Ramos Pinto30 Years Tawny

A magnificent tawny colour with orange tones. The bottom of the glass is bright, with traces of tawny-red that develop into a greenish halo characteristic of old cask-aged wines. It has an admirably elegant aroma. At first, it is warm and charming. Aromas of vanilla and dry fruit and nuts immediately appear as the result of its ageing process. Upon agitation of the glass, spicy aromas such as cinnamon and cocoa become prominent. Satiny and long-lasting in the mouth. A taste of nuts such as almond and hazelnut is followed by a surprising and pleasant freshness produced by ethereal flavours, culminating with a taste of liquorice.

The NV RP 30 Year Old Tawny Port was bottled in February 2020 with a bar-top cork and 139 grams of residual sugar. Showing more complexity and notably more sweetness than the 20 Year also reviewed this issue, this is along the lines of the last release (the 2018) that I saw a while back. As it opens and the sugar blows off, especially a couple of days later, this shows off its complexity even more, but also just a touch of harshness. The key difference is really the complexity versus the freshness—in other words, about what you'd expect. The 20 Year has almost as much concentration and power as this elegant 30 Year, but the 20 Year is fresher and even more elegant (not that the 30 isn't rather fresh for its age), while the 30 Year is far more nuanced. I personally slightly preferred this, as I usually lean toward complexity, but reasonable minds might differ. As noted with the 20 Year, the end-date drinking window is just a placeholder. Barring a cork failure, this should hold well indefinitely—although it does not need aging.