Storage

The wine is stored in great oak casks, resting over
winter in the wineries where it was made. In the spring
of the following year it is brought down to the Taylor
lodge at Vila Nova de Gaia, opposite Oporto at the
mouth of the Douro River.

Prior to arriving at the lodge, the wines are tasted to
decide in which blend they will be used. Those
destined for Tawny will be put in small casks (known
as pipes) which contain only 550 litres, but allow the
wines to mature to their characteristic orange-brown
color.

Large vats for fruitier, bigger, fuller
styles; Late Bottled Vintage, Vintage
Character and Ruby port wines.
Small oak casks for aged tawnies
10, 20, 30, 40 years old and older




Vintage Port

While vintage port accounts for only a small
percentage of the total production, it is the possibility
of declaring a vintage that excites everyone. Was it an
exceptional year? Great enough to declare a true
vintage? Or was it merely a very good year, justifying
the production of “single quinta vintages”. The
decision is taken by the tasting panel, which consists
of the Board of Directors, the winemaking team and
the professional tasters.

A vintage wine is a selection of the very best wines
from a single exceptional year. It is kept in cask for
two years and then put into bottles, where it will
continue maturing for many years. Each bottle is laid
horizontally and given a splash of white paint, so that it
will always rest with that side uppermost. The natural
deposit will settle opposite the ‘splash’.

Vintage ports are shipped soon after bottling, and it is
up to the wine merchant or the buyer to lay it down for
years to come - at least ten, and as much as fifty.
Single quinta ports are ready to drink around ten years
old, and can last up to twenty years.