1970 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port

[Espen S.]

tasted 2010/12/24

My oldest VP so far. The bottle might not have been properly stored, because of heavy leakage, and the cork was soaked all the way through. Was a bit worried that this wine could be damaged.
Lots of thick nasty sediment, which always warms my heart. Medium deep burgundy color, very closed nose, and the first sip didn't offer much. Very spirity and hollow. I was very worried and disappointed at first.

8 hours decanted; and this wine turned into a beauty. Redcurrant, caramel and some oak on the nose, also a hint of old cork/old wet wood/something hard to describe.
Very tannic and fresh, still youthful and will probably age well for quite some time. Cranberries, redcurrant, coffee, wood and a lovely freshness on the palate. I find it a bit spirity and slightly hollow on the middle, but other than that, I really like this wine. I guess there's some bottle variation after 40 years of cellaring in different parts of the world under different conditions. It's my first '70 Noval, I don't know how it usually shows. But I'm going 93/100 on this.

[Lamont Huxley]

Hey Espen,

At the time I drank this a few years ago it was also the oldest VP I had tried, as well as my first 1970. I never posted my note here because at the time I hadn't yet started assigning point scores to my notes, but my impression was really similar to yours, even down to the specific flavors that you mentioned - I thought that was pretty cool. If I were to score it in retrospect I'd probably give it a 93 as well. Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Cheers!

[Roy Hersh]

This is a Port that you hear very little about and rarely see a TN on, so thank you for that. I wondered while reading your note if what you smelled was not TCA, as it sure read like it. Either way, I am glad you enjoyed this oldie and rare VP.

[Espen S.]

That's what I was thinking too, but it blew off, so I dismissed that thought. Could that have been the case? It was delicious after a few hours in the decanter.

I don't know what a corked wine smells like.