I thought that I'd dig out some notes from a Quinta de Vargellas 2005-1967 vertical conducted by Adrian Bridge, Managing Director of Taylor’s, at The Royal Opera House in London, to commemorate the release of the 2005 Quinta de Vargellas a few years ago.
Located in an extremely remote location in the eastern-most Port-producing zone of the Douro Superior, Quinta de Vargellas became accessible by road only in the early 1970s, with no electricity until 1972.
Previously part owned by the Ferreira family, Vargellas was acquired by Taylor’s in 1893, when Phylloxera was ravaging the Douro Valley. At this time, the Quinta was capable of producing just six 550-litre pipes of Port. Today, it typically yields 245 pipes (134,800 litres/179,733 bottles). The north-facing vineyard comprises 25% Touriga Nacional, 25% Touriga Francesa, and 22% Tinta Roriz, with the rest planted to Tinta Cao, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Amarela, Rufete, and other varieties.
Vargellas is cheek by jowl with the River Douro and ripens up to two weeks earlier than cooler vineyards high up in the surrounding hills. On average, Vargellas is 2 degrees warmer across the year on average than Taylor’s other vineyard at Terra Feita.
In declared years, wine from Vargellas forms a major part of Taylor’s vintage blend, but it is bottled as a Single Quinta in those years when a bona fide Taylor’s Vintage is not declared. ‘A classic vintage has perfect conditions, and we make a blend from our two properties to produce a more long-lived wine…In other years, when it is very good but the wine won’t be as long-lived, we make a single Quinta wine,’ explained Bridge. With the launch of its Quinta de Vargellas 1958, Taylor’s was the first Port house to release a single Quinta Vintage Port.
In the winery, Vargellas is treated exactly the same as a Vintage Port, but is aged in bottle at the Quinta for several years before release.
Some years ago, the humorist Willie Rushton drew a cartoon of bowler-hatted Englishmen crammed onto the tiny railway platform at the remote Vargellas station in the Douro Valley. The caption read, ‘The last outpost of the British Empire.’ Rushton also wrote a poem in the Quinta’s visitors’ book (which all guests must do):
I could sing out your praises, ’til ill,
Of the Rusty. I’ve had more than my fill
At Vargellas. Oh, blast!
You go downhill so fast
And the bloody walk back’s all uphill.
Taylor’s report on the 1967 harvest reads: ‘Winter rainfall, from October to March was slightly less than the average. It was a set spring with 2.54 inches of rain in May, which prejudiced the flowering, and the berry set was poor. July, August and September were all good hot months. The vintage started generally on the 26th September and the weather remained good throughout. Sugar graduations were normal and showed slight increases towards the end of the vintage. Musts were slightly unripe, but had a lot of colour and the wines should develop well.’
The 1967 vintage was declared by some people, such as Cockburn’s, whose Quinta do Roêda is the other side of the river from Vargellas. Now 40 years old, this Vargellas is a pale tawny colour, with some ruby shading around the rim. Raisiny and a bit spirity on the nose, with Bridge suggesting that toffee and walnut aromas could be detected. Still quite luscious on the palate, though, and not drying out as much as the nose might have suggested. Not intensely sweet, with juicy acidity, and the tannins have been tamed so that now they can be barely felt. Finishes very hot, with the alcohol persisting rather than the fruit. A bit weedy overall, though it probably suffers by comparison with some of the wines here, and not a great vintage Port vintage.