NV Ramos Pinto 30 Year Old Tawny
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
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.
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Mark Squires
More reviews and scores
RS 119 g/l. A little darker and more brown than the Sandeman 30 Year Old, with a tawny rim. Dark tawny more like burnt umber. Nutty, savoury mushroom character. More tannic and more of that walnut and burnt orange flavour. Intense and sweet on the palate but finishes drier than it seems from the stated RS level and silky in texture. Very long and complex in the finish. (JH)