Is it really a Vintage?

[BGibson30111]

Hello,
I recently bought a bottle of Taylors Vargellas Vintage Port 2002 (bottle in 2004). The main label says 2002 and the "bottled in" is in smaller writing underneath. When I researched this bottle on the Taylors website - 2002 was not listed as a vintage year.

I emailed Taylors who confirmed it was a genuine bottle, but their website is out of date with information (Since 2002??). When I asked about it not being a vintage year, I was told they declared a vintage from a single vineyard that year. I cannot find any info on this bottle online.

Does this sound right? Have I been swindled by assuming the name "vintage" meant something?
Thanks,
Brian

[jdaw1]

It can be confusing.

Some years (e.g., 2000, 2003, 2007) are a full declaration of Taylor Vintage Port.

Some years don’t quite reach that lofty standard, so a Taylor Quinta de Vargellas is made. This is really two things. It is a single-quinta wine, rather than being a blend of multiple vineyards. It also functions as a junior declaration: D&G rather than the full Dolce & Gabbana.

Typically full declarations are released for sale within two years of the harvest. Some houses hold back their single-quinta Ports until about a decade after, so that at release they are ready(ish) to drink.

So I suspect that you have a non-fake real genuine 2002 Taylor Quinta de Vargellas.

[Glenn E.]

Further clarification: "Vintage" is an overloaded term.

When used as "Vintage Port" it describes a style of Port for which the grapes are all harvested during the same year and the Port is bottled approximately 2 years after the harvest.

When used to refer to a year, as in "the 2002 vintage" it refers to the harvest year itself, during which a producer may or may not have harvested grapes to be used to make Vintage Port.

Additionally, Port is only "declared" in years in which the harvest is especially good. But in "off" years, producers will sometimes still produce Vintage Port using a 2nd brand (such as Fonseca Guimaraens) or by naming it after one of their Quintas (such as Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas). So it is possible that a vintage year produces no Vintage Port at all, and it is also possible that Vintage Port is made during an "undeclared" vintage year.

(Note: I've simplified that quite a bit, but it's close enough.)

So as jdaw1 said, what you have is a Vintage Port that was made in an undeclared or "off" vintage year by Taylor Fladgate, which is therefore named after their main estate Quinta de Vargellas. Perfectly legitimate bottle, and likely delicious.

[Andy Velebil]

Edit: See next post

[Andy Velebil]

So official word. Yes there was a 2002 Vargellas, though it was not widely released. Just some in the Europe and Portugal.

[AW77]

If I remember the information from Richard Mayson's book "Port and the Douro" correctly, the 2002 vintage was promising and had quite good potential, but then was marred by torrential rain. Perhaps the grapes for this port were picked before the rain set in. So they decided to make some bottles of Vargellas out of it nonetheless.

[djewesbury]

If I remember the information from Richard Mayson's book "Port and the Douro" correctly, the 2002 vintage was promising and had quite good potential, but then was marred by torrential rain. Perhaps the grapes for this port was picked before the rain set in. So they decided to make some bottles of Vargellas out of it nonetheless.

Picking began in the Douro Superior during the week of 9 September but those further downstream waited until the week of the 16th. On Friday 13 September an unusually deep depression settled over western Iberia. With torrential rain and warm temperatures, the grapes began to rot on the vine and the harvest became a race against time […] Those who picked before the rain set in (mostly in the Douro Superior) made small quantities of good, even great, wine - but for most producers 2002 was a damp squib. Ports made towards the end of the harvest were particularly dilute. Very few single-quinta wines have been released.

Vargellas, being in the Douro Superior, were obviously amongst the lucky ones. Full marks, André.

[Glenn E.]

If I remember the information from Richard Mayson's book "Port and the Douro" correctly, the 2002 vintage was promising and had quite good potential, but then was marred by torrential rain. Perhaps the grapes for this port was picked before the rain set in. So they decided to make some bottles of Vargellas out of it nonetheless.

Picking began in the Douro Superior during the week of 9 September but those further downstream waited until the week of the 16th. On Friday 13 September an unusually deep depression settled over western Iberia. With torrential rain and warm temperatures, the grapes began to rot on the vine and the harvest became a race against time […] Those who picked before the rain set in (mostly in the Douro Superior) made small quantities of good, even great, wine - but for most producers 2002 was a damp squib. Ports made towards the end of the harvest were particularly dilute. Very few single-quinta wines have been released.

Vargellas, being in the Douro Superior, were obviously amongst the lucky ones. Full marks, André.

Great memory, André.

I first read [/I]this part[/I] as a damp squid, which I figured was a bit fishy. Upon re-reading it, I got a damp squab. Certainly more pathetic, but that interpretation didn't fly. So I had to Google it.