Taylor’s Fine Tawny

Taylor's Fine Tawny is a tawny Port from the Douro Valley in Portugal, made by Taylor's, the family house founded in 1692 and devoted entirely to fortified Port. It is built mainly from Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca, grown on the steep schist terraces of the Douro where intense summer heat and poor stony soils produce small, deeply flavoured berries. As with all Port, fermentation is arrested by the addition of grape spirit, which stops the yeast, retains natural grape sweetness and lifts the strength to around 20 percent. The young wine is then matured for around three years in oak casks, where contact with air through the wood begins to soften the wine, fade its colour towards tawny and develop a gentle nutty, caramelised character on top of the fresh fruit. The shorter cask ageing keeps this style fruit forward and approachable. The colour is pale tile with an amber rim. The nose shows ripe red berries with caramel, fig and prune, and the palate is sweet, smooth and rounded, with toffee and a touch of spice on a warming finish. Serve at 13 to 15C in a small glass, with chocolate, fruit cake or after dinner on its own.