Taylor’s Port Tawny 20 años

Taylor's Port Tawny 20 Years is an aged tawny Port from the Douro Valley in Portugal, produced by Taylor's, a family run house established in 1692. The wine blends the traditional Douro grapes, including Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cao, grown on steep terraced schist slopes where the heat and poor stony soil yield small, concentrated berries. Fermentation is stopped early by adding grape spirit, which kills the yeast and leaves natural sweetness while raising the strength to around 20 percent. The young wine is then aged for an average of about 20 years in seasoned oak casks, where slow, steady oxidation through the wood gradually fades the deep red to amber and transforms primary fruit into the developed flavours that define tawny: caramel, dried fruit and nuts. Each year a portion evaporates, concentrating what remains. The colour is radiant tawny amber. The nose shows caramel, dried fig and walnut over warm spice and orange peel, and the palate is sweet, smooth and mellow, with toffee and roasted nuts on a long warming finish. Serve at 13 to 15C in a small glass, with nuts, dried fruit or caramel desserts.