Information on where wines are made, how to read their labels, what the wines taste like, and which are the best. Those wine zones whose produce is available commercially are discussed in detail with attention to appellations, producers, geology, weather, growers, merchants, co-ops, quality factors, winemaking techniques, vintages, etc.
This book celebrates the 300th birthday of Taylor Fladgate & Yeatman, the firm that makes the finest and most long-lived of vintage ports. The company is still proudly independent after three centuries of eventful history. The book tells of the earliest days of the port trade and the people who shaped it, of war and revolution, boom and recession. It profiles the superb wine estates which Taylor's owns in the wild and beautiful Upper Douro. And in a fastinating chapter leading tasters explore a century of vintages from the fabled 1896 to the 1980s.