Taylor's, Vintage Port, 2024
Taylor's, Vintage Port, 2024
- 75cl
- 20%
- Fortified
- Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cão
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Optimal drinking window: 2040 - 2070
Est. delivery in autumn, 2026
Taylor's 2024 Vintage Port represents the latest chapter in nearly four centuries of port making excellence. From one of the greatest houses in the Douro, this is a wine that demands patience; we're talking decades, not years. The 2024 vintage was declared across the Douro after exceptional growing conditions produced fruit of remarkable concentration and balance.
Built from the classic Douro blend led by Touriga Nacional, this is vintage port in its most traditional form: dense, structured, and magnificently age-worthy. The fruit comes from Taylor's own quintas, including the legendary Quinta de Vargellas, where steep schist slopes and extreme conditions forge wines of extraordinary intensity. Expect this to remain closed for at least fifteen years before revealing its full splendour until 2070 and beyond.
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What the critics say:
"Fruit from Quinta do Junco, Quinta de Terra Feita and Quinta da Vargellas, in ascending order of importance, with co-fermentation of varieties whenever possible. All the Fladgate vintage ports are typically foot-trodden in granite lagares for the initial part of the fermentation, before mechanical pistons take over, all whole bunches. The spirit for fortification is made from their own grapes. 7–8 months in small seasoned oak vats in the Douro and then 10 months in the same vats in Vila Nova de Gaia. TA 4.7 g/l, pH 3.68, RS 92 g/l. Production 5,000 cases of 12. Darkest crimson with soft purplish rim. Less explosive than some 2024 ports but with an immediate impression of finesse and concentration. Black, black fruit that is so intense it becomes savoury on the palate. Many layers of the finest tannins so that the whole is firmly built. Great purity and length. Chiselled without being lean."
The grapes come from Taylor's own quintas in the Douro Superior, where ancient schist soils and extreme gradients create ideal conditions for port production. Quinta de Vargellas sits at altitudes up to 600 metres on near-vertical slopes, while the harsh continental climate with scorching summers and cold winters concentrates flavours and preserves acidity. These challenging conditions produce small yields of intensely concentrated fruit that form the backbone of Taylor's vintage ports.
Vintage Port represents the pinnacle of Douro winemaking, produced only in exceptional years and from grapes grown in the demarcated Douro region. Strict regulations govern everything from grape varieties to production methods, with vintage ports requiring declaration by individual houses and approval by the Instituto do Vinho do Porto. Unlike other port styles, vintage port is bottled after just two years in wood and ages in bottle, developing extraordinary complexity over decades of cellaring.
The 2024 Douro vintage caught everyone off guard with its sheer quality after a growing season that had producers biting their nails. Spring brought welcome rainfall after years of drought, filling the reservoirs and giving the vines a proper drink, but summer turned scorching with several brutal heat waves that had even the most experienced quintas wondering if they'd lost their fruit. What saved the day was the diurnal temperature variation – those cool nights in the schist amphitheatres allowed the grapes to retain their freshness whilst still achieving full ripeness, and many producers report some of the cleanest, healthiest fruit they've seen in years.
We're tasting wines with real backbone and precision rather than the overripe jamminess that heat can bring – the Touriga Nacional shows particular promise with its combination of power and restraint, whilst the old-vine Touriga Franca delivers some genuinely exciting aromatics. The reds have structure to burn and will reward cellaring, though the more approachable quintas are already drinking beautifully if you fancy a preview. For drinking: the lighter styles until 2030, the serious estate bottlings from 2028 onwards and likely until 2040.
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