Quinta da Romaneira 10 Year Tawny Port
Winemaker Notes
This is a blend of old Port wines with an average age of ten years. At ten years old the wine has already acquired the classic tawny characteristics of nuts, dried fruits and spices, but retains also a vibrant freshness which is one of the characteristics of Romaneira’s tawnies.
Pale brick red tawny color. In its complex aroma, the vibrant young fruit blends deliciously with the attractive and characteristic dry fruits aromas like nuts. Rich and smooth on the palate it has an elegant structure and a long finish.
Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesLovely aromas of chocolate covered almonds and plums with toffee. Hints of petrol. Medium body with very sweet and intense flavors. So much chocolate. Drink now.
The NV 10 Year Tawny Port, bottled February 23, 2021, is a blend of typical grapes. It was bottled with 100 grams of residual sugar and a bar-top cork. Nicely done, this Tawny has good concentration for the level, rich flavors, leaning to a darker profile, and a lively feel. The finish is lingering and filled with flavor. This is a nice performance for the level and the price. This will have no difficulty holding for a while, barring cork failures, but that's not really the point, and it doesn't need aging.
Romaneira is one of the great historic Quintas of the Douro Valley in Northern Portugal, on a spectacularly beautiful site overlooking the Douro river facing south, its rocky soil lending its particular character to the wines.
Recently a new and exciting chapter has been added to Romaneira's long and illustrious story, with the emergence of Romaneira as a key player in the "Douro Revolution": the discovery that our ancient local grape varieties can be used to make not only excellent Port wines, but increasingly also outstanding unfortified wines that are finding their place among the great wines of the world, while being an expression of our unique terroir.
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.
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.