For The Love Of Port

2010/4/23

Bottled 2009. Tasted to compare with the one bottled in 2010.

First of all the color is completely different from the previous one, wich was golden. This is a much darker brownish red.
Alcohol is much more integrated, even without extended decanting. It feels sweeter and more pleasant, the slightly bitter aftertaste is gone. I really like this. 92/100.

It seems to need a year in bottle to fully develop. At least that's the case with the two bottles I tried.

That does sound odd. Any signs of poor treatment on the cork or bottle? For a ten year I would still expect the reddish color.

Yes, the previous bottle was leaking just a little bit, but I didn't think it was enough to be worried. But the difference in color is huge, looks like a totally different wine.

Sounds like there was more than just the leak going on with the first bottle. Whatever lead to the leak may have compromised the bottle in other ways. Extended time at warm temperature? Wide temperature fluctuations? I can't only speculate.

This is one of my favorite 10 year old tawny's! The brownish color and bitterness are not things normally associated with this Port. I'm guessing it had oxidized with exposure to the air. I'd grab another bottle with the same bottling year and as good as you liked this one I'm curious to see if you like it more or less from a non-flawed bottle.

Espen, I think that this bottle showed correctly and that there was something wrong with the first one. A 10-year old Tawny should not be golden in color, it should still be fairly red, and in the right light it might even look brownish-red.

This is one of the few 10-year olds that I enjoy, and it can really sing. I'm glad that this second bottle showed better for you!

I'll pick up another one soon. Thanks for offering your thoughts.
That's the first time I've had that much bottle variation.

I am Jealous. I have never seen even a single bottle of ANYTHING Niepoort here in MN. Land of perpetual winter indeed...

Tim Swaback wrote:I am Jealous. I have never seen even a single bottle of ANYTHING Niepoort here in MN. Land of perpetual winter indeed...

and 10,000 lakes

Have relatives that live there, so know what you mean. It's all about the cheap beer

My second passion is beer and brewing. If you haven't already, you HAVE to find a can of Surly Furious and give it a go. Make sure you are seated and have a syringe of adrenaline ready in case your heart stops.

Tim Swaback wrote:I am Jealous. I have never seen even a single bottle of ANYTHING Niepoort here in MN. Land of perpetual winter indeed... My second passion is beer and brewing.

Since I can find Niepoort in a few places, but can't get New Glarus around here, we'll have to consider a trade.

My second passion is beer and brewing.

Tim, don't know if you recognized it, but that's Eric stirring a vat of wort in his avatar.