Taylor Fladgate, Late Bottled Vintage Porto, Oporto, Portugal, 2017

Overview of the Wine
Taylor Fladgate were pioneers of the LBV category, developed to satisfy the demand for a high quality ready-to-drink alternative to Vintage Port for everyday consumption. Unlike Vintage Port, which is bottled after only two years in wood and ages in bottle, LBV is bottled after four to six years and is ready to drink when bottled.

Grapes
Port Blend Red

Origin
Oporto, Portugal

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
Dense ruby black centre with a narrow brick rim and cerise highlights on the edge. The essence of this superb LBV is the fine red berry and stone fruit character, wonderfully fresh and vibrant, which bursts immediately from the glass. Raspberry, cherry and red plum, subtly infused with richer notes of blackcurrant and liquorice, dominate the nose. Cedary, minty notes and a discreet redolence of violets give the wine a seductive scented dimension. The fine fruit character reappears on the palate which is dense and chewy, the firm slightly austere tannins giving the wine its typically Taylor combination of stamina and restraint. The finish is impressively long and vigorous, with rich dark chocolate flavours adding a touch of lusciousness and opulence to the intense berry fruit. This is an outstanding LBV, full of verve and confidence, displaying the fine fruit quality which is a keynote of the Taylor style.

90 Points - Wine Advocate
The 2017 Late Bottled Vintage Port is a typical Douro blend bottled in 2022 with a bar-top cork and 104 grams of residual sugar. This takes the lively Croft 2016, another of the Fladgate Group's houses, and adds a little depth. More importantly, it adds waves of flavor. It is well balanced and just delicious. The structure is average. On the other hand, while very well balanced, it is not quite as lively. Pick 'em. These can hold, but bottle development is not the same with filtered LBVs, so there is little reward to doing so. Drink up.

Product size: 750ml

From a private seller.