NV Eirados Tawny 20YO (bottled 2021)

[Alex Bridgeman]

From Quinta Santa Eufemia

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A visit to the independent wine shop Eynsham Cellars led to the discovery of a range of Ports with the brand "Porto Eirados", covering Tawny, 20YO, 2015 unfiltered LBV and possibly other styles not on the shelf. A quick look at the back label revealed the wines to have been bottled by Soc. Vit. Quinta Santa Eufemia Lda. Always interested in tasting Ports which are new to me I bought a bottle of the 20YO (bottled 2021). £40 for 75cl.

A deeply coloured, polished mahogany colour, sparkling in its clarity; perhaps 30% opaque. Rich on the nose, full of beeswax candles, lemon and lavender; a nose which is wonderfully rich and complex, promising much for the palate. The fruit on the palate is big and caramelised, matured in the Douro Valley to develop the characteristic caramelised and baked fruit. Powerful acidity balances the dried vine fruit, toffee and burnt sugar. Generous orange zest, a touch of coffee and the ever-present acidity combine to overwhelm the mouth and force you to swallow the wine. The aftertaste and finish are immense — huge in dried fruit flavours, huge in intensity and huge in duration! It takes several minutes for the flavours to fade away.

This is a big, rich and rather overwhelming 20YO. It has little of the finesse of some 20YO blends, instead the wine bulldozes its way through your senses much more in the way that some 40YO blends do. It's not a subtle wine, but it's a very good one and passes my ultimate quality test — I shall be having another glass now I have written this tasting note! It's not a cheap 20YO, but it's excellent value for what's in the bottle. 94/100.

Tasted without decanting on 29-Aug-2022.

[JacobH]

That’s interesting.

Their website says:

After 150 years dedicated to the production of Port Wines, Quinta Santa Eufemia, that was founded in 1864 by Bernardo Rodrigues de Carvalho, initiated a new step with the market of a new brand EIRADOS.

Why this name?
EIRADOS is one of the oldest vineyards from Quinta Santa Eufémia, where Romans dolia were found.

Those dolia were used, by the Romans, to store wine and cereals two thousand years ago.

I did wonder if this was a project to make wines with bought grapes but that doesn’t seem to be the case, since they also say:

All Port & Douro wines are produced from our own grapes (50 hectares of the Quinta's vineyards).

I notice the Quinta Santa Eufemia website has 2019 as its most recent wines which is the same year that Eirados was founded. Maybe they are re-branding? Perhaps to move away from the problem of there also being a Casa Santa Eufemia? But then the range is much more abbreviated on the Eirados website than on the QSF one.

[Will W.]

In July of this year, I took some friends to Quinta de Santa Eufemia for a tasting of various whites, this producer being known (as most readers will be aware) for same. I have never cared for its tawnies (in contrast to those of the neighbouring Casa de Santa Eufemia), so it did not cross my mind to ask what was on offer in this category. And when we were buying a few bottles afterwards, I did not see the Eirados label on display; had I done so, my curiosity would have been piqued. Perhaps the family is not peddling the wine openly at its own shop, and I see that it is not available in Portugal on winesearcher.com. Anyhow, in light of Alex's highly positive review, I shall give this tawny a try.