20 Year Old Tawny Port by Messias

[Andy Velebil]

Bottled in 1994 (yes, its a tad old, but was part of an auction that I won)

I've only recently tried Messias for the first time and was quite impressed by them, those TN's will be forth coming soon. So after a long and very busy work week for me, it was time to open this bottle and see how their 20 year old tawny stood up. This is an older bottling, 14 years to be exact, which is actually quite old for a tawny with an indication of age. The bottle had a driven cork, something I rarely see in these type of tawny's now-a-days.

The color was more in line with a 30-year tawny, a light golden tan with red highlights and just the faintest green highlights on the edge. I don't know how much of that is due to bottle age, but there is a small amount of noticable sediment present in the bottle. The nose is very appealing and sexy. The orange peel, toffee, nutmeg, and vanilla are so seductive that I really enjoy just smelling this. On the palate this Port exhibits a mid-weight, yet very complex tawny. The balance is excellant with toffee, citrus fruit, cedar, vanilla, strong acidity, some smoothed out tannins, and a touch of heat that brings it all together into a wonderful finish. Quite impressive for an older bottling and I would love to try what a fresh bottle delivers. I've only recently been introduced to the Messias line and I am very excited to try more of their Ports. Too bad I've never seen them in stores in my area, but I will definitely seek them out in the future. 93 points.
06/18/08

[Frederick Blais]

Thank you for the notes Andy. I've never been excited with what they did. I've tasted a couple of VP and Colheita as we don't have the tawnys here and my conclusion has always been : good but simple.

[João Rico]

A few months ago i tried a 1982 Quinta do Cachão Vintage Port (Messias Single Quinta, i think). Not so good but drinkable.
At the same time i tried a Colheita from 1995 and i thought that was quite good.
The Vintage 2005 from Messias that i tasted was really nice.

Not top notch wines, actually far from those, but i liked the colheita