10 Year Old Tawny Port by Morgado

[Lamont Huxley]

I stopped into Trader Joe's recently and found this port selling for $10.99. At that price I figured it was worth a shot.

It's a bright, translucent cherry red color in the glass. On the nose I get medicinal cherry/strawberry fruit and some obvious spirit with subtler notes of caramel and nuts. Candied cherry fruit on entry, fairly sugary, with some spicy spirit taking over on the midpalate. The heat subsides to reveal a medium finish of caramel and nuts with a slightly bitter edge. The nose and the finish are pleasant enough and picked up a notch after the bottle was open for a few days but the palate is still a little too sugary and hot for me. However, for a $10.99 port this is better than I had expected. Good QPR if you're looking for a bottle on a tight budget. 83 pts, Tasted 3/11

[Moses Botbol]

Oh no, the Porto Morgado. That was a running joke around here for a while. Served by itself, their tawny or vintage is fine enough, but really stands below in a group tasting. We pitted their vintage (1985 I think) against a 1963 Dow and the Dow was better (no kidding), lol.

That being said, it's hard to beat the value.

[Lamont Huxley]

Moses,

This was the first Morgado port I've tried and I would agree with your sentiment. On its own it's fine just to sip on and not think too much about but I certainly wouldn't put it up against any other 10-yr I've had...

[Marc J.]

Thanks for the TN! Your description of the wine is very similar to what I remember. BTW, a little while back I tried their basic tawny (I was on a trip and it was the only Port in the only store in town) - and my impressions were similar to the ten year old minus any of the positive characteristics.