NV Taylor Fladgate Tawny Port 40 Year Old

Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz from steep hillsides bordering the Douro River. Fermentation takes place in innovative fermentation tanks developed by Taylor’s and installed at the company’s winery at Quinta da Nogueira. The fermentation stops before all the sugar in the juice has been turned into alcohol and some of the natural sweetness of the grape is thus preserved in the finished wine. Winemaker David Guimaraens. TA 5.2 g/l, pH 3.6, RS 134 g/l. Bottle weight 600 g. Reddish tawny. Transparent. Pretty delicate – a bit more fragile, and more obviously sweet-tasting, than the 30 year-old. To be savoured from a dropper not a glass? (JR)

A gentle old port that shows its age with walnuts, salted peanuts, plums, dried cherries and raisins. Slightly lifted nose. Heady. It’s full-bodied and layered with intense sweetness. But tannic austerity balances it out. Chocolate and walnuts at the end. Gorgeous, after-dinner port. Drink now.

RS 129 g/l. Pale tawny-amber. Mahogany and wood spice, with dried tobacco, some demerara sugar and dried-strawberry residual fruit. Bright acidity lifts the sweet palate, showing tobacco, chocolate, spice, cakebread and mahogany. Lovely freshness through the intense and very long finish. (TJ)