Warres Otima 20 Year

[Eric Menchen]

Pulled from the fridge and given ~20 minutes to warm. Upon pouring, obvious sweet fruity aromas with cherry and caramel. The glass reveals spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, and there might be some apricot hiding in the background. Quite sweet on the mouth with a little warmth in the finish, and a concentrated medium-heavy body. But it is still too cold. 10 minutes later and it is coming around. Still syrupy and sweet, it makes me think of a pleasant cough syrup. There isn't a medicinal flavor, but there is some alcohol warmth to go with the sweet fruit and peppery spice. A later pour suggested a little more sugar complexity, with a little bit of brown sugar. It is still warm (alcohol), but that's better integrated now. And some acidity just cuts through a little bit.

Overall this is a nice tawny. It certainly isn't up to S. Leonardo 30 in my book, but that's a stand-out great wine. Where is it in the 10 and 20 year old pack? It probably is a bit better than most of the 10 year old tawnies. There is a little sugar complexity there to beat out those. But compared to other 20 year old tawnies? I haven't tasted a lot of them lately, but I'm thinking this is in the 3rd quadrille, so not in the top half best, but not in the bottom quarter either. I could be wrong (memory of the others), and I'll also revisit this over the course of the next week or so. 92 points.

[Eric Menchen]

Not so heavily bodied on the second night, and a little butter in the caramel; but otherwise very similar to the first night.

[Andy Velebil]

Was able to get a glass of this in PT this month. Will get a TN posted for it soon.