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Taylor's Vintage Port 2017
Fortified (Port)Portugal2017
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2020-05-28 · Published 2026-09-30 · Updated 2026-09-30
At a glance
In one line
4.0/5 — lower than Vivino's 4.4 average · world avg price US$144 · The 2017 Vintage Port from a house founded in 1692.
Wine-Searcher aggregate of 15 critic reviews: 96. Critic scores listed on Vivino run 97–100 (publications not named, mostly from 2019).
Market note: World average US$144 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher, ex-tax, Sep 2026). On the same basis the house's LBV is US$27 (90), Quinta de Vargellas Vintage Port US$65 (93) and 20 Year Old Tawny US$61 (92). On Vivino, vintages from 1955 to 2020 with 30+ ratings score 3.7–4.7; the 2017 scores 4.4.
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“너무나 맛있는 포트. 머 과실이야 당연히 많겠지만 크리미한 느낌과 캐러멜스러운 텍스쳐가 너무 사랑스럽다. 그냥 감동은 바라지 않아도 진짜 볼드하게 먹고 싶을땐 포트 만한게 없다. 엘리자베스 2세도 먹는다고. 넥에 써있네요.”
Show original
“raisin plum chocolate caramel blackberry dried fruit black fruit coffee cheese licorice cassis oak nutty cream 넘나 맛있는 포트~ 머 과실이야 당연히 많겠지만 크리미한 느낌과 캐러멀스러운 텍스쳐가 넘 사랑스럽다. 걍 감동은 바라지 않아도 진짜 볼드하게 먹고 싶을땐 포트 만한게 없당~ 엘리자베스2세도 먹는다고~~ 넥에 써있네요^^”
What I learned today: some wines need you to wait for them before they reach the glass.
Saturday. Past ten, two guests came in and asked for port with a plate of cheese. Master Seo brought out a bottle from under the shelf that he said he'd stood upright since yesterday. You keep it standing, not lying down, so the sediment settles to the bottom. I held a small lamp under the shoulder of the bottle. He poured it very slowly into a decanter, and the moment dark grains showed at the shoulder, he stopped. The last mouthful left in the bottle he never poured.
After the guests left, he poured me a little of what remained at the bottom of the decanter into a small glass. Deep purple. Raisin, plum, blackberry. Then chocolate and caramel. In the mouth it was sweet and yet soft as cream. That creamy sweetness opened a midnight.
Twenty-one, the very end of May, a Thursday night close to midnight, the kitchen table. The window was open and late-spring insects sang outside. Dad had gone out in the evening with his leather glass case over his shoulder and came home late. He set the case down at the end of the table, took a cloth-wrapped bottle from the cupboard, and poured a little into two small glasses. The cloth covered the whole body of the bottle, but a small crest on the neck poked out above it. Something like a crown. I didn't know what it was. After one sip, Dad smiled for the first time that night. I don't know the name of the bottle.
I opened the notebook to that date. It's cheerful from the first line. Such a delicious port, he wrote. Of course there's plenty of fruit, but the creamy feel and caramel-like texture are just lovely. And then: "When you really want something bold, nothing beats port." The last line says that Elizabeth II drinks it too — it's written on the neck. Four stars. The bottle was Taylor's Vintage Port. I stuck on the wine-name Post-it. That little crest poking out of the cloth was exactly that story. Dad must have smiled reading it.
Rinsing the decanter, Master Seo said this house had long supplied port to the Queen's table, and was formally recognised for it only about ten years ago. And that vintage port is a wine that ages in its bottle, so it's good manners to leave the sediment behind in it.
After closing, I wrote the name on the eighteenth page of the new notebook. Beside the aroma box I drew one more box: "left in the bottle". What I learned today: some wines need you to wait for them before they reach the glass. Stand them up for a day, and leave the last mouthful in the bottle.
What this wine is
Taylor's is a port house founded in 1692 by Job Bearsley in Vila Nova de Gaia, across the river from Porto. Its present name took a century and a half to assemble. John Taylor arrived in 1816, John Fladgate in 1837, and when Morgan Yeatman became a partner in 1844 the firm became 'Taylor, Fladgate & Yeatman'. In 1893 it bought Quinta de Vargellas in the upper Douro, still the heart of the house's vintage ports.
Vintage port is 'declared' and released only in outstanding years. Brandy is added partway through fermentation to keep the sweetness, the wine spends only a short time in cask, and then it ages for decades in bottle. That is why older bottles throw a sediment, and why they're stood upright and decanted before drinking.
And the neck. On 12 April 2017, in its 325th anniversary year, Taylor's received a Royal Warrant of Appointment as a supplier of port wines to Queen Elizabeth II. The company says it had supplied the royal household for many years before that. That is the story printed on this bottle's neck.
What the world says
The 15 critic reviews gathered on Wine-Searcher aggregate to 96; the critic scores listed on Vivino run higher still, 97 to 100. The producer describes the 2017 as veiled in Vargellas's signature violet fragrance 'like a scented veil', ending on firm tannins and a surge of pure berry fruit.
On Vivino this vintage averages 4.4 from 334 ratings, and the label as a whole 4.5 from 10,053. There are 237 fours and 62 fives. Vivino's suggested window, though, is 2027–2047 — this is a bottle still well ahead of its time.
The aroma keywords run chocolate, caramel and vanilla (793 mentions), plum and blackberry (602), raisin, fig and prune (508), and leather and smoke (207). Structure: sweetness 4.8/5, intensity 4.4, acidity 2.8. Very sweet and very dense.
"It was fantastic but not magical!" — Vivino review, Apr 2020, 4.5
How I drank it
May 28, 2020, 4 stars. I wrote down raisin, plum, chocolate, caramel, blackberry, dried fruit, coffee, cheese, licorice, cassis, oak, nuts and cream — fourteen aroma words in all.
Of course there was plenty of fruit. What I loved was the creamy feel and the caramel-like texture. Even if you don't expect to be moved, on the days you really want something bold, nothing beats port. The neck said Elizabeth II drinks it too, so I wrote that down as well.
The same day I gave Robert Groffier's Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 3.5 and Tussock Jumper Pinot Grigio 3.5. This bottle was the highest of the three. It's below Vivino's 4.4, and I opened it seven years before the suggested window. Still, as the close of that night, it was plenty.
Where this wine shows up
In April 2017 Taylor's received a Royal Warrant of Appointment as a supplier of port wines to Queen Elizabeth II. The company says it had long supplied the royal household before that.
Taylor's — Royal Warrant of Appointment · The Drinks Business — Taylor's Port awarded Royal Warrant
Artwork and stills are not reproduced for copyright reasons; scenes are summarised.
Vivino community data
2017 vintage rating distribution (334 ratings, average 4.4)
| 5★ | 62 (19%) | |
| 4★ | 237 (71%) | |
| 3★ | 28 (8%) | |
| 2★ | 7 (2%) | |
| 1★ | 0 (0%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Oak | 793 | chocolate 186 · caramel 146 · vanilla 130 · coffee 50 · oak 50 |
| Black fruit | 602 | plum 148 · blackberry 136 · black fruit 62 · dark fruit 50 · blueberry 48 |
| Dried fruit | 508 | raisin 220 · fig 127 · prune 90 · dried fruit 55 · dried apricot 7 |
| Earth & leather | 207 | leather 72 · smoke 28 · honey 18 · earthy 14 · tar 14 |
| Red fruit | 207 | cherry 94 · red fruit 31 · raspberry 29 · strawberry 17 · red cherry 13 |
Structure: Acidity 2.8/5 · Intensity 4.4/5 · Sweetness 4.8/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 10053 ratings, average 4.5)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 1955 | 4.4 | 51 |
| 1960 | 4.5 | 73 |
| 1963 | 4.7 | 153 |
| 1966 | 4.6 | 80 |
| 1970 | 4.6 | 310 |
| 1975 | 4.4 | 77 |
| 1977 | 4.6 | 819 |
| 1980 | 4.3 | 140 |
| 1983 | 4.4 | 222 |
| 1985 | 4.5 | 978 |
| 1987 | 4.6 | 253 |
| 1992 | 4.6 | 197 |
| 1994 | 4.6 | 632 |
| 1996 | 4.5 | 163 |
| 1997 | 4.4 | 338 |
| 1999 | 4.3 | 113 |
| 2000 | 4.4 | 390 |
| 2002 | 4.3 | 193 |
| 2003 | 4.5 | 1083 |
| 2005 | 4.4 | 416 |
| 2007 | 4.3 | 351 |
| 2008 | 4.2 | 71 |
| 2009 | 4.3 | 619 |
| 2010 | 3.9 | 31 |
| 2011 | 4.5 | 615 |
| 2012 | 3.7 | 32 |
| 2013 | 4.5 | 126 |
| 2015 | 4.4 | 36 |
| 2016 | 4.5 | 206 |
| 2017 | 4.4 | 334 |
| 2018 | 4.4 | 216 |
| 2019 | 4.4 | 173 |
| 2020 | 4.2 | 68 |
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→Frequently asked questions
What kind of wine is Taylor's Vintage Port?
A vintage port declared only in fine years by Taylor's, a Portuguese port house founded in 1692. The 2017 scores 4.4 on Vivino (334 ratings), with a Wine-Searcher critic aggregate of 96, at 20% alcohol.
How much does it cost?
Wine-Searcher's world average is US$144 per 750ml (ex-tax, Sep 2026). As of September 2026 no overseas retailers were listed on Wine-Searcher.
What food goes with it?
The Vivino community suggests mature hard cheeses and blue cheese. It's an after-dinner wine to sip slowly with chocolate desserts or nuts.
What is the Elizabeth II story on the neck?
On 12 April 2017 Taylor's received a Royal Warrant of Appointment as a supplier of port wines to Queen Elizabeth II — in the house's 325th anniversary year.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- Taylor's — Taylor's has been granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment
- The Drinks Business — Taylor's Port awarded Royal Warrant
- wein.plus Glossary — Taylor's
- Wine-Searcher — 2017 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port
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Tasted the same dayRobert Groffier Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2014
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France · Champagne★★★★★Highly rated by FatherLouis Roederer Cristal Rosé Vinothèque 2008
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