1995 Taylor Terra Feita

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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Will W.
Taylor’s LBV
Posts: 183
Joined: 14:33 Thu 11 Aug 2016

1995 Taylor Terra Feita

Post by Will W. »

This was the first Terra Feita which I had consumed; it was purchased some six years ago whilst waiting to depart from Porto airport after a week in that city. Indeed, it was during this sojourn, then only my second to Portugal, at which I learned what port wine is supposed to taste like (i.e., not as did the sweetened droppings served to us in the Officers' Mess, through my infanteer days).

It was just as well that I did not consume this bottle at the time, close upon having sampled Taylor’s Scion and other rather agreeable ports.

In fairness, the 1995 Terra Feita was in no way nasty. In the glass on 11 February 2021, pleasing maroon hues were complemented by a dark and largely opaque core. The nose was neither deep nor wide, though it offered agreeable notes of prune, cherry, still more cherry and cinnamon. At the mouth, the cherry notes struck the fore-palate firmly, giving way to raw rhubarb and something akin to pepper-infused dirt, the latter being followed by a mix of sharp bitters, grape stem and tannin. However, the harsher sensations softened somewhat beyond the three-hour decant which in the main informs this note; correspondingly, I am compelled to conclude that five or six hours exposed to air would have been more appropriate. As to the finish, it was perfectly satisfactory: the first wave ran to the stomach, in slow time, with a somewhat drying second wave enveloping the mouth. ‘Twas not entirely to my taste, though the wine was bereft of flaws such as nasty heat and it would therefore be churlish to proffer criticism thereof.

Overall, this port was pleasantly unimpressive. My guess is that the Taylor blenders, in vintage years, look to the Terra Feita grapes to firm up the more delicate Vargellas fruit, with a particular eye to maintaining the long-term acidity level of wine laid down for consumption by future generations. Whatever the case, the 1995 Terra Feita might be recommended to Taylor aficionados, keen on understanding better the building blocks upon which the better Taylor rubies are built. The rest of us need not avoid this wine, though it should be approached with tempered expectations.

-88 points
PhilW
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
Posts: 3504
Joined: 14:22 Wed 15 Dec 2010
Location: Near Cambridge, UK

Re: 1995 Taylor Terra Feita

Post by PhilW »

Great tasting note Will, interesting to read and with some wonderful phrasing!
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