Douro

Sometimes Tawny's get short shrift to vintage ports, but for the money, 20 year ports from top producers are well worth keeping around.  The bottle can be opened and consumed over a period of weeks.  This is one of the better ones.  Amber in color, clear and bright.  Lovely nose with toffee, caramel, burnt orange peel and slight nuttiness.  Full bodied.  There is some alcohol and heat on the palate, but more warming than hot.  Flavors of toffee, caramel and slight chocolate notes.

This wine, at age 30, is just about at peak.  Beautiful wine.  Inky purple, ruby at the rim, opaque and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries and chocolate covered raisins.  Full bodied.  Sweet but not too.  On the palate, chocolate covered cherries.  Complex.  Delicious.  Long finish.  Slightly noticeable alcohol.  This should continue to drink well for at least another decade.  Great on its own, with a cigar, this will also work well with a chocolate dessert.  

Grahams is one of the top producers of Port.  It tends to be a bit more on the sweeter side than the other top houses.  At age 41, this may have lost a tad of that sweetness but is drinking quite well.  Decanted for sediment and allowed to breathe for about 40 minutes.  Ruby in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose is great with black raspberries, chocolate, slight figs and a hint of walnut.

And, yet another great value in red table wine from the Douro in Portugal.  This is a field blend using vines over one hundred years old.  Deep garnet/ruby in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose has plums, boysenberries, slight chocolate and char.  Medium to full bodied.  On the palate, this has boysenberry fruit with some underlying smoke/char.  Good balance.  This drinks great on its own and will work well with all but the lightest foods.  Drink over the next seven to ten years.  

This seems to be about at peak, at least from the 375ml bottle.  Garnet in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose is nice with chocolate, raspberries, and slight raisins.  Full bodied.  Sweet.  Viscous.  Complex.  Liquified chocolate covered raisins.  Good acidity.  Nice finish.  This needs about 30 minutes of air to blow off bottle stink and good to go.  It should easily drink well for another ten years.  great on its own, this will work well with a chocolate dessert.  

Another great valley in table wine reds from Portugal.  A go to category for exceptional values.  Purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose is nice with plums, blueberries and slight black raspberry along with a bit of spice and char.  Full bodied.  Medium tannins.  On the palate, the blueberries come thru along with some black cherries and underlying char and spice.  Good finish.  This could use a bit more cellaring or air, but should drink well for ten to fifteen more years.  It drinks well on its own and will work with grilled foods.  

This was decanted for about 2.5 hours prior to serving.  Very nice showing.  Ruby in color with just slight browning, clear and bright.  The nose shows some age but also some youth left.  Cherries, chocolate covered raisins, and a bit of dust.  Medium bodied.  On the palate, this has a nice layered complexity.  Drinking mature but not over the hill.  Layers of cherries and cranberries with slight milk chocolate.  Tasty.  This is the kind of Port that is probably better to drink on its own and contemplate life, but it did work well with chocolate tiramisu.  It probably should be consumed in

Decanted for about 6 hours prior to drinking.  This is a good if not great declared vintage.  Deep ruby in color.  The nose has milk chocolate, cherries, and raspberries.  Full bodied.  On the palate, this is sweet with chocolate covered raisin notes.  Very tasty.  Some complexity.  Solid finish.  This is drinking very well now and should probably be consumed over the next decade though it will certainly have something ot offer after that.  Drinks well on its own, it would work well with a chocolate cake.  

This is and has been a go to value in outstanding wine for a long time now.  The winery makes all different price ranges and this one is in the middle.  Purple in color, ruby at the rim.  The nose has black cherries, slight black olives, spice and a bit of earthiness.  On the palate, this is full bodied.  It still has light tannins with plenty of black cherry fruit.  Lovely texture.  Nice finish.  It is drinking well but can still probably improve a bit as it gets to peak.  Let's say three to five more years until peak and another ten to twelve of prime drinking after that.  It drinks well