10 Year Old Tawny Port by Taylor

[Guest]

An odd bottle that came with a mixed auction lot. From the price sticker still attached to the bottle, (£11.95) - I would guess it was bottled about 5 years ago.

Cooled in the fridge prior to tasting.

Rather pale in the glass, strong elegant bouquet.

On the palate however, disappointing. Much too spirity and fiery on the palate. Lacks class.

One to miss.

Tom

[Andy Velebil]

Tom,

I agree. The first 10yr Tawny I had was the Taylor's about 3 years ago. I too had the same impression as you stated and I was not impressed by it.

I recently had several glasses of the Graham's 10 yr Tawny and it was slightly better, although a bit sweeter than the Taylor's (IIRC). Still quite a bit of that spirity and fiery you mentioned, but just a bit less.

Now the Noval 10yr.... 8) 8)

[Alexis]

Andy, you'd recommend the Noval 10yr very much?

I've been disappointed by my last 10yr tawny, a Graham's, after having tasted a Graham 20yr. Seemed to me like apple and orange, but at ~56$ CAD for the 20 yr I find it is quite a lot of money for me.

[Nevski]

Interesting, I don't agree. Of course it's not classy port but to me it works well as everyday port when I like to have one class at evening after work. In that situation fruity and fiery taste works well! 8)

ps. Tom, thanks for the Offley, got it on Thursday!

[Otto Nieminen]

Interesting, I don't agree. Of course it's not classy port but to me it works well as everyday port when I like to have one class at evening after work. In that situation fruity and fiery taste works well! 8)

ps. Tom, thanks for the Offley, got it on Thursday!

Antti, I have to agree with you. Not an exciting port but better than what the other posters made it out to be. I just tried it a few weeks ago last time and it was indeed a bit hot, but otherwise a pleasant, simple drink. Maybe it's just the lack of anything decent to drink here that made us think it fine - lack of perspective?

We should do a Finnish off-line some day since there are so many Finnish participants here

[Andy Velebil]

Alexis,

I've had two bottles of the Noval 10yr tawny in the past 1 1/2 years and I thought both bottles were much better than the Taylors. I just recently pulled a bottle of the Noval from my offsite storage and brought it home. So, I will probably be opening a bottle later this month, or early next month. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Frederick Blais]

Alexis, I'm a big fan of the Noval 10 year old too. I think in Sherbrooke you have a SAQ Depot, I found some Ramos Pinto 10 year old at 13$ half bottle in Montreal. This is a great deal as I find this one to be the best 10 year old tawny, at least a top 3 . :)

[Tom Archer]

Now here's a surprise...

After watching Portugal win their first game in the football (Americans read soccer) world cup, I went to the fridge to fetch the half empty bottle, but with little enthusiasm.

Now I've always regarded Tawny's as pretty stable, and not prone to the sort of evolution we see in VP, but the air that has entered this bottle has made quite a difference, quenching much of the fire and evolving the wine in much the same way that a sharp freshly decanted VP evolves.

Altogether, a much better wine now.

Mental note for the future: If a tawny is sharp and un-civilised, try decanting it to entrain a little air.

Anyone else tried this?

Tom

[Andy Velebil]

Tom,

The Graham's I spoke about earlier was drunk over the course of about 6 days. The bottle never really softened up, and stayed relatively consistant. I will experiment with the next bottle of 10yr tawny I open and let you know how it goes.

[Alexis]

Andy: I look forward to read your next impressions on that Noval.

Fred: Yes there is a SAQ Depot, very close to where I live actually! I've been on the lookout for that Ramos Pinto 10 yr since I saw some very good comments on this forum, but it has not been available at the Depot yet. Maybe I'll just stop by a Selection SAQ and buy one at regular price so I can finally taste it.

Thanks for your replies!
Alexis

[Nevski]

We should do a Finnish off-line some day since there are so many Finnish participants here

Excellent idea, the theme could be "Vintage Port"

[Marco D.]

After watching Portugal win their first game in the football (Americans read soccer) world cup, I went to the fridge to fetch the half empty bottle, but with little enthusiasm.

I'm glad they won... I just wished they played better in the second half. Hopefully Deco will add some spark in the next game... and hopefully Ronaldo will try less show-boating.

Mental note for the future: If a tawny is sharp and un-civilised, try decanting it to entrain a little air.

Anyone else tried this?

A few months back I bought a stash of the Warre Otima 20 year tawny for about $16/bottle. Every bottle seemed a bit angular upon opening, but then always got better on the second day.

[Nicholas]

I picked up a bottle of TY 10 year old tawny today (£14.99 from Sainsbury's. Being new to tawny, I was satisfied by the taste and quality, even though my experience with port is limited.

It is a kind of drink you would consider if you desire to enjoy a class of port each evening, rather than spending a lot of vintage. And the longevity with no filtering required is a bonus.

However, like the OP, it was midly disappointing on the palate. It could have been improved if it was slight richer.

Next step, try a different manufacture. Maybe Dow's, Graham's or Noval.

[Gustavo Devesas]

Much too spirity and fiery on the palate. Lacks class.

One to miss.

Tom

I TOTALLY agree with all your post including this last quote,I think this spirity style that the british house's continue to have it's soo bad,it's totally not interesting,specially for somebody wich is starting the knowledege of Port.

:?