Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas 2004 Port

A vintage port from Taylor's at just over a decade from the Co-op

Of all the great classic wine styles, port is perhaps the easiest to enjoy with its primary fruit and pleasing sweetness.

Vintage port is for conoisseurs and / or geeks; it is the greatest style of port, has the greatest capacity for aging and takes the longest time to be ready.

Vintages are declared only when the year is considered good enough and the lifespan of a vintage port is measured in decades.

So at 14 years, this 2004 is no longer a baby and more of an adolescent, showing signs of what it has the potential to become; the fruit is still primary, but the individual components of the wine (strength, fruit, sweetness and grip) have become harmonious and mellow.

Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas 2004 (£30, reduced to £28 until 21/01/19) Black cherries, cassis and redcurrrants with eucalyptus, spices and liquorice. Intense, sweet-sour, viscous and complex. Fresh, long, harmonious and muscular with a dense core. Very fine, well-integrated tannins.

Benefits from extended aeration - and it will continue to improve for decades to come.

Very Good.

Match with chocolate desserts or drink as a digestif.