NV Heritage 30 Year Old Dry White Port
Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 2:48 pm
The context for this tasting note can be found here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42645
This was the second Heritage port consumed at the sitting.
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I have had uneven luck with thirty-year-old whites over the last nine months; examples from Quevedo, Quinta de Santa Eufemia and this Heritage offering have all delivered a great deal less than that for which one had hoped. Save for positive encounters during this rough period with Quinta da Devesa and Sao Leonardo thirty-year-old whites, my inclination would have been by now to conclude that the problem was not indifferent wines but my indifferent palate. In the event, it is with confidence that I am able to characterise the Heritage 30 Year Old Dry White Port as having been entirely unremarkable.
Whilst easy on the eye, with a colour akin to light maple syrup crowned with a clear rim, the pour on offer, drawn from a bottled filled in 2018, proved (in contrast to its younger sibling) to be something of a disappointment to the nose. Swirling the glass in a desperate attempt to transmit something – anything - to the olfactory nerve, to the point that a hand-blender would have been brought to bear had one been available, the lightest hints of walnut, rose, candied citrus and brown sugar were eventually discerned. However, the labour involved took the fun out of this aspect of the tasting. The impression made upon the fore-palate was no better, though the lack of anything readily perceptible on entry was overcome at the mid-palate by a great wave of citrus, coupled with white pepper. The said citrus notes carried on across the back and made for a pleasant finish, of medium-long length. Whilst the dryness of the port was in synch with its acidity level, and the fortification integrated properly, there was nothing remarkable about this particular bottle, from which more had been expected given its age.
-86.5 points
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42645
This was the second Heritage port consumed at the sitting.
__________
I have had uneven luck with thirty-year-old whites over the last nine months; examples from Quevedo, Quinta de Santa Eufemia and this Heritage offering have all delivered a great deal less than that for which one had hoped. Save for positive encounters during this rough period with Quinta da Devesa and Sao Leonardo thirty-year-old whites, my inclination would have been by now to conclude that the problem was not indifferent wines but my indifferent palate. In the event, it is with confidence that I am able to characterise the Heritage 30 Year Old Dry White Port as having been entirely unremarkable.
Whilst easy on the eye, with a colour akin to light maple syrup crowned with a clear rim, the pour on offer, drawn from a bottled filled in 2018, proved (in contrast to its younger sibling) to be something of a disappointment to the nose. Swirling the glass in a desperate attempt to transmit something – anything - to the olfactory nerve, to the point that a hand-blender would have been brought to bear had one been available, the lightest hints of walnut, rose, candied citrus and brown sugar were eventually discerned. However, the labour involved took the fun out of this aspect of the tasting. The impression made upon the fore-palate was no better, though the lack of anything readily perceptible on entry was overcome at the mid-palate by a great wave of citrus, coupled with white pepper. The said citrus notes carried on across the back and made for a pleasant finish, of medium-long length. Whilst the dryness of the port was in synch with its acidity level, and the fortification integrated properly, there was nothing remarkable about this particular bottle, from which more had been expected given its age.
-86.5 points