A Tasting of Ports
The Ruby and Vintages

A Tawny Port is the lightest, sweetest, and butteryest of the ports. It's name comes from the tawny goldish color they tend to have. For our tawny selection we had two "real tawny ports" from Portugal - Otima and Cockburnes. In addition, we had a Praeger tawny from Napa Valley California, and Benjamin's tawny from Australia.

Tawny ports don't have "years" or vintages. These are blends of several years, which is done in order to help ensure that the port tastes the same from year to year. What you normally look at in a tawny is where it was made and how long it was aged in oak. Oak aging gives a port a mellower flavor and smoother taste. Many tawnies are "10 year old" - meaning they were aged in an oak barrel for 10 years before being bottled.

Because they're sweet and buttery, tawnies are perfect for new wine drinkers, those who don't like wine at all, and for wine drinkers who appreciate what a sweet wine can offer. Note these aren't sickly sweet - it's more like a really good chocolate dessert than a spun-candy confection. The members of our group who were new to wine and who liked many types of wine loved the tawnies. There were a few members who only liked rich, red wines - i.e. the dusty, tannic type - and they were not fond of the tawnies. To each his or her own!

The first tawny we tried was the Cockburnes (pronounced Coah-burns) 10 year old tawny port. Again, this means it was aged in oak for 10 years before bottling. It has a mild, nutty flavor, maybe a bit fruity, just a nice casual sipping port.

Next, Praeger, a port-style wine from California. Again, only sweet wines from Portugal can be called "port", because "Port" means the wine was made in a certain way, from certain grapes, with certain techniques and so on. Only Portugal does these things. Other wines are sort of similar, but they tend to use different grapes and techniques. For example, Praeger is in Napa Valley and instead of the traditional grapes they make thier tawny from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes! Their "Noble Companion 10 year tawny" is smooth, with flavors of cedar and maple.

The third tawny is one of my favorite tawnies - Otima by Warre. This began as a marketing gimmick - it comes in a slim, cool-looking bottle and looks much more "fresh and hip" I suppose than traditional 'stodgy' port bottles. Warre is a traditional port house, so this was a way to get people interested in their ports. Otima is smooth, tasting of butterscotch with a long finish.

The last tawny we tried was from Australia. Benjamin's also comes in a cool bottle - this one shaped like a Hershey's Kiss. It is sticky, very sweet, with a caramel, buttery flavor. We joked that this is the perfect thing for popcorn - you could be in heaven watching a movie with popcorn and drinking this! This was the favorite for the non-wine-drinkers.

Port Tasting

Wine Review Listing