1970 Taylor Vargellas

Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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StuartDG
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Joined: 15:33 Tue 17 May 2011

1970 Taylor Vargellas

Post by StuartDG »

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 1970 vintage says, "Winter rainfall was slightly above average, with 16 1/2 inches falling between October and March. Spring was dry, offering good conditions for flowering. The berry set was good and was not unduly altered by a damp May and June. From July to October, almost no rain fell and picking took place in ideal conditions, starting around 21st September. The musts were well balanced and, thanks to the cool weather, took plenty of work."

This rare wine is the sole exception to the rule that Taylor’s only produces Quinta de Vargellas in undeclared Port vintages. When informed of the project to dam the River Douro to aid navigation and provide electricity, Taylor’s expected to lose the part of Vargellas that was sited below the railway line. Indeed, the Douro is higher than it used to be, and has swallowed up other vineyards. The vertical limit of planting was 200m before the dam was built; today, it is 300m. (The river narrows dramatically just before the dam, and it was here, at the treacherous Valeira Gorge, that Baron James Forrester drowned in May 1861).

The final blend for the 1970 Vintage Port included wines from this soon to be flooded vineyard, which – being so close to the river – was warmer than other parts of Vargellas. A single pipe (out of 34 made) was bottled separately.

A much deeper tawny colour than the 1967, with a better balance of fruit and alcohol on the nose than the previous wine. Much more appealing, complex and enveloping. At first, there are chocolate and coffee aromas, but after 90 minutes in the glass the nose turns more herbal, with a bit of leather, too. Complex and ever-evolving, but never becoming unctuous. Firmly structured, quite four-square palate, with nice balance. There is still plenty of rich, warm fruit, and the tannins are so well-amalgamated that they can barely be felt. Probably sweeter than most Taylor’s wines, with a lovely, glowing finish. This is quite delicious, and a lovely wine, though some tasters felt that its warm origins were too obvious.
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