1995 Taylor Fladgate Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha Vintage Port

The 1995 Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha Vintage Port is a typical field blend aged in used French oak vats. It comes in with 93 grams per liter of residual sugar. This was the debut vintage of the Vinha Velha, and it leads off the vertical this issue. Drinking perfectly now, this has chocolate and caramel, seeming very much like a gentle, mature and harmonious Port, but it has neither profound complexity nor a lot of power. It is, however, sensual and appealing, wonderful to drink now. It likely won't get better at this point, but I was pleased to see it expand in the glass and improve even by my last taste. I'd want to drink this now, personally. Adrian Bridge suggested it had reached its mature plateau, and I agree. It will hold on that plateau reasonably well, perhaps longer than anticipated, depending on how you like them. Of course, most wines, especially Ports, don't fall off the table. It has plenty of life left in a literal sense. When it declines, the decline will be slow and long.