For The Love Of Port

The new Rare Wine newsletter is out and there is a new offering -- Henriques & Henriques 20-year-old Terrantez. Sounds very ineteresting! Has anyone tried this? I think it's interesting that it's not a vintage, but has an indication of age. I suppose that's so that they have more stock to release.

Peter Reutter has tried it and has a review on his blog. I ordered six and can't wait until they arrive.

Tasted at the 2010 Hamburg IVBAM Tasting:
20 years old Terrantez H&H
I never had this wine before so it was a huge surprise for me when I first saw this 20 years old Terrantez blend. The color is of brilliant medium dark iodine with a chestnut rim, the nose is sweet and nutty, rather subdued. The palate shifts into a higher gear with an initial soft feel of mainstream nutty sweetness, but then a slightly bitter, but typical Terrantez-backbone comes shining through. The wine evolves in your mouth into a wonderful example of Terrantez with a long and sweet finish that gives a glimpse of Terrantez-bitterness at the very end. Well done. I hope they put this on the market soon! 92 points in 10/2010. Had been freshly bottled, might well be 93-94 with some resting time in bottle. Anyway, this is a very good and typical example for Terrantez, specially when you like your Terrantez a little more on the sweet side.

Peter

I ordered some as well. It's apparently available now. I'm waiting a few weeks because of temperatures here in Las Vegas, but hope to get it shipped and then tasted in Nov.

I had an opportunity to try this at an industry event in NYC last week (long story, I'm not involved in the wine industry but I lucked out) and I was not very impressed, nor was I impressed with any other wines in H&H's line-up. I can't give much in the way of details (there was an awful lot of madeira there... ) but when drank alongside some other excellent wines it didn't really hold up. Thin and flabby and lacking in acidity. The Blandy's 1976 Terrantez that I drank straight after it was far superior, as was the always excellent D'Oliveira 1988.

I tasted this at an event in NYC last week as well and I too was underwhelmed with the H+H line up. Their 1997 Full Rich Madeira and their 20 year Terrantez were good, but I was expecting more. Their Rainwater,10 year Sercial and 10 year Verdelho did not appeal to me very much. They seemed a bit thin, bitter and medicinal.

The top Terrantezs (Terrantezi? what exactly is the plural for Terrantez?) was the 1976 Blandy and the 1988 D'Oliveira.

The wine of the tasting was the 1912 D'Oliveira Verdelho... lots of depth, dry extract and delineation.

The Barbeito lineup was very good, with their 20 Year Malvasia a very pleasant surpise.

Wish I took better notes...

Marco, I wish I'd known you were there, I'd have liked to meet you!

I agree with your picks 100%, btw. The 1912 Verdelho was the wine of the show for me too, by a large margin. It had a maple flavor to it that was outstanding, mixed with lemon meringue pie... so good. Runner up was the D'Oliveira 1969 Sercial, which has been added to my shortlist of bottles to pick up.

The 20 year old Henriques and Henriques had a barrel selection of young and older Terrantez to come up with this limited release cuvee. Had it been from a single cask and not a blend, then it could have been a Vintage dated bottling. One of my friends at the tasting also told me of being rather underwhelmed by this bottling. It prevented me from buying any when the RWC put it up for sale. I was considering a four pack as I love the grape.

Anyway, the 1912 Verdelho is always a beauty and I stocked up last year so I could open several in 2012 in commemoration of a century old Madeira. Also I knew that with 2012 coming up the price was going to head north, especially later this year. So if you plan to buy ANY ... get it quickly (the 1912).

Even some young Terrantez (vintage) can show signs of impressive qualities and intriguing palate presence. Don't count them all of the running. Marco has highlighted a couple of nice ones.

Well, I've been following the 20 YO Terrantez now since December last year (2 bottles) and I'm a big fan of the wine. Also tasted it a month ago, on the island, together with Humberto Jardim. Same impressions again. It is a more restrained style and compared to the just released 20 YO Terrantez from Blandy's it is less sweet. I've consequently rated it 92-93 p.

I opened one of the bottles I received from RWC, poured an ounce or so in a glass, and swirled. There was very little fragrance. My experience follows very closely to Peter Reutter's review, including the slight bitterness. I like this wine now and I look forward to seeing how it develops over the next week or so.