For The Love Of Port

The first tawny I tried from Pocas was a 10yo and I hated it. Since, I've bought some colheitas though dreading it a little, as the 10yo was to terrible. However, the Colheita is in a class of its own. Color was classic orange-brown, and the nose was dried fruits and some alcohol. Good but nothing spectacular. The palate however, is extraordinary. The classic toffee and dried fruits and nuts, but just as the taste is receeding with little promise of an aftertaste, an explosion of charred wood and almonds explodes in the mouth lingering ever on. A complex colheita that's still young. Unlike some of the older Pocas colheitas, this has a driven cork, indicating some ageworthyness. Drink now or keep.

Nikolaj,

Glad to hear you didn't give up on tawny's after your experience with the Pocas 10 year old (which I agree with). There are lots of solid tawny's out there and glad to hear the 1991 was fantastic. I don't know what you have in your area, but Niepoort, Kopke, Burmester, and Ferreira (to name a few) all make very sound Tawny's with an indication of age and Colheita's that are worth seeking out.

Oh, Andy, I wasn't worried about tawnies as a category, in fact it's my favourite type of port. I was worried about POCAS tawnies. My favourite so far is Burmester, which is in good supply at very fair prices (as long as you stay away from the 1955 and older). Also Niepoort is in decent supply, but mainly their 10yo and "lower" and they are a bit pricey. Kopke is also available to some extent and at a fair price, and Royal Oporto (Real Vinicola...) makes some surprisingly good tawnies at an vary reasonable price (their 10yo can be found at the local supermarket at 18 dollars).

in regards to Pocas, I've not had a ton of stuff from this producer - mostly a few colheita's and tawny's with age. My experiences so far have been a little hit and miss. I'd really like to sit down and sample a good range of their stuff one day to truly evaluate them as a house.