For The Love Of Port

There is unquestionably a stylistic difference to these two Shippers. The only way to really get a handle as to which is your preference is to take part in a blind comparative vertical where the Shippers are mixed, but still served side by side. It is a fascinating exercise and will teach you more about your own palate and its preferences than anything else. But you will also find which you truly appreciate.

I have had a ton of 10 and 20 year old Taylor and Fonseca Tawny Ports. Obviously, neither produces Colheitas. I like Tawny/Colheita as much as Vintage Port nowadays (in reality, I'd say it was Colheita that I can equate to VP in terms of my penchant towards a favorite ... not really Tawnies with an indication of age) but in choosing a favorite, it really is great to pick three vintages ... say 1963, 1966, 1970 and 1977 OR younger ones like 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2003 from both houses and put them in bags when decanted. Have a friend or spouse ensure that the order of Taylor/Fonseca is random so that it makes for a more accurate assessment. These are the types of tastings I enjoy most.

Michael C. wrote:Just to make sure we're comparing apples-to-apples, I'd be interested in hearing from people who have tried *both* VPs and aged tawnies from these houses. Are the "styles" the same within each house (e.g., are Taylor ports, in general, more or less robust than Fonseca) or do the comparisons differ across styles of port (e.g., a robust VP doesn't necessarily mean the same house makes a robust tawny)?

Make sense? Thoughts?

I believe you are on the right track Michael... I have definitely tried more aged tawnies from these producers than VPs ( by almost 10-1 and likely only because the names make them SO BLOODY EXPENSIVE in Canada! ) but can confirm that there is likely a big difference between the VPs by these producers and the Tawnies.

From all that I have read and has been described to me, I will likely enjoy the Fonseca a great deal, yet found their Tawny offering (20 year, so admittedly not a wide variety) to be lacking in the first few days - it opened up after 3 days or so!

Todd

There's no preference between one or the other as far as I'm concerned. They're different in style, but both at the utter top of VP quality.