2004 Quinta do Portal LBV

[WineLoverPT]

Bottled in 2008 - 16.99 euros

Decanted at 3pm...: Rich, inky red. like black-raspberries - some heat at the back of the throat
D + 8: Pleasant, quite soft, but somehow somewhat flat - something of a “ping” at the finish
D + 24: tastes a little like whisky with fruit added - quite hot, but not necessarily in a bad way
D + 30: Physically thick, alcoholic, but flavours not keeping pace with the cloy and the alcohol - at 30 hours this isn’t making my hit parade
D + 48: Still a lot of heat, especially in the stomach - there’s flavour, to be sure, but it’s still too aggresive - perhaps this is a sign it’s still too young? Or too old? Or maybe it's just not a very good port, or to my taste. It's all still a mystery to me.

Last week there was still a bottle on the supermarket shelf, but was it whispering my name?

[LGTrotter]

Can I just say how much I enjoy your style of tasting note.

[Alex Bridgeman]

So how do you feel this compared to the Krohn colheita that you had recently? This could help to confirm that you prefer ruby style port to tawny style port.

[WineLoverPT]

So how do you feel this compared to the Krohn colheita that you had recently? This could help to confirm that you prefer ruby style port to tawny style port.

An interesting and fair question - and one I've spent the last hour or so thinking about.

Whilst I still think I prefer, in general, ruby-style, I actually preferred the Krohn Colheita over this, so I'm thinking it's not quite so simple.
I believe part of the "problem" is that I've been comparing the two different styles as if they were two different variations of the same drink, whereas I'm now starting to think that I should be approaching "tawny" and "ruby" as different animals entirely, albeit that a youngish tawny may have ruby-like aspects. That second note on the colheita - "not as fruity as the recent LBVs I've been trying" I think gives the game away - I was looking for something that wasn't, and arguably isn't supposed to be, there, and those preconceptions have been clouding my judgement.

I have a few more colheitas, and a 2007 Ramos Pinto 20YO on the drink list - a journey through a thousand bottles starts with a single sip - I feel I'm only a few sips in right now, and learning with each sip .

[Glenn E.]

I believe part of the "problem" is that I've been comparing the two different styles as if they were two different variations of the same drink, whereas I'm now starting to think that I should be approaching "tawny" and "ruby" as different animals entirely, albeit that a youngish tawny may have ruby-like aspects.

Congratulations! You have reached the foot of the mountain.

Next step: stop drinking those terrible hybrids known as 10-yr old Tawnies (and similar-aged Colheitas). Those are tawnies for people who cannot let go. Fly. Be free.

And a word of warning: TWAIOA (tawnies with an indication of age, e.g. 10/20/30/40) are generally not meant to be aged in bottle. But I'm sure you know that already, being from Portugal. Some can be (Niepoort 30yr, as one example), but most are best consumed within a handful of years after being bottled. I would not expect a 2007 bottling of Ramos Pinto Quinta do Bom Retiro 20 Year Old Tawny Port to be in peak form. Please do not judge the potential of all 20yr tawnies based on that bottle, even though that is my favorite 20yr Tawny.