1983 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto (8/25/2024)
This wine has improved dramatically in the past few years and has completely shed the "The dreaded 1983 Taylor" moniker that accompanied perceived early weakness. It is developing tertiary flavors and has lost all of it roughness and baby fat. Decanted and followed for a hour or so. It seemed a bit light and translucent as I poured the decant, but no less dark than the 2014 Elusa that it followed once it made it to the decanter and then the glass. Having shed roughness, the wine is extremely smooth and velvety with balanced but not expressive sweetness. There was fruitiness, but not focused to a particular red fruit. It was hard to identify, and one of my drinking buddies was unsure, ultimately settling on a red fruit like a plum. I thought there was a fair mixture of light plum and light cherry. There was just the start of the development of caramel and nuttiness. This is an excellent port for people who do not like the heavier ports that the haters (e.g., my wife) describe as being like cough syrup. The more I think about this, the more I like the balanced approach that is less forceful. (93 points)
Every bottle of 1983 Taylor I’ve had has been pretty bad, a wine that never should have been bottled. I’m glad to hear it seems to be drinkable now. It’s unfortunate that its primary and secondary stages weren’t good, but its tertiary stage is good. It might be worth picking up a bottle at auction as long as it’s inexpensive.
I suspect that it is bottle variation because some people have said that the wine was flawed and weak. Mine had no flaws and any weakness was a good factor.
It’s mainly with horizontal tastings. The Taylors, while fine and pleasurable on it’s own, doesn’t show well against other houses. And for Taylors with it’s expectation, that’s not good.
The vintages of the 1980s, with the exception of the 1980, weren’t kind to Taylor. I don’t know what happened with them. The 1980 is excellent. The 1983 and 1985, not so much. It can’t be an issue with the entire house, as the Fonsecas of the 1980s were excellent.
Come to think of it, maybe it was just the decade of the 1980s. The Q. do Noval 1985 is also weak. and I do not remember an exception port from the 1980 decade. However, maybe it is just a very late developing vintage because I liked this 1983 Taylor. I have a couple of 1985
Q do Novals hdig somewhere in the cellar. I have some people visiting tomorrow, so maybe its an excuse to see how it is doing after 39 years. .
1980 Dow’s is fantastic. Many of the other Symington wines were good as well. 1985 Dows and Warres also good. Noval was in the doldrums. Still owned by the Van Zeller family then with factional rivalries. Christiano Van Zeller wanted to invest in the property but was overruled by the rest of the family. In the end, they sold to AXA.