Taylor’s Vintage Port 2016

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Thoughts on the 2016 VP

Adrian Bridge, Managing Director
“The keynotes of the 2016 vintage are purity, refinement and structure. The Taylor’s 2016 is characteristically elegant and poised and underpinned by firm, superbly integrated tannins of exceptional quality. Yields at the 2016 harvest were relatively low and the wine is likely to be tightly allocated.”

David Guimaraens, Head Wine Maker
Commenting on the viticultural year: “Two factors stand out in 2016. The spring was extremely wet meaning that the vines had plenty of water throughout the summer.  Secondly, the ripening season started relatively late and lasted well into September. This meant that the crop was very evenly ripened and all elements were in perfect balance at the time of the harvest. Picking started later than usual, particular in the Pinhão Valley where the Taylor’s properties only began their harvests in the last week of September.” Commenting on the wine: “The hallmark of the Taylor 2016 is the very fine fruit quality and the magnificent tannins supported by a lively acidity.”

The Importance of Blending

At Yarra Yering we made a VP style, the Port Sorts, renamed Pot Sorts for export after naming rights for the use of Port were granted solely to the Portuguese.

Made from the traditional Port varieties, Touriga Nacional provides structural tannin backbone, earthiness, and a core of fruit. Tinta Cão fruit richness. Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo) and Tinta Amarela the acid component.

In addition to the above the best known red varieties for Port production include the Touriga Francesa, and, Tinta Barroca but in total there are around thirty types of Port grape. Most of these varieties have relatively small thick-skinned berries which produce the dense concentrated must (grape juice) needed to make Port.

Although they may be planted separately, the varieties are normally harvested and fermented together. Each grape variety contributes its own particular character – such as the intense flavours of woodland fruit, delicate floral scents, exotic spicy notes or the wild resiny aromas of gumcistus – to the nose of the wine. The grape varieties work together like instruments in an orchestra to create a subtle, complex and multi-dimensional harmony.

Making Port

Port is a fortified wine. Fortified wines are made by adding a proportion of grape spirit, or brandy, to the wine at some point during the production process. Port is arguably the greatest of all fortified wines and its paramount expression, Vintage Port, ranks alongside the finest produce of Bordeaux or Burgundy as one of the great iconic wines of the world.

In the case of Port, the addition of the brandy takes place before the wine has finished fermenting. This means that the wine retains some of the natural sweetness of the grape, making it rich, round and smooth on the palate.

One of the fascinating aspects of Port wine is its variety of different styles, each with its own characteristic flavours, from the intense berry fruit flavours of a Reserve or a Late Bottled Vintage to the rich mellowness of an Aged Tawny or the sublime complexity of a Vintage Port.

About Taylor’s

Taylor’s, along with Fronseca are both owned and made by the Guimarens family under the guidance of David. These are two of the great Port estates.

In 1692, an important chapter in the history of Port began. Job Bearsley, an English merchant, travelled to Portugal to venture into the wine business, founding the company we now know as Taylor’s. Today, it is one of the oldest and most renowned Port producers, and its Ports are considered amongst the finest in the world.

After each harvest, the tasting panel selects the finest Port wines from the three properties and these are then left to age for two winters in oak vats.

In their second Spring, they are tasted again. If they are judged to be of exceptional quality, the Port wines of the three estates are blended together, Vargellas bringing structure, elegance and complexity to the wine and Terra Feita and Junco body, depth and powerful, concentrated fruit.

At this stage it must be decided whether a Vintage Port is to be ‘declared’. For a declaration to be made, the Vintage Port blend must be of outstanding quality: austere in its youth, with tremendous depth of flavour and massive structure, capable of evolving over years, or decades into that quintessence of great Port, a mature Taylor’s Vintage.

Historically Taylor’s has only declared about three Vintage years per decade.

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The 2016 Vintage

The weather pattern during the growing and ripening seasons had a decisive effect on the character of the 2016 wines, with their elegance, refinement, crisp acidity and magnificent tannins. Spring was unusually wet, with heavy rain and relatively cool conditions throughout April and May. This had the benefit of restoring ground water levels, depleted by the previous year’s drought, and creating reserves for the hot summer that was to follow. However, the wet spring conditions also resulted in loss of fruit in some areas and a significant reduction in yields.  They also delayed the start of the ripening cycle.