NV Quinta das Lamelas 30 Year Old Tawny Port

[Will W.]

About four years ago, the Lamelas 30 Year Old was one of the first quality tawnies that your correspondent ever tried, alongside a Lamelas 40 Year Old at Portologia. At that tasting, the 30 Year Old seemed – despite one knowing even less about port wine at that point than today – to be slightly superior to its older brother; this view was reinforced during a visit to the quinta in 2017 with the FTLOP Port Harvest Tour graduate programme. To this day, this particular Lamelas is the only 30 Year Old to be found in the cellar of this author, wedged between the 20 and 40 Year Olds. Happily, your correspondent has found an apparently endless seam of the stuff, bottled in 2016 and still available at 2016 prices, in a supermarket very near to his office. The subject of this tasting note describes a nugget extracted from this particular mine.

In the glass, the tawny was a beautiful amber colour, showing additionally a hint of rose, along with a yellow rim. The nose was superb, as ever, evincing caramelised sugar and nuts or, to be more specific, almonds. On entry, the palate was confronted by sharp spices and citrus notes, these quickly giving way to cherry, caramel and roasted-chestnut tones. The finish, of medium length – other bottles have shown better in this respect – was a touch warm though not disagreeable. Overall, this particular bottle made for fine drinking, not least at the price.

91 Points

[Andy Velebil]

Do you think it’s losing something as it gets longer in bottle?

Sounds as though the price is still good regardless. Buy them all now before someone else finds them.

[Will W.]

Do you think it’s losing something as it gets longer in bottle?

Sounds as though the price is still good regardless. Buy them all now before someone else finds them.

A good question, Andy. I believe that I have consumed eight of the 2016 bottlings over the last six or eight months; there may be a hint of diminution of the acidity level, though not to the extent that one would notice without a more-recent bottling to hand. Hence, I reckon that I am safe for another year or two, assuming that I do not exhaust the supermarket's stash in the meantime.