Decanting
Vintage Port forms a natural deposit in the bottle and should be decanted. Stand the bottle upright a few hours before decanting to allow the sediment to fall to the bottom of the bottle.
Select Year
2003
Storage
Continues to improve for decades after bottling. The bottle should be kept lain down in a cool place, ideally at a temperature below 16ºC.
Serving temperature
Serve at 16ºC to 18ºC. Vintage Port is best drunk one to two days after opening.
Pairing suggestions
Walnuts, blue veined and other richly flavoured cheeses are excellent accompaniments to Vintage Port; so too are dried fruits such as apricots or figs.
Select Year
About the Wine
The Winter preceeding the 2003 harvest was very wet. Flowering took place in bright warm weather at the end of May in some of the best conditions seen for several years.
The first two weeks of August provided the intense Summer heat which often precedes a great Port Vintage. The picking season in September was warm, dry and the yields were even across all grape varieties, ensuring balance and complexity in the wines.
The 2003 Vintage Port is an absolute blockbuster, which according to Robert Parker, ‘will proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with the finest ever crafted by Taylor Fladgate.’
Tasting Notes
Inky purple black with narrow magenta rim. Classic Taylor nose, with exotic scents of violet and gumcistus set against an impenetrable background of intense dark berry fruit. The 2003 Vintage Port shows a stylish and racy palate, displaying a tight fabric of sinewy tannins and packed with concentrated grapey flavours which intensify through the seemingly endless finish. Like many other great Taylor vintage this wine is an archetype of restrained power, its elegance and breeding concealing massive inner strength and stamina.
Anthony Gismondi, Wine Access