Taylor's is pleased to announce the declaration of 2024 as a Classic Vintage. According to house custom, the declaration is made on 23rd April.
In addition, Taylor’s is delighted to announce that it will bottle a Sentinels Vintage Port. This will be only the third Sentinels Vintage Port to be released.
Adrian Bridge, Managing Director
“I am pleased to announce our decision to declare the Taylor’s 2024 Vintage release. This is the smallest ever release from Taylor’s. It has been 6 years since we declared a classic Vintage Port for Taylor’s and I am very excited about the exceptional quality. In keeping with the house style, the Taylor’s Vintage 2024 is showing great elegance and poise, firm structure and a powerful complex core of flavours that is very enjoyable now but will change and evolve in the cellar, as necessary.”
David Guimaraens, Head winemaker
“A year with a warm growth period, supported by good water reserves in the soil and balanced by a cooler harvest, has created exceptional wines from our traditional granite lagares including those at Quinta de Vargellas. The continued practice of foot treading and co-fermentation have had a significant impact on the house styles remaining unchanged but gaining more intensity. From a small harvest the resulting Vintage Ports show incredible freshness, complexity, and a wonderful sense of balance.”
NOTES ON THE 2024 VITICULTURAL YEAR AND HARVEST
The winter of 2023/24 brought a welcome return of rainfall for the second consecutive year. Although temperatures were relatively mild, an early budburst on 5th of March set the season off to an early and promising start.
Spring and early summer was cool with occasional useful light rainfalls, arriving at well-spaced intervals that supported healthy vineyard growth.
From July onwards the weather settled into a long, dry period that extended through to the end of harvest. Veraison began on 18th of July, and the mild summer conditions encouraged a steady, even ripening cycle. As temperatures rose towards the end of July, August provided warm conditions, with consistently high night-time temperatures that put the vines under some stress.
Crucially, at the end of August temperatures moderated, with slightly cooler days and notably cooler nights throughout September. These conditions were ideal for the final stages of ripening, and to achieve full phenolic maturity.
The harvest began with very attractive fruit from varieties such as Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz, while Touriga Francesa and Tinta Cão benefited from a little additional time on the vine to achieve full perfection.
The combination of the field blends, co-fermentation, have produced ports which are going to be very complex and memorable. In general, the 2024 ports show very good freshness of fruit, lovely flavours, very fine tannins and great acidity.
TASTING NOTES
Taylor’s Vintage 2024
Opaque purple black colour with a fine amethyst meniscus. Characteristically stylish and racy, with a nose of dense blackcurrant and woodland fruit, overlaid with delicate herbal nuances and scents of rose petals and violets. The Taylor elegance and understatement conceal the wine’s energy and vigour. On the palate, lean, tightly knit, sinewy tannins, beautifully balanced with vibrant and delineated fruit flavours and herbal notes, produce a stylish wine with the unmistakable Taylor combination of stamina and refinement.
Taylor’s Sentinels 2024
Deep obsidian purple core with a narrow mulberry rim. The nose bursts with powerful woodland fruit, layered with rich blackcurrant, dark plum and ripe cherries that leap from the glass. Subtle notes of black cherry interwoven with delicate hint of rose petal. The fruit shows elegance and restraint. On the palate, it reveals remarkable freshness and energy with an appealing precision and lift. Lavendar and gentle herbal tones all complement the flavours of damson and plums, building steadily to a long and persistent finish.