Winemaker Notes
A blend of different wines averaging 20 years of age. Ages in very old 600 litre oak casks and other old oak vats.
Very rich on the nose, combining dry fruits and cigar notes. Round, unctuous and liquorish with lots of freshness.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Beautiful aromas of caramel and orange peel with some toffee and pomegranate follow through to a medium body with bright fruit, tangy acidity and a caramel finish. Fantastic!
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Decanter
Creamy, plum-cake nose welcomes a fresh quince marmalade character on the palate, tapering to a beautifully fresh, lingering finish. Markedly sweet but harmonious and delicious.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
There's a jump in complexity and nuance from the 10 to the NV 20 Year Old Tawny Port, which has a more volatile nose, intensely nutty, with notes of hazelnuts and praline and hints of blonde tobacco. It has a velvety and unctuous mouthfeel with good freshness and integrated sweetness, even if the sugar is a little on the high side at 127 grams.
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Wine Spectator
This takes a slightly flattering approach, with cinnamon, warmed fruit cake, dried plum and toasted pecan notes, finishing on the sweeter side.
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.