10 Year Old Tawny Port by Quarles Harris

[Tim Swaback]

My second tasting note ever so bear with me on this one. I've loved port for many years and have decided to take the plunge and really try to get to know the stuff. My previous experience has been unguided <$20 purchases. Today I am trying to discern the differences between a Tawny and a LBV port. I already made another post for the Taylor. The two ports are:

2003 Taylor Fladgate LBV
Quarles Harris 10yr Tawny

The Tawny is much lighter in color than the Taylor. The smell of alcohol is very prominent covering up any other smell. The taste is much thicker than the LBV as is the alcohol taste. I taste a woody flavor that has slowly faded.

I think I enjoyed that LBV much much more than the Tawny. I have a 20 year Sandeman Tawny that I will open in a few weeks to see if it is similar to the Quarles Harris.

[Roy Hersh]

Tim,

Nice job and a great way to learn, compare and contrast. These two are so different, which is a good way to learn what the style of an LBV ... a very fine one at that ... and a Tawny are all about.

The Quarles Harris is one 10 year old Tawny I've never had before, but I was wondering if you left some in the bottle for a few days or even a week or two, to see if that alcohol mellowed for you. Most of the time, that is the case.

Keep on doing this and reading other notes here and you will reduce the learning curve rather quickly.

[Tim Swaback]

I opened the tawny 4 days ago but put the cork back in after each drink until last night. The bottle has sat open now for about 12 hours so with about 1/3 left. I have another taste tonight (with the corned beef) and see if its mellowed at all.

[Tim Swaback]

Hah. I had this bottle sitting on the counter open for the last week or so and was going to give the last little bit a try to see if the alcohol burn had subsided but I have been thwarted. After cleaning the kitchen the girlfriend informed me that she "threw that last little bit of port down the drain because it had been sitting out a long time". I didn't have the heart to say anything....

[Sebastian T]

Oh no..
You should almost say something, in one way or another, to keep it from happening again. She needs to know in the future.