Taylor’s Port Tawny 10 años

Taylor's Tawny 10 Year Old is a Port from the Douro Valley in northern Portugal, made by a house with roots going back to 1692. It is a blend of wines aged on average ten years in wood. The Douro's steep schist terraces and hot, dry summers ripen the traditional Port grapes fully, giving the deep sweet base wine that fortification then preserves. What defines a Tawny is the ageing: the wine spends a decade in seasoned oak casks, where slow, controlled exposure to oxygen gradually fades the youthful purple to a brick-red hue with amber highlights and transforms the fruit from fresh to dried. Over those years it develops the nutty, caramelised character that marks the style. The nose is warm and inviting, with ripe red fruit giving way to raisin, dried fig, walnut and caramel, lifted by a touch of baking spice. On the palate it is smooth and rounded, sweet but carried by the warmth of fortification and a savoury, nutty length. Serve lightly chilled or at cool room temperature, around 14 to 16 degrees, in a small glass. It is a natural with nut and caramel desserts, fruit cake and aged hard cheese.