2000 Magalhães Vintage Port -- Quinta do Silval

Mario Ferreira · Post by **Mario Ferreira** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:33 am

2000 Magalhães Quinta do Silval Vintage Port

quote="Chris"]Have you tasted Magalhaes VP 2000, would you recommend it? I read that this port did very well on a Decanter panel tasting recently (got 5 stars). /Chris[/quote]
That's correct. Actually, only very very recently I've noticed "Magalhães VP 2000" got an EXCELLENT NOTE from Decanter. It got a 5 ***** Star classification, which is great for any wine anyway. [Decanter magazine, December 2003, page 90]

I would recommend this particular wine for two reasons:
» (1) Quinta do Silval is located itself in one of the noble areas in the Douro Valley - in Vale de Mendiz, which is the very same area of Noval.
» (2) The Magalhães VP 2000 was tasted by Decanter among 40 other Single Quinta Vintage and was the only wine (among the 40 SQV) that got 5 stars - Excellent. [Decanter magazine, December 2003, page 90]

However, please note that this VP2000 was the very first VP bottled by Mr.Carlos Magalhães of Quinta do Silval. So, because there's no historic data about bottle evolution of previous Magalhães VPs, one may Not predict that 20 years from now this wine would be as good as Noval (for instance).

Moreover, in my opinion I think Decanter misclassified this Magalhães VP 2000 as a Single Quinta Vintage for it happens that I consider this wine a VP (Vintage Port) and not a SQV (Single Quinta Vintage). So, it should have been tasted against others VPs 2000 and not against SQV from random years such as "Quinta de La Rosa - Vale do Inferno 1999", or "Ramos Pinto - Quinta da Ervamoira 1994", and "Fonseca - Quinta do Panascal 1988", etc.

I tasted the Magalhães VP 2000 for the first time in June/2004 at the Vinexpo-Chicago. At the time I didn't pay much attention to it for then I was very busy with the exhibition affairs and also because many other VPs from other producers were there available at the Port Institute's stand.

More recently, I've been given the chance to taste this particular wine again and knowing now that it was highly recommend by Decanter in 2003, I definitely paid more attention to it. I recall the elegant and smooth beginning and how the very soft tannins showed themselves later and not at the beginning. The first experience right after the bottle was opened was not great at all but after the wine got some time to open, a couple hours later, the wine started to reveal itself. In my opinion, it's no doubt a powerful and big wine with an enormous potential to evolve in the bottle.

I found out that nowadays Magalhães VP 2000 retails for about 45 euros a bottle either in Portugal or in London. I plan to put a 6-bottle case aside for later enjoyment - for my personal pleasure 10-20 years from now. 8)

And, of course, in the future I will always keep an eye open to whatever new released Vintage Port that Mr Carlos Magalhães of Quinta do Silval will come up with. :)

I'm going to check with Roy whether he's available to feature this particular producer in one of his upcoming newsletters.

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:45 pm

Roy says, "of course I will be happy to do so, as long as I get to try their wines."

Silval is literally across the road from Noval and from what I remember it is a vineyard site and I don't remember there being a Quinta on the property ... although I certainly may be mistaken here.

Ronald Wortel · Post by **Ronald Wortel** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 4:10 am

Roy Hersh wrote:Silval is literally across the road from Noval and from what I remember it is a vineyard site and I don't remember there being a Quinta on the property ... although I certainly may be mistaken here.

There definitely is a quinta on the site. Moreover, the Magelhaes family recently completed the building of a hotel there. I did not have a chance to visit that though, so unfortunately I cannot say whether it is any good.

I've tasted the Magelhaes 2000 VP once on a fair and was impressed. A good, powerful vintage port. I couldn't agree more with your notes, Mario. BTW, they also produce an outstanding (traditional) LBV. I've tasted the '99, which was remarkably powerful and full bodied for the vintage.
Their dry wines did not impress me at all though.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 3:07 pm

Mr. Ferreira

Thanks for your comprehensive note on Magalhaes. As this port - a name I had never heard before - was offered to me lately, I was particulary interested in your opinion. I was quite sure you knew this one...

Chris

Mario Ferreira · Post by **Mario Ferreira** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 7:58 am

The Decanter Tasting Note:
TN: Magalhães, Quinta do Silval 2000
Decanter Award ***** (5 Stars)

"Super-ripe fruit. Concentrated. Thick. Powerful tannins. Very good body. Tannins integrated with creamy fruit. 10 years+". (JS)

THE SCORES. 40 wines tasted [Decanter Magazine - December 2003]

***** Excellent (18.75 - 20 points): 1
**** Very good to excellent (16.75 - 18.74 points): 8
*** Good to very good (14.75 - 16.74 points): 27
** Acceptable to good (12.75 - 14.74 points): 3
* Poor to adequate (10.75 - 12.74 points): 1