10 Year Old Tawny Port by Ferreira

[Glenn E.]

Cross-posting from http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... f=1&t=5917

Ferreira 10-yr old Tawny
Tasted blind at Roy's house on 8/31/2008

Roy says that my first opinion on this bottle was that it was a tawny, but I don't remember that. My notes:

Solid red (a dark almost brick) between a tawny and a ruby, fading to an orangish-pink before turning translucent at the rim. There's no green which I normally associate with Tawnies. The nose is quite rich, with just a little alcohol. Subdued fruits... very mellow nose.

Butterscotch, possibly dates, and caramel at various stages all appear in the mouth. None of those are strong impressions, however. A grapey note - almost concord-like - appears in the 2nd glass. I detected paste (read: glue) in the mid palate followed by a generic floral sensation. The overall impression is very smooth and very well integrated. Tannins are present but very subdued. They're really only obvious after you swallow, but are present in the mouth if you look for them.

The finish is fairly long and fairly generic - grape skin, grape stem, a few green apples.

I have very little experience with Vintage Ports. Most of the ones I have tasted have been real youngsters with huge tannins and bold fruits. My guess for this bottle was a 1970 VP from a "lesser" house, in this case meaning one that had aged quickly and was already fully mature or possibly past its prime. Surprise! Bottle #1 was a Ferreira 10-yr old Tawny. Part of what threw me was that I didn't expect a Tawny to exhibit the tannins that I detected in this bottle. Plus as you can see from the notes, this bottle bore little resemblance to the Ferreira Duque de Braganca 20-yr old that was bottle #2.

In retrospect, the one thing that I think should have tipped me off was the color notes near the edge of the glass. I don't recall ever seeing a VP exhibiting an orange tone even near the edge of the glass, yet it is common in Tawnies.