Without further ado, our much-anticipated 30 YR Tawny is available to pre-order, inaugurating our Bouchard Family’s 30+ years ownership of Quinta do Tedo since 1992!
Aged an average 30 years in fine neutral French oak barrels, this nectar evokes beauty and uniqueness. Squeezed from hand-picked and traditionally lagar-trodden grapes, organically-grown in our estate’s low-yielding grade A vineyards, our 30 YR Tawny flaunts another level of panache. I share with you beautiful and suggestive tasting notes from our Head Winemaker Jorge Alves, guiding Tedo since 27+ years:
“Beautiful color combining browning-orange with long tears of glycerol. Ethereal aromas showing great quintessence, and a serious and distinct balance between hazelnuts, curry and molasses. Complex flavors of raisins, dry plums and vanilla with silky texture, mid-palate depth, smooth structure and very good concentration. Full of energy and long length, with very intense persistence.”
While decades of ageing in our cellars induces a slow and natural fining of our grapes’ innate expressivity, no doubt our Vineyard and Winemaking Teams’ expertise helps hone the freshness and complexity that percolates our entire PORTfolio and shine especially bright in our Tawny 30 YR. Over 30+ years working the same 14 hectares, we’ve familiarised ourselves with our diverse microclimates and 24+ grape varieties and strive to coax out their best expression.
Sousão, Tinta Barroca and Touriga Franca planted in cooler microclimates, as well as some old field blends dotted with white varietals, ensure balanced acidity in our Tawny Ports. Through rigorous tasting each year, we select the best aguardentes to fortify our Ports, adding in 20% of this 77% alcohol neutral grape spirit to stop fermentation, leaving our Ports with between 18-21% alcohol and natural sweetness.
We also pick our grapes on average, earlier than other Port houses, in search of a fresher fruit character, and our temperature-controlled lagares allow for slower and longer fermentations for more delicate aroma, tannin and color extraction to balance out non-cloying sugar and well-integrated alcohol.
Countless nights blending our old Tawny barrels delayed this new product release - our Tedo Fans come back year-after-year for our “house style” blended Tawny and Ruby Ports, so we need to ensure they’re perfect from the start, for the future! Covid-related supply chain issues made special packaging hard to source - the handsome transparent bottle, the ideal cork and wood closure for easy opening and closing, the soft wax seal, the serigraphed gold label and hand-written bottle series.
However, the above challenges and holdups blossomed anticipation and an unexpected “wait list” that we’ve decided to formalise into our Tawny 30 YR Celebratory Edition pre-sale, including an embroidered velvet bag and special pricing for the first limited release of our small 2,666 bottle production.
Find more production and mouth watering tasting notes for our proud new Tawny 30 YR and secure yourself (at least!) one bottle to enjoy with dear friends and family this holiday season via our shop online or traditional order form. 140€ per bottle until 21/11/2023; 160€ from 22/11/2023 onwards.
Accepting pre-orders now, with shipping mid-November. Contact us via commandes_orders@quintadotedo.com if you have any questions.
~ Kay & Odile Bouchard