NV Churchill Club Tawny

Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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JacobH
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
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NV Churchill Club Tawny

Post by JacobH »

A “one-time” Port from the Port Club. The blurb claims this is about 17 years old and is somewhere between a 10- and 20-year-old tawny in style. They say it is aimed at producing an old-fashioned tawny Port as happened before the 10/20/30/40 categories predominated.

The colour is completely transparent. A deep orange in the middle which is notably and unusually consistent towards the edge. I am drinking this reasonably cool, as per the instructions, and find the nose subdued. There is little fruit—fresh or dry—but, perhaps some caramel and maybe even a bit of saffron. The mouth is excellent. It is not immediately assertive but provides gentle flavours of caramel, a memory of Maraschino cherries and limited sugar, acidity and tannins. The aftertaste is good in length and very enjoyable, with more caramel dominating, perhaps again with some cherries in the background.

As the wine warms up, the alcohol is a bit more assertive, particularly at the end of the aftertaste but it feels a little bit more structured and acidic with the cherries coming through in a stronger way. I think the alcohol can tend towards the methanol, though, which is less than desirable.

I like this Port a lot. It is by some measure the best basic tawny I have tried but that is not a fair comparison. I also don’t think it is fair to compare it to the 10 or 20 year old tawnies. It feels more like a colheita in being an unusual and distinctive wine that might not be made commercially. Its main attraction is being very, very drinkable. I would happily have a big stack of these to drink chilled in Summer when the 10-year-old tawnies feel underwhelming and the 20-year-olds feel a bit too much.
Last edited by JacobH on 20:26 Wed 07 Jul 2021, edited 1 time in total.
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