Some evenings call for Port. Most of the time I fail to take the call (and regret it), but last night I grabbed a bottle of tawny for after dinner. It was predictably tawny in color (duh!) and showed the traditional nut, dusty fruit and subtle woodsy (though not woody) notes. What it had in addition to the expected that truly caught my attention was a citrus peel/citrus juice edge that gave the wine real life and aromatic as well as palate energy. I’ve enjoyed many other 20 year tawnies, but this was a brighter and more refreshing version, and that made it even more enjoyable on this evening.
David,
Thanks for the note! I just bought a bottle of this, but I haven’t opened it yet.
Byron
Likewise, I myself have acquired a bottle and look forward to opening it as well in the near future. Thanks for the note.
The Fonseca is great. I have not had a bad 20-year Tawny. These wines are really great. I would argue that there is greater variety of flavors and styles among stickies than there is among dry whites/reds. German Riesling/Loire/Vintage and Tawny Port/Sauternes/VinSanto expresses a much more meaningful variety of wine styles and flavors than the general categories of dry red or white. I’m not saying they are better, but aren’t a 40 year old Burg and a new Aussie Shiraz closer in style (abstracting from age) than a Tawny and Banuyls, or a Spatlese and a Barsac?
99% agreed with you Chris. If you had said that they ARE in fact better, I’d be with you 100%.