WHAT IS A TAWNY PORT
Tawny Port is a sweet or medium-dry dessert wine made from red grapes grown in Northern Portugal’s Douro Valley, fortified with grape neutral spirit (brandy) and aged in wood casks. Prolonged wood aging is the key ingredient that differentiates Tawny Port from bottle-aged Ports such as LBV (Late Bottled Vintage) and Vintage Port. It is vital to start out with excellent grapes in order to withstand the rigors of extended wood-aging, maintaining fruit flavours and supple structure. Beyond having great grapes to work with, the success of a Tawny is very much dependent on the quality of the “mother blend” which is used to maintain a Port shipper’s “house style” when blending in the younger juice. As a Tawny Port oxidizes in cask, the colour of the wine slowly evolves from a purplish-ruby colour to a lighter topaz-amber-brown.