Aged in wood casks until they are completely mature, tawny ports are a golden color with multi-dimensional layers of aromas and flavors. The domination of Vintage Ports in past years is now challenged by the advantages of tawnies, especially vintage Colheita tawnies for restaurants and retail consumers. Where vintage ports have immediate air shock upon opening the bottle in which they were aged and have a shelf life of only a few hours to a week; tawny ports have had air working on them through the cask during all the years of aging, giving them a open-life of a month or longer. Lighter and more delicate than vintage ports, the tawnies are immediately understandable and enjoyable to the novice port drinker and an ongoing pleasure to the experienced.