Winemaker Notes
Aged for an average of 40 years in seasoned oak casks, the 40 Year Old Tawny is a testament to time and patience. Composed of wines put aside generations ago, this is an incredible wine with an amazingly long finish, indicating both its age and immense quality.
On the nose, it is very complex with a powerful fragrance that belies its age. On the palate, it reveals an array of flavors, from delicate fruit & raisins to toasted toffee and chocolate with an outstanding aftertaste.
To be enjoyed slightly chilled.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Fantastic old tawny with a tight and lively palate of dried fruit, figs, bark and walnuts. Custard and some salted nuts, too. It’s full, sweet and glorious. Lovely candied fruit at the end.
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Wine Spectator
Plump, juicy and forthright in feel, with a core that bursts with mulled dark cherry, dried peach and persimmon, bitter orange and date bread notes. Singed hazelnut and alder add underlying tension to the finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
An old, mature wine, but one that has kept its ripeness and richness. The concentration is so intense that one glass is almost enough (except it tastes so good). There are walnuts, bitter chocolate and a delicious clean aftertaste.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F. To learn more, see our full Port Wine Guide
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.