Tawny age designations

Andrew Stevenson · Post by **Andrew Stevenson** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 8:52 am

Can anyone point to an English list of the age designations for tawny port and their legal meanings?

As I understand it, the age where shown is the average age of the constituent wines, as (unlike a Colheita) the wine as sold is a blend of various vintages, blended to produce a wine that matches the established house style.

There are designations of 10, 20 and 30 years (I think these can also be labelled as Velho - "old"). There is also 40 years, which can be labelled as Muito Velho ("very old").

But is there a further category of muito velho called "mais de 40 anos" (more than 40 years), or are all 40 year tawnies actually "mais de 40"?

I presume there must be legal definitions of 10, 20, 30 and 40(+) year tawny ports, presumably policed by the IDVP. Are these summarised anywhere in English, or can anyone provide a brief summary?

Frederick Blais · Post by **Frederick Blais** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 12:13 pm

The most I could find was in a previous newsletter from Roy.

http://www.fortheloveofport.com/newslet ... letter.htm

Andrew Stevenson · Post by **Andrew Stevenson** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 7:06 am

Thanks - that explains the "40 year" and "more than 40 year" business
(USA rules don't permit "more than 40 years").

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 5:33 pm

Sadly, Mario's translation to English was limited to my newsletter scribing. It should be published on the IVDP site and elsewhere but at least there is a place for the proper designations and nomenclature to be read in English. It is amazing how much incorrect information is used when it comes to the "Special Categories" of Port!