![]() ![]() As they relate to a non-vintage wine, these age statements are necessarily vague, and increase per decade rather than per year. This category covers both Reserve Tawny (which must be aged in barrel for at least seven years) and those wines bearing an age statement (10, 20, 30, or 40 years) that reflects how long they have spent in barrel. The true spirit of Tawny Port is best embodied by Aged Tawny Port. The quantity of unfermented sugar left in the must dictates the sweetness of the wine. This lifts the wine's alcoholic strength to somewhere around 19 percent ABV, and kills off the yeasts that were converting sugar to alcohol. This short-cut aging method is referred to as the "Douro Bake", a term also used to describe the caramel-like aromas that develop in wines aged in this way.Īs is the case with all Ports, fermentation of the base wine is arrested by adding high-proof grape spirit. ![]() The tawny color and nutty, aged aroma is often created by aging in the heat of the upper Douro region, rather than shipping it downstream to Oporto as happens with other Ports. However, most commercial Tawnies are lighter in color not because of any extended aging, but because they are made from lighter-colored base wines, using gentler vinification methods, like shorter maceration times. The demarcation limits the area where ports and Douro DOC wines can be made along the river Douro, known as Duero in Spain, which runs through the Northern part of Portugal to the Atlantic ocean. This allows oxygen to interact with the wine, which gives Tawny Port its most distinctive characters, and leads to the pale, "tawny" color that gives the style its name. Unlike Ruby, which ages for most of its life in bottle, Tawny Ports are aged in barrel for several years. Port wine glasses are smaller that a regular in glass with recommended serving size of 75mL. The most common taste descriptors of Tawny Port begin with plum and mandarin through to hazelnuts, caramel and spice as they mature to graduate with syrupy licorice, cacao and bay leaf. Its usually enjoyed as a dessert wine because of its richness, but some types. Young Tawny will have a distinct mahogany hue reminiscent of the wine from which it is produced whilst barrel-aged examples will shift to paler, transparent colors of orange-red to copper with the oldest selections exhibiting a brownish tinge. Port is a sweet, fortified wine produced exclusively in Portugals Douro Valley. Tawny tends to have a nutty, oxidative character, and is often enjoyed as an aperitif, shunning Port's usual role as an after-dinner drink. The principal aim is to maintain the house style, rather than to reflect the vintage characteristics of any particular season, aligning Tawny Port with Sherry and non-vintage Champagne. Tawny Ports are non-vintage wines, which means they are blended from several vintages (as opposed to Vintage and Colheita Port). ![]()
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