Graham’s 20 Year Old Tawny Port 75cl

£9.9
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Graham’s 20 Year Old Tawny Port 75cl

Graham’s 20 Year Old Tawny Port 75cl

RRP: £99
Price: £9.9
£9.9 FREE Shipping

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Description

It’s an easy mistake to think that older is always better, but at each point along the life-span of a Tawny Port there are different characteristics. For this article we explored a line up of Quinta do Noval port wines. BTW, they also make a 40-year Tawny, which is very rare.

White port – Best served cold, white port is delicious and refreshing with a splash of tonic, and makes a great alternative to your beloved G&T. Often drunk as an aperitif, we’d recommend serving it with a side of salted almonds. With a well-defined tawny hue with orange-like hints, its aroma is intense and complex, with notes of vanilla, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, exotic wood, cedar, plum and hazel. On the palate, its fine structure and balance between sugars and tannins stand out. the finish is delicate and lingering. While Port might seem a bit complicated, it is very consistent: all of the basic distinctions and observations about the different tawny Port wines we explored can be applied to just about every other quality producer of this unique wine.Ruby port – These tend to be inexpensive, deep ruby-coloured, and often associated with the cheeseboard. Within this category, you’ll find your slightly more premium reserve ports, late bottled vintage port (otherwise known as LBV, these are aged for longer but still designed to be drunk young) and vintage ports. How we test port Many of the aromas are similar to those of the previous two tawnys, but subtler, with the addition of pressed flowers, dried figs, Mandarin orange peel, and beef jerky.

You might think port lasts forever after it’s been opened, but sadly that’s not the case, though it differs by type. Both Ruby and Tawny Port wines undergo a period of aging, from moderate to extreme, depending on the type. Where Tawny is all caramel and nuts, Ruby has more berry flavors.Ruby port is the youngest and cheapest style of red port. The best of these are bright, fruity and peppery. Make note, each producer makes a unique style and identity, as well as some proprietary practices, that distinguish their products from anyone else’s. How long should I keep an open bottle? Well, until it’s all gone, of course! Thanks to fortification, Port wine can last for a long time even after being opened. Tawny keeps better than vintage since it’s already been exposed to air during maturation. Kept in the fridge or cellar, a tawny port can be enjoyed many weeks after the bottle is opened. White! Rose! Tawny! Vintage! There are different ports for different people. Whites are bright and best served chilled, vintage ports are pricier, but ready to sit in your cellar. Rose ports are a happy medium – easy for sunny days, after dinner drinks, and beyond.

There are two kinds of wine that are distinctly Portuguese. One is the very satisfying mostly-white, rosé, and red wines from the Vinho Verde region, and the other is the sweet fortified port wine which also happens to be one of the country’s national treasures. Both tawny and ruby ports could benefit from a slight chill, and white ports should be kept at fridge temperature. The official Port wine glass is small and a proper serving size is about half of a regular glass of wine. Drinking Your Tawny

Champagne and Sparkling

Spending more doesn't guarantee a better bottle, as we found when we asked independent wine expert Charles Metcalfe to try a selection of ports in 2021. But it helps to be in the know about what to look for. Burmester, Fonseca, Niepoort, Noval, Sandeman, Taylor and Ramos Pinto all produce 20-year-old tawnies in the premier league. The port shippers themselves often prefer to drink a 20-year-old in preference to vintage. The refinement of a 20-year-old tawny befits the climate and temperament of the Douro better than the heftier, bottle-matured wines which are more at home in cooler climes. Read on for our full guide including what the difference is between red and tawny ports, decoding the label, and the best way to serve it for maximum flavour.

Are you planning on letting your port rest for years? Consider a port with age-worthy qualities. Look for vintages that show potential, or consider vintage bottled-aged ports that are crafted to sit for years to come. One of the most graceful of wines, tawny port comes in a bewildering number of different guises, and has its own in-built hierarchy. The apogee, to my mind, is 20-year-old. It represents the epitome of balance and poise, combining the primacy of fine Douro fruit with the secondary complexity that comes from ageing in cask. But enough of the sexing up. For although they are totally different in style, I am not alone in ranking the finest 20-year-olds just as highly as the best vintage ports. There has been an unwelcome tendency for some 20-year-old tawnies to be marred by an excess of ‘Douro bake’, a characteristic that seems to be given credence by the tasting panel at the Port and Douro Wine Institute, which has to approve each and every lote of Tawny. The reason that Taylor’s scored so highly in the Decanter World Wine Awards was precisely because the wine had great poise, displaying remarkable freshness as well as age. Drinking deliciously aged fortified wine sounds great, but what happens if you haven’t had a bottle in the cellar since you were a teenager? Not to fear, because the makers of Tawny Port have done the aging for you. Red ports tend to spend fewer years ageing in wooden barrels or vats, which should give them a fruitier, more tannic profile and a vivid red-purple colour.

We asked Charles for his tips on choosing the best bottle of port, and explain what we found when we tested supermarket ports. Provided the wine has been well nurtured, a certain amount of bake can be a positive characteristic in a mature tawny. Many shippers use a small component of Douro-matured wine in their aged tawnies. Tawny ports are paler brown or amber in colour, with a more mellow taste. That typically comes from a longer period ageing in wood, which can impart distinct flavours of dried fruit and nuts.



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