TAYLOR

The 1955 Taylor's Vintage Port is tight on the nose with notes of red cherry, fig, marmalade and tobacco leaf, all quite conservative and correct. The palate is very well balanced, beautifully defined and graceful but it does not have the brio, the hubris of the 1945 or 1948, missing the intellectual dimension of the greatest Taylor Ports. There are no tangible faults. It remains a wonderful mature Port cut from a similar cloth as a 1966 Bordeaux inasmuch that it is conservative and masculine. Yet, it is fresh and precocious towards the finish. Tasted in the Factory House in Porto for Taylor's - The Story of a Classic Port House book. Drinking range: 2018 - 2030 Rating: 95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jun 2018)

The only vintage Taylor’s declared in the 1950s. According to the Fladgate Partnership, ‘one of the most underrated vintages of the century’. Taylor’s own two great vineyards in the Douro, Quinta de Vargellas and Quinta de Terra Feita. Both are categorised grade A - the highest possible rating. In years when Taylor’s produces a classic vintage, wines from these two estates are blended together. As they are some 20 miles apart, and subject to very different micro climates, they combine to produce a powerful, long lived and complex vintage port. In 1955 there was a heatwave at the end of April and early May. Rain at the end of May was beneficial for the flowering. July and August were hot, and at the time of the vintage the bunches were in excellent condition. The general starting date for the vintage was on the 26 September, and a shower on the 22 September did a lot of good. Light rain fell on 2 and 3 October but did no harm, and helped cool the temperature. Mid rose red. This somehow not only looks but tastes rose red. Lovely and lifted and fresh. There's a real core of excitement to this. How lovely! Rating: 19 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jul 2016)