2017 Taylor's Vintage

Vinificação: Na Quinta de Vargellas a vindima começou no dia 1 de Setembro, a mais temporã numa geração. O último registo de uma vindima ter começado tão cedo foi em 1945 – um dos melhores anos do século 20 – quando as primeiras uvas foram colhidas a 3 de Setembro. As temperaturas durante a vindima foram amenas, com noites frias, permitindo fermentações equilibradas e excelente extracção. Os mostos apresentaram-se densos e marcados por excepcional profundidade de cor e impressionantes fenólicos.

Sugestões: Acompanha maravilhosamente nozes, queijos de sabor intenso e queijos de pasta azul. Igualmente excelente com frutas secas, como os damascos e os figos. Armazenar em posição horizontal, em local fresco e seco, ao abrigo da luz e de oscilações de temperatura. Servir à temperatura entre 16ºC e 18ºC. Consumir com moderação.

Prémios e Recomendações
2020
Revista de Vinhos, Portugal | Prémio Melhor de Portugal

2019
Robert Parker – Wine Advocate, Mark Squires, EUA | 98-100/100 PTS, “A step up (or two) on the 2016, this shows fine depth, more focus, vivid fruit and serious power. It’s not particularly thick, austere or astringent, but this is built for the long haul. It is potentially a great Taylor’s, effortlessly combining brilliant fruit and structure. It tastes great now, but the power makes this hard to drink today. So, have some patience. It will need some time. At the moment, it seems to be a step up on the Vinha Velha, although that is far more closed. I’d pick this today, but in time, both undoubtedly will have more tales to tell. Great young Ports go through many phases, and both are great young Ports.”
JamesSuckling.com, James Suckling, EUA | 99/100 PTS, “Complex aromas of tar, wet earth, dark berry and flowers follow through to a full body, medium sweet and amazing compacted concentration. Vertical and so deep. It goes on for minutes. Truly excellent. Better after 2027.”
Vinous, Neal Martin, EUA | 98/100 PTS, “Now this boasts a bold and more flamboyant bouquet vis-à-vis the Croft with layers of blackcurrant, blueberries, violet and allspice. Wonderful definition here and as it ratchets up through the gears with aeration manages to maintain impressive delineation. The palate is medium, rather full-bodied. The first impression is one of freshness, completely disguising that summer’s dryness and warmth, a disarming finesse built around the frame of tannins that would have been impossible years ago. It is a silky-smooth Taylor’s, one of the most polished 2017 Vintage Ports with energy and tension flooding through the finish. Aristocratic as ever, totally Taylor’s, yet still translating the growing season with aplomb.”
Wine Spectator, James Molesworth, EUA | 97/100 PTS, “This offers up a dense rumble of dark currant, fig and blackberry paste flavors, laced with hints of buckwheat, baker’s chocolate and warm tar. The muscular finish is thickly layered, with threads of alder and espresso cream adding definition along the way. Should be among the more long-lived wines of the vintage. Best from 2035 through 2060.”
Decanter, Richard Mayson, Reino Unido | 97/100 PTS, “A blend from predominantly north-facing Quinta de Vargellas in the Douro Superior and quintas Terras Feita and Junco in the Pinhão valley. This has lovely ripe mulberry fruit on the floral nose, also showing lovely concentration. It’s dense and fleshy initially on the palate, displaying silky-velvety damson fruit and broad, fine-grained tannins which rise in the mouth and lead to a big peacock’s tail of a finish. It’s a bold wine with great finesse, already beautifully integrated.”
Wine Enthusiast, Roger Voss, EUA | 97/100 PTS, “The structure is currently very dominant in this wine. Its dark tannins are concentrated, waiting for the masked black fruits to come through. Everything is there, it just needs an immense amount of time. Drink from 2030.”
Wine & Spirits, Joshua Greene, EUA | 96/100 PTS, “This 2017 has all the markers of a legendary Taylor Port—scents of green fig, the complex tannic impact of schist, the consternating sense of elegance in the face of massive structural power. In our tastings, it came after several 2017s that were sourced from vineyards on the north bank, closer to Pinhão, and, while it would be simplistic to consider this a definitive difference (there are many exposures in each quinta, and other quinta parcels in the blends), there was a stark shift from the blackness of those wines to the sour-cherry impression of this wine, and its floral fraise des bois notes. Those flavors keep pushing up against the dark shadows of the wine’s schist tannins, an undulating wake of red fruit and minerals that carries the wine’s muscular power into memory. ”
Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding, Reino Unido | 18,5/20 PTS, “Deep purple. Dark-fruited, dusky, smoky, full of blackberry and blueberry fruit. Like a bottomless well of fruit, so deep and smooth. Power and polish to the densely layered but welcoming tannins, the power hidden by the fruit depth. As it opens on the nose, there’s a more wild elderberry character and more chocolate on the finish. Amazing length, the tannins creating a paradoxically dry, savoury finish. Even with all this exceptional fruit, it seems more corseted on the palate than some in this vintage.“
Vinhos Grandes Escolhas, João Afonso, Portugal | 19,5/20 PTS, “O nariz surpreende pela finura das notas florais com violetas e esteva, uma fruta madura com toques de menta. Impressionante pela conjugação de robustez e elegância. Volumoso na boca, taninos de grande classe, muito presentes mas finos, termina longo, texturado, com um rasto que se prolonga por muito tempo. Um Vintage de absoluta referência.”
Vinhos Grandes Escolhas, Portugal | Os Melhores Vinhos
Revista de Vinhos, Guilherme Corrêa, Portugal | 18,5/20 PTS, “Opaco. Lado floral de violeta que convida a uma imersão nas camadas de amora negra, nos condimentos picantes, no confit de citrinos, na esteva, até chegar ao coração mineral. Vigoroso, dotado de uma clássica austeridade tânica e sápida e uma frescura impressionante a contrastar com a densidade da fruta negra, que permanece num agradável final.”
Revista de Vinhos, Portugal | Altamente Recomendado