Fast facts:
- Kirkland Signature 10-Year Old Tawny Porto ($16.99 @Costco; California – Item # 787876)
We’re publishing early again this week so we can squeeze one last post out before “game day.”
Over the last month, we have been recommending “table wines” that deserve consideration for your holiday spread. We’ve suggested white wines like this crisp Pinot Gris, a trio of crazy inexpensive German wines A Turkey Day Trio from TJ’s – and the price – WOW! and a three delicious Pinot Noirs Trader Joe’s has the perfect priced Pinot – just in time for TDay! and Crazy Good Costco Deals on Pinot Noir – Procrastination, Rewarded!
But for all these wines (for those of you keeping score at home, we have recommended no fewer than eight) we kind of left you hanging with the dessert course.
As a general rule, most American wine consumers are not terribly knowledgeable about dessert wines like port. Which is too bad, because it is such an elegant way to finish off a meal where is can be served with dessert, or for dessert.
Why Tawny Port?
Tawny Port in particular is an ideal pairing for the traditional Thanksgiving sweets course like apple, pecan and pumpkin pies. It even pairs well with chocolate concoctions, cookies, blondies and brownies. Pretty much, anything sweet and chock full of baking spices.
Why this Tawny?
Because it’s delicious, and costs half as much as most 10-year old Tawnies.
Port is a “fortified wine” made by adding brandy to arrest fermentation (which keeps the resulting wine sweet as the yeast does not get to finish the job of converting sugars to alcohol) and which results in a wine that is both sweet and high in alcohol. This wine clocks in at 20% ABV, which is some one-third higher than dry table wines.
Tasting notes:
Crafted and nurtured, this sumptuous Tawny Porto has been aged for 10 years in old oak casks. This is an opulent Tawny Porto full of delicious flavors of nuts, caramel, and dried fruit with enticing notes of ripe oranges. An excellent dessert wine and a perfect way to finish a meal.
The world renowned winemaking team at Fonseca Guimaraens have drawn upon a reserve of rich and mellow wines to blend this sumptuous Tawny Porto. Despite this wine being labeled a 10-year Tawny, this actually indicates an average age. As is tradition in Portugal, this Aged Tawny Port is a blend of older wines (which offer complexity) and younger wines, which bring fresh fruit flavors and vibrancy.
During their long maturing period in oak casks, Aged “Tawnies” undergo subtle color changes: the deep red hue which characterizes Port’s youth gradually gives way to a paler reddish amber color and a full, nutty bouquet, with warm richness and a soft lingering finish.
We recommend serving this wine at “cellar temperature” which can be achieved by putting the room temperature bottle in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes before serving.
Lastly, we wish you and yours a safe and restful Thanksgiving holiday filled with good food, good fellowship and great wines. Until next week,
Cheers!
P.S. If your curious about the glass in the photo…
Truly a bargain! The reputation of the producer is your best assurance of quality. I must take issue with one point however regarding the statement of age (10 year). In my many decades in the industry I had been told many times that the age had to refer to the average age of the blend and alternately that it had to be the youngest age in the blend. Neither is correct. Some years ago I posed the question to the winemaker at a prestigious Porto house and was told that there was no such rule; that it only HAD to taste like what the IVDP tasting committee expected a 10 year old Porto to taste like.
In the newest IVDP regulations published in 2005, Article 5.1 states “Tawny Port with an Indication of Age” – Port wine with high organoleptic characteristics, derived from wines matured in wood and a blend of several vintages in order to get complementary organoleptic characteristics recognized by the IVDP…” Then in Article 5.2: “The age specified in print on the label expresses the characteristics of the wine in respect to the organoleptic qualities created by the ageing in cask, which corresponds to the indicated age.” Nowhere in the Article does it say that the age has to be either of the two “rules” I had been taught beginning in the late ’60s at the beginning of my wine education.
As I mentioned previously, the reputation of the producer is your best assurance of quality and the Kobrand Corporation (with which I am not affiliated) as importers of The Taylor Fladgate Partnership products of Fonseca, Taylor, Croft, and Krohn certainly represent these values. Kudos to Costco for this fortunate purchase.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. Good perspectives to add.