NV Casa de Sta. Eufemia Porto Very Very Old Tawny

[Stewart T.]

• NV Casa de Sta. Eufemia Porto Very Very Old Tawny - Portugal, Douro, Porto (10/4/2013)
  Garrafão 7 - While touring the dusty old cellars at Casa Santa Eufemia, I spotted this bottle sitting on top of a glass demijohn bottle. It seemed clear that it was a sample bottle of the wine in the larger demijohn below it. I pointed this bottle out to Roy, whose eyes lit up when he saw it. Our host explained that the wine is an old wine that is used for blending into other wines to improve the quality. No paperwork survived to tell us exactly what age this wine is, but they let Roy taste a small sample right there in the cellar, and said that if he approved, we could all try it later at dinner. Roy took one sip and the expression on his face was disbelief. He paused for a very long time, then said out loud that he thought it was on par with the 1863 and the two 1896s from Krohn. When we got to try it later that evening and I wrote the following notes: The color is a dark, dark amber. As you swirl it, it has color like a dark, PX sherry. It has clearly been in demi-john for a very long time. Cola syrup and molasses on the nose. The acidity on this wine is razor sharp. It is like the acidity of a Sercial Maderia without all the dryness. There isn't any detectable Douro bake at all on this wine, even though it has been stored in the Baixo Corga. The winemaker said I use just 1% of this old wine in a 20 Year Old Tawny blend and it makes it a completely different wine. (98 pts.)

Quevedo

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