TAYLOR FLADGATE Vintage Port 2017 Bottle

Description

The 2017 Vintage Port from Taylor’s is a masterclass in concentration and elegance, showcasing a deep purple hue that invites exploration. Mark Squires from The Wine Advocate rates it a remarkable 99 points, praising its rich fruit profile and structure. It captivates with complex aromas of tar, wet earth, and dark berries, while James Suckling also awards it 99 points, highlighting its amazing concentration and length, declaring it “truly excellent.” Vinous contributes with a score of 98 points, noting the bold bouquet of blackcurrant and blueberries, along with a silky-smooth texture and disarming finesse. This vintage port is poised for greatness, balancing vibrant freshness with depth, and promises a long, rewarding evolution in the cellar.

*****

THE WINE ADVOCATE 99 points
Drink Date 2030 - 2077
"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." - Mark Squires, 2022.

JAMES SUCKLING 99 points
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 98 points
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. Total production is 11,500 cases. - Neal Martin

JANCIS ROBINSON 18.5 points
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. Fladgate MD Adrian Bridge suggested this wine had an aroma of orange blossom and he is right, but I am not sure I would never have identified it without his prompt. (JH)

DECANTER 97 points
Tasted by: Richard Mayson
(at Port 2017 tastings, London, 28 Jun 2019) Part of Port 2017: Vintage guide and what to buy
Drinking Window: 2035 - 2060
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).