NV S. Leonardo "60" Very Old Tawny Port

[Thomas V]

Bottled in 2017

Decanted 2 hours prior to tasting and served at 12 degrees Celsius. The room temperature in the room was very high due to the sun. This increased wine temperature rapidly and may have influenced the finale grade.

Dark and almost grey. Raisins in rum, a drop of alcohol, warmth, syrup, sweet very sweet. Preserved pear. This is mellow, discreetly spiced and the taste goes on for minutes. I do miss some more acidity to balance out the insane amounts of residual sugar and this is made for small intake and at the right temperature else it gets to overly sweet for me. It is amazing but I prefer the 60 Year Old White to this.

95 points

[Glenn E.]

I do miss some more acidity to balance out the insane amounts of residual sugar

Wow! One of the great things about this Port is its laser-like acidity that normally keeps the sugar in balance. As odd as this sounds - you did give it 95 points after all - it seems like there must have been something different about your bottle. It's hard to say that there was something "wrong" with a 95-point bottle, but most people usually rate this 97-99 points, if not 100.

[Thomas V]

I do miss some more acidity to balance out the insane amounts of residual sugar

Wow! One of the great things about this Port is its laser-like acidity that normally keeps the sugar in balance. As odd as this sounds - you did give it 95 points after all - it seems like there must have been something different about your bottle. It's hard to say that there was something "wrong" with a 95-point bottle, but most people usually rate this 97-99 points, if not 100.

One thing that came to mind while I was reading your thoughts was that I was tasting the 60YO and the 60YO White head to head. There is no doubt that the White has more protrusive acidity than the regular tawny and that could be far more apparent in this scenario than having just the regular 60YO on its own.

I have a few cl of left overs from both these 2 bottles that I have the chance to revisit.

[Glenn E.]

I do miss some more acidity to balance out the insane amounts of residual sugar

Wow! One of the great things about this Port is its laser-like acidity that normally keeps the sugar in balance. As odd as this sounds - you did give it 95 points after all - it seems like there must have been something different about your bottle. It's hard to say that there was something "wrong" with a 95-point bottle, but most people usually rate this 97-99 points, if not 100.

One thing that came to mind while I was reading your thoughts was that I was tasting the 60YO and the 60YO White head to head. There is no doubt that the White has more protrusive acidity than the regular tawny and that could be far more apparent in this scenario than having just the regular 60YO on its own.

I have a few cl of left overs from both these 2 bottles that I have the chance to revisit.

I haven't ever tasted them head-to-head, so what you say is possible, but the one time that I had the 60 White one of my few quibbles about it was that it seemed to be lacking in acidity compared to the regular 60. Now to be fair that particular bottle had been express shipped from Portugal the week that it was consumed, so it may have been suffering from some travel shock. Even so I still gave it 97 points, but that's in contrast to the regular 60 which has been consistently 99 points for me. (Other than the first occasion, which warranted 100 for being a life-changing experience.)

I'll have to plan an occasion to taste them head-to-head once mine have arrived!