40 Year Old Tawny Port by Quinta da Romaneira
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 5:44 pm
Opened to serve as "dessert" after the 2012 Ruby Reserve Taste-Off at my house. After this I'm down to 3 bottles from the case I purchased directly from Quinta da Romaneira.
Quinta da Romaneira 40-yr old Tawny Port
Color: A very deep and rich reddish tawny/brown. Highlights are red or red-orange.
Nose: Intense; almost overwhelming. Sweet christmas spices and an aromatic wood... cedar? Maybe sandalwood? Lots of brown sugar, dried apricots, and rich blood oranges. Some faint, dark, brewed vanilla. Some toffee and some kind of toasted nut.
Palate: Smooth, intense, very full. Sweet, but balanced by great acidity. Lots of brown sugar here, too, as well as more toffee and perhaps some caramel. Nice tart fruits... hard to identify, but possibly apricots. The toffee at times tends toward coffee.
Finish: Long and lingering, it goes on forever. Echos the palate, then glides off for minutes. There's also an interesting dryness that I think I've noticed before. Tails off with some granny smith apples.
Score: 97 points. It might have been the aftereffects of having just tasted 9 Ruby Reserves, but this really hit the spot and blew all of the rubies away. Simply magnificent.
Quinta da Romaneira 40-yr old Tawny Port
Color: A very deep and rich reddish tawny/brown. Highlights are red or red-orange.
Nose: Intense; almost overwhelming. Sweet christmas spices and an aromatic wood... cedar? Maybe sandalwood? Lots of brown sugar, dried apricots, and rich blood oranges. Some faint, dark, brewed vanilla. Some toffee and some kind of toasted nut.
Palate: Smooth, intense, very full. Sweet, but balanced by great acidity. Lots of brown sugar here, too, as well as more toffee and perhaps some caramel. Nice tart fruits... hard to identify, but possibly apricots. The toffee at times tends toward coffee.
Finish: Long and lingering, it goes on forever. Echos the palate, then glides off for minutes. There's also an interesting dryness that I think I've noticed before. Tails off with some granny smith apples.
Score: 97 points. It might have been the aftereffects of having just tasted 9 Ruby Reserves, but this really hit the spot and blew all of the rubies away. Simply magnificent.