Douro

A very nice ten year Tawny Port.  Ten years is the average age of the wine which is a blend of 50% Touriga Nacional, 25% Touriga Franca, and 25% Tinta Barroca.  Iced tea in color, clear and bright.  The nose is great with a nutty quality along with slight chocolate and a bit of Crème brûlée.  Full bodied.  Viscous.  On the palate, this is sweet, not cloying with some alcohol showing (20% abv).  It is complex and deep.  Long finish.  This is nice on its own and will work well with a less sweet dessert.  Something nutty would be ideal, but even a Pecan Roll would work.  So would a Snickers ba

Stood the bottle up for a couple of weeks.  Decanted for sediment and immediately served.  Purple/black in color, opaque and bright.  The nose is great with chocolate covered raisins, slight raspberries and a hint of gravel.  Full bodied.  Lightly sweet.  Complex and deep.  On the palate, this is delicious.  Chocolate, raspberries and slight cherries.  Some heat on the long finish.  This is great on its own or would be nice with a chocolate dessert.  Drink over the next decade or so.  

Deep ruby in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose is nice with black raspberries, slight chocolate and a bit of spice.  Medium bodied.  Slightly sweet.  Good acidity.  On the palate, black raspberry and slight blueberry fruit.  Long finish.  Tasty.  This is drinking well on its own and would work nicely with a chocolate dessert.  Drink over the next ten years.  

This is 100% Touriga Nacional.  Purple in color, slight ruby swirls, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose is off a bit with some volatile acidity and a little funk.  Also some chocolate and slight cherry notes.  Medium bodied.  Soft texture.  On the palate, this has cherry fruit.  Easy drinking.  Not much depth.  Clipped finish.  This bottle has no obvious flaws other than perhaps some VA on the nose, and its nice, but should be better.  Not sure if this is a proper bottle.  Worth checking in on.  

Still very young but drinking well.  Inky purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose has dark chocolate, cherries, dried cherries and slight sandalwood.  Full bodied.  Viscous.  Slightly sweet.  Deep.  Light tannins.  On the palate, dark chocolate covered cherries.  Slight warming on the finish.  This drink well for another twenty years or more.  Nice on its own or would be great with a chocolate dessert.  

Nice to revisit this.  At age 19, this is still youthful but starting to show some refinement.  Purple in color, ruby at the rim.  The nose is great with chocolate covered raisins and some red raspberries.  Lots of energy.  Slightly viscous.  On the palate, chocolate and raisins.  Sweet, not cloying.  Some heat on the finish.  This should easily go another fifteen or twenty years.  Great on its own or with some type of blue cheese.

You may know the Symington family from the wide number of Port wine they produce, but they’ve also excelled at producing still red and white wines for years. Their latest venture, this delicate little wine, is worth looking into. A blend of traditional Port grapes, including Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca, this offers blackberry, blueberry, huckleberry, black cherry with soft notes of strawberry, cocoa, and plum. The wine offers a terrific acidity and being unoaked, it still has a depth of character that many unoaked wines do not.

As a non-vintage wine, Six Grapes Port does show slight variation from year to year. This offering, with its new label and bottle design is the best NV to date. I have tasted Six Grapes upon its release every year for more than a decade and can attest that it’s moving in a direction that is more comprehensive as a signature wine. This new bottling shows ripe lush and opulent fruit without being overly sweet or cloying. Comprised, not of six grapes but actually eight in this case, the acidity balances out the fruit, the tannic structure balances out the sweetness.

A bit lighter in style than say the '94 or '00 vintages, but drinking well nevertheless.  Inky purple in color, ruby at the rim.  The nose has black raspberries and chocolate covered raisins.  Medium to full bodied.  Good acidity.  On the palate, slightly sweet chocolate covered cherries.  There is a nice depth and complexity.  Drink over the next ten years.  A nice match with a chocolate dessert.  

A very nice affordable way to end a meal.  20% abv.  Purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose is nice with black currants, slight chocolate and slight figs.  Full bodied.  Slightly viscous.  On the palate, this is lightly sweet.  Black currants and slight chocolate.  Some alcohol showing especially on the finish.  This went very well with some hard cheeses and also some blue cheese.  Drink over the next five to eight years.