SF | Step back, in the context of this tasting, a decade… quite a big step. The color is deeper, the alcohol higher, thanks to the angels' share of evaporation, and therefore everything is more concentrated, more precise in a sense, more intangible in another sense. Squaring this circle may lead us to understand Tawny Port with a Colheita imprimatur. With age, one has to tolerate volatility; it is a lift, not a vinegary douse; it unfurls poetically and lends rigor to an oxidative structure; it highlights individuality and resolve; it marks out a style, while at the same time assuming to recall other distinguished fortified wines of quality—Madeira, especially. This ’85 is a perfect exemplar, foraging the intricacies of evolved style and highlighting their particular virtues. 91
AJ | Despite the jump back in age, this is not notably paler than its younger siblings. Age is measured as much by the proportion of walnut in the color as by the depth of hue itself. This is light walnut with russet glints. Very powerful aromatics: searching, mentholated, vanillic, eucalypt-infused, now with little fresh fruit but a powerful secondary compost of fruit shaped by old-oak aging—beginning to be a “grand fortified,” in other words. It's vivacious and commanding on the palate. Age concentrates acidity as well as sweetness (since it is buffering water that is being evaporated away). There is a huge amount to enjoy here: intense, pungent, refined, a real gold nugget of flavor and reference. Super stuff. 2024–29. 92
RM | Lovely, amber-tawny hue, with a hint of mahogany; distinctly lifted, high-toned even, on the nose; autumnal, with a touch of black-olive complexity. Wonderful textural richness and intensity, mouthfilling yet quite refined, with integral spice and great finesse, now showing its age but still rather glorious. 93