The Wine The Bottle
Tasting Notes The Year 1896
US
Taylor Fladgate Single Harvest 1896
Taylor Fladgate Single Harvest 1896
Taylor Fladgate Single Harvest 1896
Taylor Fladgate Single Harvest 1896

1896

SINGLE HARVEST PORT

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1896

A 125 Year Journey in time

Taylor Fladgate Single Harvest 1896

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The character of this rare wine was shaped by time.

Taylor Fladgate possesses valuable reserves of very old Port lying in cask in its historic cellars in Oporto. These include a few unique gems, each representing a tiny volume of wine. On very rare occasions, at the discretion of the family, such wines have been launched as Limited Editions. It is now the turn of this priceless wine, in its 125th year of ageing in hand crafted oak casks, to be made available on strict allocation to selected customers around the world. Produced in the magnificent harvest of 1896, one of the finest of the 19th century, it was born at the start of an era of renewal in the Douro valley vineyards after the terrible scourge of Phylloxera.

The launch of a wine as old, valuable and unique as this occurs only a handful of times in a generation. It is by its nature a historic event in its own right and restricted to a very small circle of rare wine collectors and connoisseurs.

As often occurs in years when the finest Port are made, the harvest of 1896 was preceded by a hot ripening season in the Douro Valley. Temperatures throughout Europe in the month of August were among the hottest ever recorded before or since, with the heatwave causing fatalities as far north as Königsberg in Prussia. There were also heatwaves of historic intensity in the eastern United States and in Australia. As a result of the hot summer conditions, the harvest in the Douro Valley began much earlier than usual at the beginning of September. Contemporary accounts describe the crop as being in excellent condition and reported that the wines continued to gain in depth and intensity over the ensuing months.

About the bottle

Each decanter designed and produced exclusively for Taylor Fladgate 1896 Single Harvest Port was individually hand blown and finished by skilled craftmen, making it unique.

1896 Single Harvest Port wine

Presentation box and Certificate

Adrian Bridge (CEO) and David Guimaraens (Head Winemaker)

Presenting the 1896 Single Harvest Port

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Tasting Notes

Mahogany core with olive green highlights on the rim. The magical quality of this wine is unique, hard to compare even with the few other wines of similar age that have survived to the present day. Its depth and density are astonishing, even taking into account the wine’s concentration over a century and a quarter of ageing in wood. At first, a rich and seductive redolence of black coffee and liquorice takes centre stage but a host of other scents and nuances soon emerge from the wings, creating an intricate display of complex aroma.

Notes of sawn cedarwood blend with hints of dried rose petal, fennel and eucalyptus. Notes of black pepper and vanilla add a warm spicy dimension. On the palate the wine is dense, round and velvety with impressive volume and concentration, the sweetness balanced by a fresh acidity. Mellow flavours of coffee and butterscotch combine with vibrant notes of orange peel and citrus. The finish is endless, the dense mellow flavours remaining on the palate long after the wine has been tasted.
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David Guimaraens

Head Winemaker

Gallery

- 1896 About the year

In the Autumn of 1896, as Queen Victoria became the longest reigning monarch in British history, a wine was being made whose aging process of 125 years would equal almost twice the duration of her reign.

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Other important events

BIRTH OF RADIOGRAPHY

BIRTH OF RADIOGRAPHY

PREMIÈRE OF LA BOHÈME

PREMIÈRE OF LA BOHÈME

FIRST MODERN OLYMPIAD

FIRST MODERN OLYMPIAD

ORIGIN OF THE MODERN AUTOMOBILE

ORIGIN OF THE MODERN AUTOMOBILE

SÃO BENTO STATION IN OPORTO

SÃO BENTO STATION IN OPORTO

LAUNCH OF ‘THE DOW JONES’

LAUNCH OF ‘THE DOW JONES’

WORLD OF MONARCHIES

WORLD OF MONARCHIES

ALFRED NOBEL’S BEQUEST

ALFRED NOBEL’S BEQUEST

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- 1896 About the year

In the Autumn of 1896, as Queen Victoria became the longest reigning monarch in British history, a wine was being made whose aging process of 125 years would equal almost twice the duration of her reign.

A thousand miles away in the Douro Valley bands of pickers worked their way slowly through the steep terraced vineyards gathering the tight bunches of thick-skinned grapes. Of the men and women who watched the fruit being crushed under the treaders’ feet and breathed the heavy, scented vapours bubbling up from the fermenting juice, none would live to see this port reach full maturity.

When the wine was made it spent its first years in the Douro Valley before travelling down the river in an open boat. At the turn of the century it was slumbering in casks in the Taylor’s cellar; a powerful dark port resting. The wines of the great landmark year of 1896 were exceptionally powerful and deeply coloured, still impressing with their vigour and stamina when tasted fifty years later.

By the time the Bolshevik revolutionaries stormed the Winter Palace in 1917, subtle amber highlights were appearing on the rim and the intense fruitiness of youth had just begun to give way to subtle nuances of maturity.

When Emperor Hirohito acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 1926, the wine had completed three decades in oak casks and the slow evaporation of the ‘angel’s share’ had begun to concentrate the wine, giving it a dense velvety texture.

In 1946, as the first International Cannes Film Festival opened its doors on 20th September and the bikini swimsuit made its first appearance on the catwalks, the wine reached its half century. The passage of fifty years maturing in wood had given it a magical aroma and multiple dimensions and layers of opulent flavour. By then, it was already a wine of great rarity. Most wines of the exceptional harvest of 1896 had long since been consumed and the handful that remained were already collector’s items, changing hands for small fortunes.

In 1996 the house of Taylor Fladgate celebrated the centenary of its acquisition of the legendary Quinta de Vargellas estate and this Port was 100 years old. A century in oak had darkened its colour to a deep mahogany brown, reducing it to an essence of extraordinary depth and density. Stored in a mere two casks, it remained concealed in the cool, dark cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, where it would remain untouched for another quarter century.

Finally, when the wine reached its historic 125 year milestone in 2021, it was agreed to release these two casks as a very limited edition. Presented in a bespoke crystal decanter and an elegant luxury cherrywood case, it is offered on allocation to select collectors and connoisseurs of rare wines and spirits around the world.