Taylor Fladgate 1992 (750ML)

100 WA / 100 FS / 98 VM / 97 WCI / 96 WS / 17 JR

Taylor's 1992 Vintage Port is unquestionably the greatest young port I have ever tasted. It represents the essence of what vintage port can achieve. The color is an opaque black/purple, and the nose offers up fabulously intense aromas of minerals, cassis, blackberries, licorice, and spices, as well as extraordinary purity and penetration. Yet this is still an unformed and infantile wine. If Chateau Latour made a late-harvest Cabernet Sauvignon, I suspect it might smell like this. In the mouth, the wine is out of this world, displaying layer upon layer of concentrated black fruits backed by well-integrated tannin and structure. This is a massive, magnificently rich, full-bodied port that will be far more flattering in its youth than were such Taylors as the 1983, 1977, or 1970. It possesses awesome fruit, marvelous intensity, and lavish opulence, all brilliantly well-delineated by the wine's formidable structure. This monumental 30-50 year port is a must purchase for port aficionados.! Also noteworthy is the fact that the 1992 Taylor commemorates the 300th anniversary of this firm, as evidenced by the special bottle Taylor used for this port.-Robert M. Parker, Jr., The Wine Advocate

Deep, almost opaque purple in colour. Intense black berry fruit, underpinned with a peppery savouriness. Dark cherries alongside hints of licorice. Dense and taut on the palate, classic in style with a perfect texture and fine but massive tannins. Hints of blackberries and cherries develop. A great wine of unheard of length, now beginning to reach its initial drinking maturity but with many decades ahead of it.-Falstaff

The 1992 Taylor’s Vintage Port has a black/purple colour with only slight maturation on the rim. The nose has always been so intense, a kaleidoscope of damson, raspberry, crushed violets and just a touch of alcoholic warmth, yet somehow it retains incredible delineation. The palate is full-bodied with concentrated black fruit, the tannins having melted in recent years. The acidity is perfectly tuned and lends freshness and tension to the blueberry, cassis and blackberry fruit laced with orange zest and marmalade. It is still a primal Port after two decades but at least its "ferocious power" is being tamed with time. Tasted at a private dinner in London.-Neal Martin, Vinous Media

I do not drink much Port. Frankly, unless a Port is 40-50 years of age, in most cases, it's too young for me to enjoy. On the one hand, this was no exception. On the other hand, I get the quality. For tasters willing to wait 25 more years, they will reap the reward of an incredible wine. This is still inky, black in color. The wine is dense, giving you the choice of eating it, or drinking it. It was amazingly sweet, yet not cloying. There was a beautiful purity of black, dark red and blue fruits with raisins and chocolate that would be hard not to miss. The wine paints your teeth, gums and palate black purple. But it remains almost unformed at this youthful stage. Your mileage might vary...-Jeff Leve, Wine Cellar Insider

Fresh and lively, with raisin, spice and hints of blackberry. Full-bodied and very tight, with plenty of tannins. Very long. Needs to open. '91/'92 Port retrospective. Best after 2008. 6,200 cases made.-Wine Spectator

Deep brick-garnet. Multi-layered nose, led by herb notes from stems, smoke, dried blackberry and rocky mineral notes. Rich, sweet-savoury black, liqueur fruit on the palate, with Taylor’s typical firm tannic structure. Savoury and intense, with an underlying minerality. I can understand why the vintage was declared.-Tim Jackson MW, JancisRobinson