NV Heritage 40 Year Old Dry White Port

[Will W.]

The context for this tasting note can be found here:

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This was the third Heritage port consumed at the sitting.
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The pursuit of fine port is an exercise in never-ending optimism; whilst most bottles disappoint, once a collector has experienced the delirious highs offered by the likes of Taylor’s Scion or Quinta do Mourao’s 100 Year Old Tawny Port, one persists in the hope that further euphoria is lurking under the next cork. The fact that such optimism is invariably misplaced does not deter the port afficionado.

After the less-than-stellar showings of the Heritage 20 and 30 Year Old Dry White Ports, my enthusiasm remained undimmed, against all odds, as I approached the Heritage 40 Year Old Dry White. “Young Mr. dos Santos will have nailed it with this one,” I thought to myself. Alas, my faith was betrayed. Such an outcome ought to have been suggested by my first look at the wine in the glass: it was just a touch darker than the Heritage 30 Year Old Dry White Port which, in turn, had looked much like its twenty-year-old sibling. For the record, the wine presented itself in the glass as would a medium weight maple syrup adorned with a clear rim. As with the Heritage 30 Year Old Dry White Port, I ran the risk of incurring repetitive strain injury whilst attempting to coax anything from the glass to the nose. The bouquet was exceedingly weak and gave up, in the end, only the barest hints of apricot and wood. The mouth was confronted by a lightweight wine, offering pleasing notes of orange peel, cloves, pepper and the aforementioned apricot, in dried form. The finish constituted the high point; it featured a pronounced orange zest which lingered for quite some time.

The port was most certainly dry, as advertised; and, whilst by no means lacking in balance, the Heritage 40 Year Old Dry White Port was a great deal more acidic than its younger siblings. Though uninspiring, this wine was in no way objectionable, save perhaps for the price at which it is being offered by Portologia, that is, at a rate comparable to the far superior offerings of Mourao, Santa Eufemia and other producers of high-quality, forty-year-old white ports.

-89 points