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Beltramo's Wines & Spirits
1540 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Monday-Friday: 10:00am-7:30pm
Saturday: 9:30am-7:30pm
Sunday: 10:00am-6:30pm

(650) 325-2806
(888) 710-WINE(9463)
Fax (650) 323-8450
2009 Taylor Fladgate - Vintage Port

2009 Taylor Fladgate - Vintage Port
Taylor, Fladgate's 20th century era is filled with "firsts." The firm was the first to market a drier- style white port, called "Chip Dry White", in the 1930s; Taylor Fladgate also authored "Late Bottled Vintage", or "LBV" port, first released as "Vintage Reserve" in 1955. The first LBV as such, from the 1965 vintage, was released in 1969. Most other houses have since followed suit, but Taylor, Fladgate remains the strongest label in this category. Another innovation later adopted by several houses was the firm's creation of a "single-quinta" or single-vineyard, vintage-dated port. Though records indicate a "Quinta de Vargellas" port of vintage date was marketed in London in between 1820 and 1829, (surely the first such wine ever produced), Taylor Fladgate was first to resume release of a single-quinta port with the 1958 Vargellas, released in 1968.

If the Casa dos Alambiques at Lugar das Lages, now a modern winery, is Taylor Fladgate's oldest holding, their famed Quinta de Vargellas is by far the most important. This spectacular, "A"-rated, 255-acre property, in the far reaches of the Upper Douro barely 25 miles from the Spanish border, is the firm's crown jewel.

Vargellas was originally, in the early 1800s, three separate properties. The upper portion, the Quinta do Vale, was owned by Dona Antónia Ferreria of the port house of the same name. The middle portion, the Quinta de Vargellas-do-Meio, belonged to the house of Carvalhos; documents substantiate that an 1808 vintage wine, possibly among those which surfaced in London in the 1820s mentioned above, was produced from this vineyard. The lower portion, known by the several names of Quinta de Vargellas-de-Baixo, Quinta de Galega and Quinta do Brito, was owned by Antonio Brito e Cunha until he was hanged in Oporto in 1829 for his political activities. Sometime between 1850 and 1890, the vineyards were consolidated into a single property. In 1893, on the heels of the arrival of phylloxera epidemic, Taylor Fladgate purchased Vargellas in a state of near-ruin; its yield in that year was barely one twentieth of current production. Today, 103 acres of vines are planted on its steep, northeast-facing terraced slopes descending precipitously to the banks of the Douro, with small parcels gradually added each year. The Quinta de Vargellas is the backbone of Taylor, Fladgate's declared vintage ports, lending them consistency and defining their style. In the best undeclared years, Quinta de Vargellas stands on its own as a single-quinta vintage port.

Taylor, Fladgate's other vineyard is the 217-acre Quinta de Terra Feita, on the west bank of the Pinhão River and also "A" rated; this quinta contributes to the vintage port in declared years. Long an important source of vintage-quality wines for Taylor, Fladgate, the firm purchased Terra Feita in 1974. At the time neglected and with negligible production, the vineyard has been expanded, now with 126 acres of vines. Production has increased nearly 40-fold since 1974.
SKU: 03961
Your Price: $84.99
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