Since I've been drinking a lot of VP lately, I wanted to go back to a Colheita for the weekend. This one volunteered.
I opened the bottle last night and had a glass, but didn't think to take notes at the time so I'm having another glass now. Oh the suffering we go through to provide tasting notes. 
:type: :lick: It's almost brown in the glass, though the reflections of lights shine bright red. There's an overtone of red throughout, though. The color fades to almost yellow near the rim, with perhaps a very faint green tinge.
I detect the smell of raisins and ... dates? Something like dried apricots, but not quite. There is also a smokey note, which combined with the earthy fruit reminds me faintly of beef jerky. The alcohol is also prominent, more so if you swirl the glass.
There's a bite to the flavor that I often notice in Ports. It seems fairly normal - one of these days I'll probably stop commenting on it because it's almost always there. I noticed a passing note of vanilla and a whiff of meatiness, then just a solid but rather generic tawny flavor. There might also be a bit of spiciness like in a Tempranillo... and something made me think of Christmas. There's a decent amount of heat caused by the alcohol, but I don't actually taste it.
But now is when the fun begins. After you swallow and the flavor begins to fade, "swish" the non-existent wine around in your mouth to make a very distinct note of green apples appear and stays for 20-30 seconds. I can taste both the skin and the meat of the apple. Sometimes I even think I can taste a little bit of stem and/or apple seed.
For me this is definitely a sipping Port because while the flavor isn't top tier, the finish is wonderful and unique.
