Taylor Fladgate, 1966

Single Harvest Tawny Port

Description and Reviews:
Taylors have just announced a limited release of their 1966 Single Harvest Tawny Port. This is a new release of a rich, mellow and spicy 1966 Single Harvest Port.

It is presented in a classic Taylor’s frosted bottle, and packaged in a high quality beech-wood box.

During its five decades of ageing in oak casks, this wine has taken on an attractive pale mahogany colour with olive amber highlights. On the nose the wine displays fine oaky aromas and complex spicy, nutty, cigar box notes against a warm mellow background of butterscotch and molasses. The smooth velvety palate is lifted by a crisp acidity which gives the wine an attractive freshness in spite of its age. The finish is immensely long with rich, spicy, black pepper flavours lingering on the palate. Finely constituted and beautifully balanced, this rare Single Harvest Port would be an exceptional tribute to any 50th anniversary.

Scores and quotes:

96 points Wine Spectator

Very elegant, with notes of tobacco and cedar to the lush butter cream, ripe pear and dried apricot flavours. Seductive tropical fruit and spice notes linger on the endless finish, revealing citrusy hints. Drink now. (12/2015)

95 points Wine & Spirits

So mellow and round, this is easy to knock back. But consider what’s behind all the heady, delicious flavour—how the juiciness is perfectly integrated into the fresh scents that somehow lasted through five decades of aging in Taylor’s lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia. Those scents range from green almond to green fig and tobacco leaf. The wine feels complete, all of a piece, showing its alcohol in a voluptuous texture rather than in any sensation of heat, Taylor’s classically narrow Vintage perspective on the Douro expanded into the comforts of great Tawny. (12/2015)

95 points Wine Enthusiast

One of a series of releases of single harvest wines, this smooth, wood-aged Port is rich and still full of fruit. Ripe date and raisin flavours are lifted by acidity, with flavours from the wood aging giving great balance. Tawny in character, this beautiful wine is complex and ready to drink. (12/2015)

94 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

“The 1966 Single Harvest Tawny Port (i.e., a Colheita) is a traditional blend, aged in French and American oak. It comes in at 183 grams per litre of residual sugar. Surprisingly rich and fresh, this seems younger than its age. The complexity here is not quite as great as with some and the nuances of molasses and the like are controlled. On the other side of the coin, it has a rather sensual texture, finishing with a sugary burst. Underneath is the expected acidity and a bit of pop. Overall, it is rather seductive and quite delicious.