For The Love Of Port

2003 Taylor LBV b. 2008
2003 Quevedo LBV (unfiltered) b. 2007
2003 Noval LBV (unfiltered, but not the single vineyard version) b. 2008
2003 Noval Silval VP
2003 Noval VP

I have owned all but the Silval since release, and had intended to open them last year for their 20th birthday. But this year for their 21st "legal drinking age" birthday also worked.

The original idea was to see how the 2 unfiltered LBVs would age. I purchased 6-packs of each and tried 1 of each back in 2018, and at that time determined that they were not yet "ready". The Taylor was added to see how a filtered LBV would compare with the same bottle age, and the Noval VP was added as a reference point since we all know that VP ages well in bottle.

The Silval was added as a "ringer" when I was shopping for something else and noticed it. But it sort of completes the picture, because it meant that the 5 bottles covered all of the tiers of premium Port in the same tasting, albeit not all from the same producer. (Sorry, IVDP, I don't count Ruby Reserve as a premium Port.)

Surprisingly, there wasn't a consensus for Port of the Night. The Noval VP shared that honor... with the Taylor (filtered) LBV. I guess maybe they do age nicely in bottle after all?

Andy Velebil wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2024 3:43 pm 1973 Quinta d Devesa special reserve white port. Best showing of it so far. The two components seem to be integrating nicely.

Andy, how does this stack up against the Casa de Santa Eufemia Reserva Especial White Port from the same year?

Mike J. W. wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2024 3:43 pm 1973 Quinta d Devesa special reserve white port. Best showing of it so far. The two components seem to be integrating nicely.

Andy, how does this stack up against the Casa de Santa Eufemia Reserva Especial White Port from the same year?

The SE was better of the two, last I had the SE.

Mike J. W. wrote:1980 Kopke Colheita (bottled 2010). This struck me as more of a Bual than a Colheita. Decently good, but different than what I was expecting. I'm wondering if perhaps it was oxidized or stored improperly?

Just opened a bottle of this that was bottled in 2010 as well. So far it’s rather nice. perhaps a bit on the simple side but I just opened it so we’ll see where it goes with time.

Tasted this past weekend with some college buddies during a beach weekend:

Night 1 - TWAIOA & 1 Colheita
Pocas Bonificador Tawny
Quinta do Noval 1964 Colheita
Ramos Pinto 30 year old Tawny
Quevedo 40 year old Tawny
Quinta de Brunheda 40 year old Tawny (Cask CP1)
San Leonardo 40 year old Tawny
DR 50 year old Tawny

Night 2 - 1994 Vintage Ports
Warre
Dow
Smith Woodhouse
Graham's
Fonseca
Taylor's
Quinta do Vesuvio

The WOTN for Night 1 was the DR 50, but the Pocas wasn't far behind in my opinion. Everything else that night showed very well although most people had the Noval last among the group. It was good, but had a much different profile than the others.

The WOTN the second night was a much closer call. The Quinta do Vesuvio barely edged out the Smith Woodhouse, but to be honest, every single VP was singing that night. Scoring wise, no more than a point would have separated the lot. Both nights were great tastings!

Nice tasting. What vintages were the ports?

1985 Noval VP over the weekend. Wife drank most of it.

Andy Velebil wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2024 7:10 am Nice tasting. What vintages were the ports?

Doh! I left that out, lol. They were all 1994's. I'll fix that.

1985 Fonseca VP
I decanted this for 6 hours. 8 would have been better as it improved as the evening progressed, IMHO.

20 yr Dow’s Tawny. B. 2021.

1994 Offley Boa Vista. It's drinking very nicely, but I want to see how it holds up over the next few days.

1991 Vesuvio VP x2
1991 Andresen Colheita
Andresen 40 Year Old Tawny Port
S. Leonardo 40 Year Old Tawny Port
DR 40 Year Old Tawny Port

All of my niece's wedding. She was born in 1991 while her wife was born in 1984... couldn't find any decent bottles from 1984, so used 40 Year Olds instead.

Croft Distinction Port.

Good but needs almost 2 days of air to blow off the spirit.

Is also much more tannic than the Croft Reserve, so get the Croft Reserve if you need something ready to go in a pinch. The Reserve bottle is also a nice clear bottle for gifting. The Distinction seems distinctly for cellaring.

edit: finished this two weeks later and it was still drinking well. Good potential and cheap cellar defender.

Opened an '85 Grahams VP before the start of Yom Kippur.

Seems sweeter than the '94 Grahams we had a week earlier, more pronounced spirit as well. Never thought I'd say this, but it's actually too sweet for my tastes in this new year.

Had a glass last night and still pretty sweet. Maybe tonight it'll be better integrated?

1985 Martinez VP. Slightly to moderately corked, but still drinkable...so far. The bottle was in rough shape, dirty with a cracked wax capsule and a partially exposed cork. There was a touch of mold on the exposed cork. I decanted it and took a sample taste and there was definitely TCA at play, but it wasn't overpowering. I decided to let it sit in the decanted for a day to see if it would settle and it has, somewhat. If this bottle wasn't mildly corked I could tell that it would be a very nice drinking Port.

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 8:53 am 1985 Martinez VP. Slightly to moderately corked, but still drinkable...

There is the plastic wrap trick, although I'm not sure if you can find PVC plastic wrap any more. Saran Wrap changed their formulation a while back, and most of the other stuff is just PE these days. https://www.winespectator.com/articles/ ... -that-work

Eric Menchen wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 9:59 am

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 8:53 am 1985 Martinez VP. Slightly to moderately corked, but still drinkable...

There is the plastic wrap trick, although I'm not sure if you can find PVC plastic wrap any more. Saran Wrap changed their formulation a while back, and most of the other stuff is just PE these days. https://www.winespectator.com/articles/ ... -that-work

Thanks Eric. I had actually thought about that, but like you said, PVC plastic wrap is hard to find these days. I also thought about buying a small, narrow PVC pipe ( I assume they still make those?), stoppering one end and pouring it in their for a few minutes. It might be a worthy experiment sometime, lol.

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 10:32 am

Eric Menchen wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 9:59 am

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 8:53 am 1985 Martinez VP. Slightly to moderately corked, but still drinkable...

There is the plastic wrap trick, although I'm not sure if you can find PVC plastic wrap any more. Saran Wrap changed their formulation a while back, and most of the other stuff is just PE these days. https://www.winespectator.com/articles/ ... -that-work

Thanks Eric. I had actually thought about that, but like you said, PVC plastic wrap is hard to find these days. I also thought about buying a small, narrow PVC pipe ( I assume they still make those?), stoppering one end and pouring it in their for a few minutes. It might be a worthy experiment sometime, lol.

Roy and Stewart performed this experiment a long time ago and while yes, it does seem to remove the TCA, it leaves the Port bland and flat. So it's not going to "save" a bottle if that's what you're hoping for, but it will make it usable and technically drinkable.

I gave up on the corked '85 Martinez and opened a 1983 Ferreira LBV. I had one of these a year or two back (I won 4 of them at auction) and it was pretty good. This one was on death row because I had recently discovered that it was a leaker (very high shoulder level). It was t-stoppered, so I assume it was filtered although I did find some sediment when I decanted. Surprisingly, when I decanted the bottle it came out a light yellow-orange. Based on that, I assume it was oxidized. It's still drinking nicely, but it tastes nothing like an LBV.

Noval Over 40 year old.