of future greatness, provided one is willing to cellar it until the early 1990s.

Robert Parker | 96 RP

(Taylor Fladgate) While I have had little recent experience with the 1985 or 1977 Taylor, I have drunk quite a bit of the 1970 vintage over the last decade. This is a vintage of Taylor that has always offered up a more open and easy-going personality, and has been drinking beautifully since at least the early 1990s. Despite its unusual (by Taylor standards) precociousness, the wine has continued to evolve and improve over the last fifteen years, seemingly gaining in depth and purity with each passing year. The bottle we had at our vertical tasting was flat out stunning, offering up a brilliant purity that was also readily apparent in the 1992 vintage. The bouquet is a magnificent mélange of sweet black cherries and plums, black licorice, chocolate, tar, complex soil tones and a nice framing of cedary wood. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and refined, with beautiful mid-palate depth, a firm Taylor structural spine, and great acidity and grip on the very long, complex finish. Even at age thirty-six the wine seems slightly spirity on the backend- I am not sure if this is a function of it moving into a more mature profile, or if this will diminish even more as the years go by. But the ’70 Taylor is a superb bottle by any stretch of the imagination, and offers outstanding value by today’s standards. (Drink between 2006-2070).

John Gilman | 94 JG

Type of Wine	Port : Port wines have always been different than other European wines due to their history with brandy, and today they're highly appreciated by wine enthusiasts on all the continents. Red Port wines are typically made of Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, and Touriga Nacional grape varietals. As for whites, most of them are based on Gouveio, Moscatel Galego, and Malvasia Fina varieties.
Varietal	Other
Country	Portugal : Viticulture has existed on the Iberian Peninsula (home to modern day Spain and Portugal) for thousands of years, dating as far back as 2000 BC. The country of Portugal, with its 250 native grape varieties, has a long and colorful history of viticulture and is renowned for its production of the world-famous fortified wines of Port and Madeira. Beyond these rich and intriguing styles, the country has become diversified, and is now being recognized for its refreshing whites of Vinho Verde, sparkling wines from Obidos and the warm reds from Douro and Dao. In the past few decades, Portugal has enjoyed somewhat of a revival in terms of viticulture and is becoming increasingly popular for its many wine styles. Portugal may not compare to neighboring Spain’s production rate, but in terms of quality, it can do more than hold a candle. Portugal’s production of Port is, without a doubt, its fame to claim and has brought global recognition; however Its recent renaissance and its incredible array of wine styles has helped to only bring more attention to the country’s wine industry. Its annual production of 600 million liters of wine from its 195,000 hectares under vine is an incredible feat for one of the smaller wine producing countries. Many of the key grape varieties cultivated in Portugal are considered native. Touriga Nacional, Trincadeira, Baga and Tinta Roriz lead the way and are the most popular and important grapes grown. Portugal’s temperate, predominately maritime climate and portfolio of terroirs is greatly conducive to vinification. Its many mountains, river valleys and limestone-rich coastal hills allows for a rich and diverse range of soils. The Atlantic influences the growing season which sees high levels of rainfall allowing for high yields. This can also be a detriment and an increased risk of fungal diseases. Coastal region winegrowers has have worked diligently to cultivated ventilated sites as well as high trellising methods to keep the grapes from developing bunch rot. The international wine market is becoming more cognizant of the many great wines coming from Portugal, from the reds of Douro and Dao to the red, white and rose from Vinho Verde, sparkling renditions from native varietals to the unprecedented and world-famous Port wines. International varieties (most of French origins) such as Syrah and Merlot have taken root in Portuguese soil. Despite the arrival of these varieties making a splash, and intrigue, Portugal’s long tradition of winemaking in the region has allowed winemakers to maintain a certain uniqueness in their wines. The Old Word nation of Portugal commands global respect and recognition for its many accomplishments and contributions to the world of wine.
Region	Port : Oporto is the home to the most exceptional Portuguese wines out there. Located on the Atlantic coast, one of the largest cities of Portugal is also one of the most well-regarded wine regions in this European country. At its beginnings, Port wine was more acidic and dry than today. That was due to brandy, which winemakers added to wine to keep it stable before they shipped it to the UK. Later on, brandy was used to capture the sweet ripe grape flavors, which contributed to the maturing potential of Port wines. Vinho do Porto is one of the favorite dessert wines for many, given it's usually irresistibly sweet. However, other varieties are also known to win the hearts of wine enthusiasts all over the world with beautiful whites, and delicious semi-dry reds, whether they're aged in bottles or in barrels. There are more than a hundred different grape varieties in Port, but only five have made it to the top. Tinta Barroca, typical for the Douro region, and Tempranillo, known for its early ripening, are some of the most commonly blended ones. Tempranillo is also famous for its remarkable strawberry and plum hints on the palate. To get to know Port wines, one must not miss out on Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port, or Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port.