The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.
Wine Description
The Story
Taylor’s Port is the last of the original English founding port companies to remain family owned. It has never been bought, sold or taken over. The company is run by descendants of the founders. This ensures its outlook and philosophy remains focused on the production of top quality ports.
Taylor’s were also the first to invest heavily in property in the Upper Douro. The recent acquisition of Quinta do Junco illustrates the continued commitment of the firm to producing premium quality wines. Their Estates at Vargellas, Terra Feita and Junco, have been carefully selected and all have the prize Casa do Douro “A” classification. The main grape varieties used are Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesa, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cão and Tinta Amarela.
Each Estate has a carefully planned programme of new planting to maintain the standards of the estate wines - used for the famous Taylor’s Vintage Ports, single Quinta wines, and the backbone of Taylor’s Late Bottled Vintage Port.
Taylor’s Vintage Port is made from grapes grown on the firms two properties Quinta de Vargellas and Quinta de Terra Feita. The stature of its Port is acknowledged by experts everywhere - and by the international wine auctions which regularly price Taylor’s Vintage Port ten to fifteen per cent above its rivals.
Wine Information
The winter of 1965/6 was very wet and generally rather warm. The Summer was very hot and dry, the month of May being one of the hottest on record. The vines were very backward till early September when a few days of extremely hot weather brought the fruit on considerably.
Tragically for Taylor’s, in August 1966, Dick Yeatman died. He was the first British Port shipper to qualify as a viticulturist and was the leader in creating the first varietal blocks in the Douro.
Vintage 1966
Port Vintage Report: Exceptional quality. Very sweet wines and rich in tannins, some of them sublime, with large aging capacity. Almost all producers declared production. Normal winter, with some rain, but afterwards the weather became dry between April and September. Grapes with a high sugar level, some of them burned. It only rained slightly at the beginning of the harvest (end of September). Scarce production.
Declared by most of the major Port houses, it is a vintage of exceptional quality but was always unjustly overshadowed by the 1963. Solid wines with superb structure, filled with fruit and tannins they are now recognised as being one of the very best post-war Vintage Ports.
