1906 Brunheda Colheita Port

[Glenn E.]

I had 3 emails waiting for me at home last night. Because of the way I have my home email set up - it automatically downloads from the server - I can't check it from work. Once in a while that causes some delayed responses... such as last night.

Roy had been trying to get ahold of me, and I finally called him about 7:30 when I found the emails. He said he had a glass of this port left that he'd like to share and asked if I could stop by at about 8:30. Naturally I wasn't going to pass up a chance like that!

Roy's tasting room is almost as impressive as his wine cellar. His "trophy wall" really sets the atmosphere with bottles dating well back well into the 1800's.

But on to the good stuff...

The port has a dark caramel color with a red blush to it. I'd go with cherry wood, but it's not that dark. It fades toward yellow near the rim but doesn't quite make it all the way, then has a green tint right at the rim.

The nose is extremely pleasant. Not a trace of alcohol that I noticed. I had a difficult time separating out the scents because they were so well blended and integrated. There is, of course, the "normal" dried apricot and raisin, but there's also something citrus and there's a sour note. I don't like using words like "sour" because they sound bad... this isn't bad in any way, it's just the only word I can come up with to describe the smell. It is "sour" in the same sense that a dried apricot can smell sour. There was also a faint whiff of something grain-like. At first I thought it was oats - the steel cut variety - but then I realized that it wasn't a grain at all... it was oak. Not woody, though, just a faint brush across the back of the roof of your mouth.

Then there's the flavor. WOW! It's perfect. There is none of the bite that I always detect in wines. It's just completely not there. I'll bet that if I went back to the only other wine I've said that about - the 1977 Porto Rocha Colheita - that I would now find a bite in it because this was perfection. This port is absolutely, perfectly smooth. The flavors are intense but so well integrated that it took me several minutes to be able to separate any of them out. The first two that I was finally able to settle on were molasses and honey. The molasses played with the senses. It was only there for that first swish in your mouth after taking a sip, floating through that small amount of air and then disappearing until the next sip. The honey was more of a mouth feel than an actual flavor. The consistency made me think of heated honey. It wasn't syrupy. I was eventually able to decide that I could also taste raisins, possibly dates, and possibly apricots. But the flavors were so well integrated and so smooth that it was a struggle to pull out any single taste to write down. This is the standard bearer for me now.

Finally,the finish was long and sublime. I noted that, unlike most other ports I have tasted, the finish here was continuous, mellow, slow and smooth. I feel like the finishes on most ports race from one flavor to the next, sometimes wildy changing over time before they abruptly end. Sometimes they're then followed by an aftertaste. But not here... the citrus, honey and molasses simply glided off into the ether leaving behind nothing but a haunting memory. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that the port left a thin residue of fat behind on my lips much like a good Daube de Boeuf will leave behind. I kept licking my lips to retrieve every last molecule.

This is by far the most impressive Port that I have tasted, and could very well never be surpassed. I don't rate Ports because I don't know enough about them yet, but if this isn't 100 points I don't know what possibly could be.

Thank you again, Roy, for such a wonderful opportunity!

This tasting note is one of several related tasting notes. Click [here] to see the original note in context.