NV Quinta do Noval 40 years old tawny port

[Rune EG]

Bottled 2000, which means the grapes were harvested around 1960 and thereby being nearly 60 years old! Due to the long bottle time (18 years), I reduced the decanting time from the usual 2 hrs to 1 hr, which proved to be right. Consumption time was 1.5 hr and by the end the acidity/bitterness had increased too much.

No signs of any leakage. Decanted 1 hr. T-cork was extremely wet (close to be “muddy”) at the lower part, but the rest of the T-cork was nice and dry. Tiny bit sediments. Medium to dark brown colour. Deep aroma of citrus and oak (humid cellar) in a nice composition, but also some alcohol in the background. Full body. Powerful, rich and elegant at start with a lot of ingredients such as citrus, honey, herbs and hints of bitterness. Quite strong tannins (borderline) and some alcohol in the taste. Relatively dry style with very little sweetness. Long nice aftertaste. A comprehensive tawny that started off at 95 pts, but as the elegance disappeared quite quickly and acidity/bitterness were coming on stronger and stronger, we reduced the score by two pts. 93 pts.

[Andy Velebil]

Do you think this would have been better if it was consumed closer to the bottle date? I realize "better" is a subjective term, but in your opinion of this particular bottle.

[Glenn E.]

Do you think this would have been better if it was consumed closer to the bottle date? I realize "better" is a subjective term, but in your opinion of this particular bottle.

Objection! Your Honor, Counsel is leading the witness.

[Andy Velebil]

Do you think this would have been better if it was consumed closer to the bottle date? I realize "better" is a subjective term, but in your opinion of this particular bottle.

Objection! Your Honor, Counsel is leading the witness.

Overruled!

[Roy Hersh]

It would have been a great exercise, to open this bottle side-by-side with a fresh Noval 40. It would have been worth the price of admission!

[Mike K.]

I just opened a Noval 40yo tawny bottled in 2017 that I picked up at their gift shop last fall.
Absolutely spectacular.
I'll post some notes as I get into the bottle.

[Rune EG]

Sorry for the delay in responding.
Difficult to give an exact answer to your question Andy, but over the years I have become more and more sceptical to very long periods between bottling and consuming. In my opinion it is very risky when there are more than 10 years since bottling year. So, I think that the Noval 40 years I posted would have been better closer to the bottling year.
I know there are examples that bottling year means nothing or very little, but I have decided to concentrate on bottles with less than 10 years bottle time.
In my wine cellar list I included some years ago the bottling years for all tawnies, colheitas and white ports.

[Andy Velebil]

Sorry for the delay in responding.
Difficult to give an exact answer to your question Andy, but over the years I have become more and more sceptical to very long periods between bottling and consuming. In my opinion it is very risky when there are more than 10 years since bottling year. So, I think that the Noval 40 years I posted would have been better closer to the bottling year.
I know there are examples that bottling year means nothing or very little, but I have decided to concentrate on bottles with less than 10 years bottle time.
In my wine cellar list I included some years ago the bottling years for all tawnies, colheitas and white ports.

Thanks. And I agree with your less than 10 years bottle time.

[Andy Velebil]

I just opened a Noval 40yo tawny bottled in 2017 that I picked up at their gift shop last fall.
Absolutely spectacular.
I'll post some notes as I get into the bottle.

For sure, this is a stellar 40 year old Tawny!!!