NV Taylor White (Fine White)

[JacobH]

No- not that Taylor White Port!

I presume this is a new product: I bought it just before Christmas at Majestic. It was sold in a cloudy 50cl clear glass bottle. The colour is very, very pale: elderflower cordial territory. Serving it cool there is very little on the nose. A distant sensation which reminds me, unfortunately, of cheap white wine. In the mouth, it is notably sweet with little fruit- perhaps that of apples cooked in syrup but it is very distant. There is gentle acidity and a reasonable aftertaste which is a little bitter.

The bottle suggests it should be used in cocktails and I am going to try that! It is not as good as the new Cockburn white which I think we remain my cheap white Port recommendation.

[JacobH]

Since last night was Burns’ Night, I decided to use some of the Taylor Fine Wine in this version of a White Knight cocktail*, substituting whisky for whiskey.

The cocktail, as modified, is not very good. I wouldn’t recommend it. I doubt it’s very good unmodified.

However, the Taylor Fine White seems fine as a cocktail ingredient: its high sweetness for a White Port is useful and, of course the subtly of the flavours of the better whites would probably get lost when mixed so there is no harm to it being muted. That said, I wouldn’t rush to buy another either to drink neat or to mix.

[* The name is massively over-used to describe loads of unrelated drinks.]