NV Quinta do Portal 20 Year Old Tawny Port

[Glenn E.]

Purchased for the ridiculously low price of $19/bottle from Vinopolis in Oregon.

Quinta do Portal 20 Year Old Tawny Port
bottled 2008, open 8 days mostly untouched

Color: Pretty normal for a 20-yr old - a nice medium-dark tawny but still showing plenty of red or red-orange.
Nose: Very mild alcohol, soft earthy dust, and some lightly tangy apricot. All well integrated, though, so it makes for a nice and interesting nose. Some faint light brown sugar, too.
Palate: Full and very rich. The dark edge that presents itself when the bottle is freshly opened has faded. Nice citrus backbone and good acidity, but neither is overpowering. Lots of dark caramel and some brown sugar. Some dark orange, possibly blood orange, late in the palate.
Finish: Short for a 20-yr old, but that's probably due to having been open for 8 days. Conveniently, the shortness applies to the slightly sharp edge that appears and then disappears as well. It does linger for a decent amount of time, but is pretty faint after the first 20 seconds or so.

Score: 93 pts. Crazy good QPR. This experiment sort of confirms my earlier suspicion that it needed to be treated like a Moreira - open the bottle, drink 1-2 small glasses to put some air in the bottle, then let it sit for a week. Nice improvements all around.

[Roy Hersh]

I am glad to own a bunch of these too. I think that Portal does a very fine job with their Tawny Ports.