Presidential 2011 LBV

[Scheiny S]

I'm in Bethesda, MD for the week and found the Presidential 2011 LBV for $20. There are no notes on it, but I figured I can't go wrong with a 2011.
Do I want to open this now or is it probably in a down swing and not worth opening for a few years? Do I want to get a second one?

Also, is all Presidential also Dalva, or is that a specific quinta from Presidential?

[Eric Menchen]

So C. da Silva is now marketing themselves as Dalva. And I think Presidential is a brand name they use in the United States. I'm not aware of a any specific quintas associated with any of these names.

As for your LBV, that sounds like a reasonable price and something worth trying. Whether to let it age or not, do you know if the wine is filtered or not? Often the label will indicate this. If it is unfiltered, aging might be in order. If it has been heavily filtered, might as well drink now. If the label doesn't say anything, it probably is filtered and intended for drinking sooner rather than later. Personally I would give it a try soon to decide if it is worth buying more.

[John M.]

I'd get another. 2011 LBVs are generally very good---here is a summary of a 2011 LBV tasting from 2018 (I am JM)

2011 LBV Summary

2011 LBV Summary.PNG (109.74 KiB) Viewed 1990 times

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[Scheiny S]

So C. da Silva is now marketing themselves as Dalva. And I think Presidential is a brand name they use in the United States. I'm not aware of a any specific quintas associated with any of these names.

As for your LBV, that sounds like a reasonable price and something worth trying. Whether to let it age or not, do you know if the wine is filtered or not? Often the label will indicate this. If it is unfiltered, aging might be in order. If it has been heavily filtered, might as well drink now. If the label doesn't say anything, it probably is filtered and intended for drinking sooner rather than later. Personally I would give it a try soon to decide if it is worth buying more.

Good to know.

The label doesn't mention filtering, so it must be filtered. Good to know, thanks! I'll give it a try soon. I'm surprised to have seen it on the shelf, I haven't seen any 2011s since 2018.

John, that must have been a fun tasting. Thanks for sharing the results.

[Scheiny S]

Oh, how long should I decant this? Four hours is my rule of thumb for LBVs, but I know some are better with more or with less. I don't know how to gauge offhand.

[Scheiny S]

I poured a glass at 9am and left it on the kitchen counter and put the open bottle in the fridge. Poured a glass from that at 11, it was definitely too cold. Now, at 11:30, that glass has warmed up to a nice temperature.

It's definitely better at the right temperature, surprise. The warm glass tastes very 'hot', combination of alcohol and black pepper. Cold it doesn't taste like much.
At the right temperature I got black fruits and molasses. Everything was pretty balanced. The sweetness is more toward artificial, candy flavor than fruit sugars or simple syrup than I'd prefer, but it doesn't taste like cough syrup.

I asked myself do I prefer it to Fonseca bin 27? Which is my go-to. I like this at least as well. I'll probably pick up a couple more bottles.

It's going very well with leftover beef kebab from dinner last night.