Taylor’s – Vintage Port, 2007

The heady scents and opulent ripe fruit which define the Croft Vintage Port style are supported by a mesh of taut, muscular tannins. These, together with impressive depth of flavour, make the 2011 one of the most structured and powerful of recent Croft vintages.

Deep purple black colour. The complex seductive nose has the archetypal Croft opulence but displays impressive depth, background and reserves of aroma. A rich, powerful fruitiness provides the backdrop for heady scents of blossom and rock rose. Luscious ripe berry fruit flavour surges though the palate. The wine’s velvety texture is underpinned by taut, muscular, perfectly integrated tannins which provide stamina with an attractive firmness and vigour to the finish. More virile and structured than some recent Vintages from this classic house, the 2011 nevertheless displays all the rich ripe fruitiness and exotic scented character associated with the Croft house style.

97 Points Wine Spectator
“Effusively juicy, rich and concentrated, showing plenty of snap to the crisp and well-spiced flavors of wild berry, dark currant and plum tart. Orange-infused chocolate notes linger on the exotic, mocha-filled finish. Best from 2020 through 2045.”   Kim Marcus, September 2013 

95 Points James Suckling
“Beautiful aromas of violets and blueberries with hints of blue slate. Full body, medium sweet with chewy tannins and a long, long finish. A leafy, stemmy, nutty undertone to this with hints of shaved milk chocolate. Very refined and beautiful.” May 2013.

95 Points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“The 2011 Croft is initially taciturn on the nose, even after allowing it 20 minutes in my glass. A light swirling immediately awakens the aromatics to offer blackberry, Seville orange marmalade, blueberries and dried fig – complex and quite compelling. There is real mineralité within this bouquet that, returning after 30 minutes, offers alluring ocean spray scents rolling in off the ocean. The palate is medium-bodied with a velvety-smooth opening that belies the fine, structured tannins underneath. It clams up a little towards the finish, shuts the lid tight and consequently there is the sensation of less persistency here compared to the Taylor’s or Fonseca. But Croft has a knack of filling out with bottle age and becomes both gentle and generous with the passing years.” Neal Martin, Eroberparker.com, 

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Notes on Viticultural Year and Harvest

The winter preceding the 2011 harvest was cold and wet. The weather station at Croft’s Quinta da Roêda registered 496 mm of rainfall between 1st November and 31st March compared to a 30-year average of 358mm. The rain proved very beneficial, replenishing depleted ground water reserves and allowing a balanced ripening of the grapes during the hot dry summer which followed. Budburst occurred at the normal time towards the end of the third week of March and wet and relatively warm conditions in April encouraged vigorous growth. From early May conditions turned generally dry and remained so for most of the summer.

Only 12 mm of rain fell at Roêda in the months of May, June and July compared to a 30-year average of 105 mm. In spite of the arid conditions the vines were able to draw water from the ground reserves providing ideal conditions for balanced ripening of the grapes. The hot dry weather in August was broken at the ideal moment by two spells of rainfall, on 21st August and 1st September, which rounded off the ripening season and produced a balanced and evenly mature crop.

Picking began at Quinta da Roêda on 10th September in excellent harvesting conditions. Fermentation times were long, allowing for complete and even extraction, and the musts in the quinta’s lagares showed exceptionally intense colour and aroma.

Tasting Notes

Delicate tawny brown colour with a broad amber rim displaying olive highlights. A complex symphony of aromas on the nose, with notes of apricot, sawn wood and tobacco, scents of orange flower and honeysuckle, all on a rich mellow base of toffee, marzipan and almond. Dense, concentrated, velvety palate lifted by a crisp acidity, with a confit of apricot, guave and raisin, flavours of butterscotch and a hint of caramelised orange. A wonderfully opulent and complex wine with a lovely youthful freshness.

“This house must certainly be the Latour of Portugal.”  Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate

“This draws you in, with aromas of warm halva and toasted pistachio giving way to a wide range of buckwheat, toasted sesame, walnut husk, menthol and licorice root notes that refuse to break down in the mouth. Exhibits remarkable length, with ample viscosity matched by steely tension, putting this in rarified air. Drink now. From Portugal”

A classic Taylor Vintage Port, stylish and poised. The 2011 displays the purity of fruit, fine scented quality and firm linear tannins that are hallmarks of the house style, as well as the characteristic Taylor combination of power and refinement.

20/20 Jancis Robinson
“This is restrained. Well mannered, discreet, keeps its powder very dry. But on the palate it opens out in the most superb, burgundian peacock’s tail sort of way….Upright and straight backed. But irreproachable. My gums are virtually impervious to sugar and acid but this wine set them vibrating a bit. Dried prunes ground up with rocks.” 2013-05-01

96 Points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“The 2011 Taylor’s Vintage has a multifaceted, Pandora’s Box of a nose that is mercurial in the glass: cassis at first before blackberry and raspberry politely ask it to move aside, followed by wilted rose petals and Dorset plum. Returning after one 45 minutes that nose has shut up shop. The palate is sweet and sensual on the entry, plush and opulent, with copious black cherries, boysenberry and cassis fruit, curiously more reminiscent of Fonseca! It just glides across the palate with a mouth coating, glycerine tinged finish that has a wonderful lightness of touch, demonstrating how Vintage Port is so much more accessible in its youth nowadays. But don’t let that fool you into dismissing the seriousness or magnitude of this outstanding Taylor’s.” Neal Martin, Erobertparker.com 2013-05-01

97 Points Derek Smedley MW
“The nose is deep and brooding yet it has the fragrance of violets rockroses, cedar wood and a hint of nutmeg. There is an intensity of flavour about the palate black cherry mingles with blackcurrant rich deep sumptuous. The fleshy richness is supported by seamless sinewy tannins with the freshness of bilberry and bramble giving a slightly lighter feel at the back bringing out a mix of exotic perfumes.” 2013-05-01

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