2003 - Taylor's, Vintage

The 2003 Vintage Port is a field blend aged for approximately 21 months in oak vats. It comes in with 93 grams of residual sugar. This oldie will be rereleased soon. As much as the Fladgate Group's 2003 oldies in this report all have bragging points, this is Taylor's, and the structure takes the lead for all of them. Still a wee bit tight, this is far younger than the Croft, not fully mature or at peak and classic Taylor's. The remaining tannins support the fruit perfectly, but nothing to me is better here than the flavor profile. This is a fine Taylor's, still with plenty of room to evolve and improve. It could actually use a few more years, not to tame the tannins, but to acquire more maturity. Of the three (including Croft and Fonseca), this is the winner, but the Fonseca shows better today and the Croft seems to be at peak. So, cellar this a bit more and drink the others now.

David Guimaraens is a huge fan of 2003s, saying they are in the shadow of the 2000s the way 1966 was in the shadow of the 1963s but 'when you have a warm year following a cool year, the wines have incredible longevity'. But he is not thinking of touching them yet. Very subtle nose indeed and to me, someone without unlimited access to vintage ports(!), this seems pretty delicious now. Yes, there is lots of tannin but also lots of very charming pruney fruit. Exciting with sufficient freshness as well as sweetness and interest. (JR)