40 Year Old Tawny Port by Quinta da Romaneira

[Glenn E.]

Romaneira 40 Year Old Tawny Port
bottled 2010

Color: Dark tawny, some red still showing through.
Nose: Intesnse, tart. Some alcohol. Mahogany? Cedar? Some dust. Dark vanilla. Several nuts - hazelnuts, cashews, and walnuts.
Palate: Rich, very full body. Brown sugar and toffee. Nice dried fruit - apricots in particular.
Finish: Long and rich with a slow, even fade. Late apples. Very pleasant.

Score: 97 points. An amazing 40-yr old. Too bad we can't get it in the states!

[Roy Hersh]

A stunning 40 year old and winner of the trio, in strong company. Loved it.

Amazing score bias by the "Tawny-guy" who didn't see the equal beauty in one of the 1966 VPs that knocked our (Sean & Christine's) socks off, but clearly not Glenn's. But that's what makes Port interesting!

[Glenn E.]

Yeah yeah... I detour from the group concensus on one Port on the night and he calls me biased!

I can see that 1966 Dow possibly reaching 95 points with more age, but I have to taste it to score it. I just find it difficult to award points for anticipated development, because you just never know whether or not that development is actually going to take place. That's like saying that the world record for the 100-meter dash is 9.50 seconds because Usain Bolt is probably going to run that fast some day. That may be true, but as of now he's "only" run 9.58.

I did think that this Romaneira was pretty special, though. I hope the rest of my bottles show as well as this one! (I only gave the last one 96. )

[Roy Hersh]

I agree that the Romaneira was a 97 point experience. That is exactly where Sean and I had the 1966 Dow too, about two points higher than where I'd expect it to show, but it was an impeccable bottle and I can also only hope the rest of 'em show that well in the future.