1994 Quinta do Noval

[jon bricken]

I have the opportunity to purchase a few bottles of 94 Noval for $75.00 each.

I have been accumulating 94's as it is my daughters birth year (lucky her).

I have never seen a FTLOP review of this wine.

Is it worth the $?

Any comments would be helpful.

[Alan C.]

Jon,

It's a great year, it's a respected name, and the best price on Winesearcher over your side of the Pond is $99.95 !

I wouldn't hold to much on what people say it tastes like now, good or bad. Its a classic Port. It'll be ready when it's ready, and that will probably only start in another decade. Yet even if its not a Crackerjack, and it may, it'll be good, so after all this opinionated waffle...

Buy what you can comfortably afford.

Alan

[Roy Hersh]

I don't know from Alan's post if he has ever had the wine or not. I did a TN on this in my article on the 2006 Harvest Tour visit to Noval (if I am not mistaken). I know it has been less than a year and a half since I have had it.

Nonetheless, it is a very fine VP and worthy of the price you mention. Afterall, you can't even find top name 1994 CA Cabs for that price, so why question a great name like Noval in a fabulous vintage like '94?

If you want to see what they can achieve, all you have to do is invest in the 1994 Nacional, one of the greatest wines I've ever tasted (not just Ports!). Don't worry, the regular bottling of Quinta do Noval ... IS WORTHY too.

[jon bricken]

Roy:

I am going to buy as much of the Noval as I can (these 94's will be mostly for my daughter as it is her birth year and I have been laying down ports for her).

I hope she will like port.

I already have most of the top producers such as Taylor, Neipoort, Fonseca, Warre, Dow & Vesuvio, but I had never seen a tasting note on the Noval.

I have never had a National, but last year I was lucky enough to get a single bottle at auction.

I bid the minimum and no one else bid so I bought it for $598.00 including the premimum.

Some day at a very special occation I hope to open it with my daughter.

Thanks.

[Roy Hersh]

Jon,


What a great price for the 1994 Quinta do Noval Nacional. I only have one bottle of it, although I have been fortunate to enjoy tastes of this beauty on at least a handful of occasions. It truly is mind-blowing Port and remains the ONLY Port that I have ever rated 100 points. In fact, it's one of just three wines I have ever given such a perfect rating to. A small percentage given over 10,000 wines experienced during the past two and a half decades.

Save this for later in your life for a monumental occasion like your daughter's wedding day or to celebrate the birth of her first child.

[Alan C.]

Just to clear up Roy's query, I haven't tasted this Port. I was talking in general terms.

I love Jons plan of laying down fine Port for his Daughter. Its a common idea of Port Lovers and has a long tradition. Wasn't it the way over a century ago to buy a barrel for a Sons coming of age. I wonder whether that was 18 or 21? And how many modern day bottles would you get out of one of those average barrels? Either way, they had it right. Patience and prudence.

And Jon continues that tradition.

[Roy Hersh]

Alan,

The tradition that you mention above, is one that the English started for Port wine. Oftentimes, country squires would have a pipe brought out to their estate and two men from the retailer would bring it by horse drawn cart and carry it down to the cellar. They would spend an entire day, hand bottling and corking the entire cask which would come out to approximately 730 bottles, considering the three bottles-worth that these two men would polish off during their hard task. They would then rack or stack the bottles in the cellar, receive payment and be off (if not invited for dinner and grog).

If I am not mistaken, but some of your fellow countrymen will certainly pipe in (no pun intended ) and let us know if I have it right ... but I believe it was for SONS who reached "majority" or 21 years of age. However, I have also read of accounts where at the age of 18 when a young man was about to leave for college, the father would sell the pipe he had purchased upon the birth of his son and use the money to pay for a fine University or college education.

A brilliant and somewhat timeworn strategy. However, I am a very firm believer in leaving Ports in your cellar, invested with the intent of passing on to the next generation. I believe my daughter will inherit everything I have purchased starting with the 1997 vintage, plus any token older bottles that I may not have consumed before leaving the earth including one case of 1970 Taylor VP (her namesake wine).

[Al B.]

Jon,

I hope you had the chance to grab these bottles at what looks to be a great price. You mentioned that you've not seen a tasting note for the Noval '94 - so here's mine from the last time I drank the wine in March this year:

The colour shows a distinct sign of development when compared to the younger vintages. The wine is an attractive shade of red now and not the opaque purple of a youngster. The overwhelming youthful blueberry on the nose has taken a slight step back and is supplemented with an attractive floral note. In the mouth the wine takes a few moments to arrive before delivering an attractive acidic structure with plenty of fruit to balance this. The tannins in the wine don't make themselves obvious until immediately after swallowing, when they provide a lovely chocolate start to an aftertaste that eventually morphs into a milky coffee. On Uncle Tom's scale I gave this 8/8. I don't think that this will ever be a blockbuster of a wine but it has just reinforced my opinion of the 1994 vintage - that this is a vintage to drink now or to drink in 30 years. 93/100.

Hope this helps!

Alex

[jon bricken]

Al B.

Thanks for the note and your opinion about its drinking window.

I did buy every bottle (full case) and plan to lay it down with the rest of the 94's for my daughter.

She will turn 21 in 8 years so we will start on them then.

Thanks.