99 points Mark Squires (Wine Advocate): "The 2017 Vintage Port is a field blend aged for approximately 20 months in wood. It comes in with 100 grams of residual sugar. Rich, concentrated and often sensational, this is well structured, even better in its fruit profile. While the fruit is terrific, it is also wonderfully fresh. This is arguably a great Taylor's, but it still needs to prove its final case in the cellar. I don't think that will be a problem. As I said when I first saw it, it effortlessly combines brilliant fruit and structure. It does everything right, and it is a formidable competitor to its Vinha Velha sibling in this report. And at half the price. Drink: 2030-2077. (Aug 2022)"
99 points and 'Top 100 Wine of 2019 (#28),' James Suckling: "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. (6/16/19)"
98 points Neal Martin (Vinous): "The 2017 Taylor's Vintage Port comes from their three quintas: Vargellas, de Terra Feita and do Junco, picking commencing at Vargellas on September 1, the earliest since 1945. 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. Drink: 2030-2080. (Jun 2019)"
98 points Falstaff: "Rather peppery than fruity on the nose, black cherry in the background, but also something enormously fresh, fennel herb, mint, almost petrol, celery. On the palate opening with dominant creaminess, mealy, at first mild, then nevertheless enormously drive and homogeneous, building tannin, much juice, well integrated, rather mild acidity, in the transition to the finish it has grip and a striking tactile mineral crescendo. Completely integrated alcohol, tobacco in the background. (2/13/20)"
97 points Wine Spectator: "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. (10/23/19)"
97 points Richard Mayson (Decanter): "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. 11,500 cases produced (nearly double that of 2016). Drinking Window: 2035-2060. (Jun 2019)"
97 points Wine Enthusiast: "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. (Dec 2019)"
96 points Wine & Spirits: "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... 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. (Oct 2019)"
99 points and 'Top 100 Wine of 2019 (#28),' James Suckling: "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. (6/16/19)"
98 points Neal Martin (Vinous): "The 2017 Taylor's Vintage Port comes from their three quintas: Vargellas, de Terra Feita and do Junco, picking commencing at Vargellas on September 1, the earliest since 1945. 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. Drink: 2030-2080. (Jun 2019)"
98 points Falstaff: "Rather peppery than fruity on the nose, black cherry in the background, but also something enormously fresh, fennel herb, mint, almost petrol, celery. On the palate opening with dominant creaminess, mealy, at first mild, then nevertheless enormously drive and homogeneous, building tannin, much juice, well integrated, rather mild acidity, in the transition to the finish it has grip and a striking tactile mineral crescendo. Completely integrated alcohol, tobacco in the background. (2/13/20)"
97 points Wine Spectator: "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. (10/23/19)"
97 points Richard Mayson (Decanter): "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. 11,500 cases produced (nearly double that of 2016). Drinking Window: 2035-2060. (Jun 2019)"
97 points Wine Enthusiast: "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. (Dec 2019)"
96 points Wine & Spirits: "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... 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. (Oct 2019)"
| Product SKU | 334947 |
| Producer | Taylor Fladgate |
| Country | Portugal |
| Region | Porto DOC |
| Varietal | Other Red Blends |
| Vintage | 2017 |
| Size | 750ml |
| Color | Red |
| ABV | 20.0% |
| Ships To |
