NV Heritage 20 Year Old Dry White Port

[Will W.]

The context for this tasting note can be found here:

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This was the first Heritage port consumed at the sitting.
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Heritage produces 10, 20, 30 and 40 year old “dry” white ports as well as the same line-up of wood-aged, blended whites with no indication of their sweetness level on the label. I opted to taste the 20, 30 and 40 year old dry variants, whilst ignoring those whites not marked as being dry. This was a mistake, compounded by the fact that incredibly kind server had recommended what he termed the “sweet” whites after I had requested the dry variants. Later, whilst working through the whites, the same fellow had insisted that he knew nothing about port. I was soon thinking ruefully that the only port ignoramus in the shop that evening was most certainly not the server.

This Heritage 20 Year Old Dry White Port, which had been bottled in 2018, showed nicely in the glass. As with most twenty-year-old whites, it had an appearance akin to translucent tea with a clear rim. Likewise, the nose proved to be agreeable, the wine offering the olfactory nerve a bouquet of fresh citrus, honey and aniseed. In the event, the wheels fell off at the mouth. Little if anything was discernible on the fore-palate; Her Ladyship likened the sensation to drinking “lemongrass tea gone cold after one had forgot to add the honey.” I thought this characterisation overly-generous. In fairness, the nothingness at the fore-palate did give way to honey notes midway through. This sweet sensation lingered pleasantly across the back and through the finish, suggestive of the fact that, if nothing else, the aguardiente was well-integrated. Sticking with the positives, the wine was well balanced: as promised on the label, this was indeed a dry port; and correspondingly, little in the way of acidity was needed – or provided – to cut through the residual sugar. Whilst by no means offensive, this twenty-year-old white compares unfavourably to other whites of the same age, for instance, that produced by Quinta de Santa Eufemia.

-87 points