NV Burmester 30 year old white port

[Rune EG]

Purchased during 2012 FTLOP Harvest Tour at Sogevinus (at that time) new visitor center in Gaia just across the big bridge from Porto. Basically, straight from Sogevinus to our cellar at home. Tried it after 45 minutes decanting, but that was too early. 1.5 hrs appeared to be the best, although with a relatively short drinking window afterwards.

37.5 cl. T-cork. Perfect sealing. Bottled 2011. Decanted 1.5 hrs. Amber/yellow transparent colour with a tiny touch of green. Dry aroma including bitter almonds, spices and dandelion. Full body. Powerful, concentrated white port with significant bitterness and citrus (close to lemon) and some orange peel. Plenty acidity (acidity did not improve with longer decanting than 1.5 hrs). Very long aftertaste. Probably the driest old white port I have tasted. 86 pts.

[Andy Velebil]

I was surprised to see the score after reading the note. It sounded better than the score you gave it. What were the short comings?

[Rune EG]

In my tasting note I wrote amongst others:
"........with significant bitterness and citrus (close to lemon) and some orange peel. Plenty acidity (acidity did not improve with longer decanting than 1.5 hrs)."
"Significant bitterness" and "Plenty acidity" were the central descriptions of this white port. The combination was so strong that I felt 86 pts was what I experienced.

Fortunately the Burmester 40 year old white was in a different league (93 pts)!

[Andy Velebil]

In my tasting note I wrote amongst others:
"........with significant bitterness and citrus (close to lemon) and some orange peel. Plenty acidity (acidity did not improve with longer decanting than 1.5 hrs)."
"Significant bitterness" and "Plenty acidity" were the central descriptions of this white port. The combination was so strong that I felt 86 pts was what I experienced.

Fortunately the Burmester 40 year old white was in a different league (93 pts)!

Thanks for the explanation. With the rush for many companies to release these old White's when almost all used to say they had no old white Port hasn't always worked out. In my experience, they fall into one of two distinct camps...good and not good. There rarely seems to be a middle ground, as in the 90-92 point range.