The 1968 Colheita Tawny Port was bottled in 2019 with a long cork. It is a field blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão coming in with 144 grams per liter of residual sugar...
The 1968 Colheita Tawny Port was bottled in 2019 with a long cork. It is a field blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão coming in with 144 grams per liter of residual sugar. The last in our subset of 1960s-era Colheitas in this report's vertical, this is deep and dark, laced with dark chocolate and caramel. Its mid-palate is elegant, but the fruit seems very concentrated and full of flavor, leaning to bitter chocolate by the time it is done. It's a classic Tawny with a big finish that is hard to forget. The firmness and full-bodied feel on the finish are superb. Its brightness and acidity serve it well, too, making this lively and not just concentrated. By comparison, the 1967 seems even darker, with even more dark chocolate, but this has more lifted fruit and a fresher feel. They are both excellent in their own styles. Pick 'em, but I personally had a mild preference for this better balanced 1968, even though the 1967 and 1965 were often more striking. It's fair to say that the 1960s Colheitas have performed extremely well this report as a group. Reasonable minds might differ. - Mark Squires