NV Insignia 40 Year Old Tawny Port

[Will W.]

Insignia 40 Year Old Tawny Port is produced by Vallegre Port and Douro Wines, which readers of the For the Love of Port forum, and indeed other connoisseurs, will know as the producer (under the Vista Alegre label) of quality tawnies with an indication of age. The immediate question is whether the contents of an Insignia 40 Year Old Tawny and that bearing the Vista Alegre nomenclature differ in any way. The technical sheets which describe the respective products, found on the Vallegre website (www.vallegre.pt), suggest that the grape varieties in the wines may vary, although the residual sugar and acidity levels set out in the same documents are effectively identical. One might suspect, not unreasonably, that the Insignia label is pressed into service by the producer in order to move additional Vista Alegre product at a more favourable cost - most especially within the Portuguese market, which is largely resistant to the prices commanded by higher-end vintage port and tawny labels.

Your correspondent is likewise resistant to the increasingly-outlandish prices demanded for tawnies with an indication of age, particularly those demanded for 40-year-old tawnies by Portuguese retailers and at the quintas themselves. At the same time, he exhibits a fondness for 40-year-olds which the uncharitable might characterise, not without justification, as congenital weakness. Whatever the reason, over the last three years this reviewer has consumed eight or ten bottles of this Insignia-labelled product. Alas, the bottle reviewed here did not rise to the customary standard.

Bottled in 2014, in the tasting glass the wine was somewhat cloudy, largely opaque and redolent of a mid-strength breakfast tea. A hint of tan was evident on the rim. The nose proved to be weaker than is the norm, though brown sugar, coffee, orange zest and pepper notes were all in evidence. Still more of a let-down was encountered at the palate, relative to the prevailing standard: the aforementioned brown sugar was there on entry, with the said orange zest and pepper appearing at the mid-palate. The sensations in the mouth were sufficiently unremarkable - never mind the fact that the notes striking the palate were the same as those recorded by the nose - that your correspondent inquired with Her Ladyship, who has far better tasting skills, about the possibility that this reviewer’s imperfect senses had broken down entirely. In the event, she reassured him that this was not the case - and, not being one to gloss over your correspondent's deficiencies, Her Ladyship was believed. Pressing on, one got through the warm finish which, whilst not objectionable, was very much one dimensional.

The high acidity to be expected of Vista Alegre tawnies was there, though the acidity level was not entirely in synch with the residual sweetness, the former dominating slightly the latter. Additionally, the wine was somewhat lighter in weight than is the norm. As there remains a half dozen bottles of this product in the cellar, there is nothing for it but to imbibe the remainder in the reasonable expectation that this bottle was something of an anomaly. Indeed, with this particular product, one would normally expect a score in the area of 91-93 points.

-88 points