Love your name Holiday!

One of the nice things about port is that these Tawnies are actually blends that attempt to consistently reproduce the character of a 20 year old wine . You have a few options worth pursuing.

The Bin 27 is a Vintage Character port ans as such is more akin to a Ruby Port with their brighter fruit. You seem to appreciate a more oxidized, nuttier style pf port. Unfortunately I'm with you in thinking that the Taylor 20 year old is about as good as it gets in this style.

My first suggestion would be to try a less expensive tawny. The http://www.snooth.com/buy/quinta-infantado-tawny-port-nv/ is a great value. the producer is small and not too well known but farms only the highest classification of vineyards and puts great product in the bottle.

Another alternative would be to try some Colheita ports. Colheitas are tawny ports from a single vintage. You can sort of dial in the style you like by choosing from the various vintages in the marketplace. Many of the smaller Portuguese houses specialize in these wines. As a possible alternative to the 20 year old tawny give the fhttp://www.snooth.com/buy/feist-porto-colheita-1997/a try;


As a final suggestion you might want to try a few 10 year old tawnies. The http://www.snooth.com/buy/warre-and-ca-sa-10-year-old-tawny-optima-nv/ is always a solid value.

I hope this gave you a few ideas! I'ld love to hear what you think of these suggestions or any other Porta you might come across.

Happy hunting!

Wow! This is a great list of suggestions. Now I feel better prepared to consider the selections available at my local bottle shop (which, sadly, are not extensive). I'll report back on what I try!

Great call Pymonte. Australia is justly famous for their tawny styled stickies! And the usually as priced very attractively. In addition to Buller, produces with great products include Yalumba, Campbells, and perhaps most famous of all is Chambers. The http://www.snooth.com/buy/yalumba-clocktower-tawny-port-nv/ is probably one of the best deals in Port styled wines from Australia. Definitely worth seeking some of these out. Thanks Pymonte!

Little to add port-wise, but I do like the picture you paint of a book and a glass of the stuff. Sounds even more welcoming with autumn around the bend here.

Thanks for the continuing recommendations! I'm looking forward to trying some of these out, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying an impulsively purchased bottle of sherry. I had no idea what it would be like and in fact, I mostly associated it with old British ladies. It was cheap though, and I noticed several varieties that had 90+ scores from Robert Parker, so I decided to try it out. On the whole, I really enjoyed it. It was -- not surprisingly -- not as good as vintage port, and I was a little worried by its cream soda smell. It didn't really taste like cream soda though, and it had a nice long finish that tasted of coffee and hazelnuts with a few faint notes of chocolate. I feel like most people who enjoy port would probably like this. It doesn't taste the same, but it is pleasing for the same reasons. I could still remember exactly how it tasted this morning, which I think is a sign of something special. It was pretty sweet though, so some people might prefer a different variety of sherry.

For reference, I tried Pedro Romero Full Cream. I picked it mostly because I was attracted to the word "full" on the label, which I hoped meant it would have a full-bodied and complex flavor. Like I said before, it was quite sweet. Since reading a little more about sherry, I think I will try a Pedro Ximenez or Oloroso variety next time. I paid $10 for my bottle and noticed several on the shelves for the same, or even less, that had received favorable reviews.