1931 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port

[Tom Archer]

I was hoping Tom Chadwick would publish his copious notes before I worked from memory...

Here goes -

This bottle appeared in the auction listing as 'unknown port, believed 1947'

When I saw the bottle, it's appearance was so similar to my other N '31, that I doubted the bottlers would have kept the same capsule style for so long. I remarked to Tom C. that I reckoned it was more likely to be a '27, not a '47...

Anyway, we were rather less than settled and serious after we saw that cork! - things like this don't happen very often!

As I decanted the bottle at the bar, a rich fine aroma greeted me. In the decanter it was incredibly dark for it's age - almost black.

At first sip (which was shared by others at the bar who were wondering what all the excitement was about) it was a touch sharp, but otherwise pure class.

We then retired to the restaurant, where we both induged 18oz of fillet steak and a good bottle of Chateauneuf Du Pape before re-visiting the decanter.

Tom C. scribbled furiously as we discussed the wine, and I hope he will follow with his transcript. For a port it was relatively dry, and still very dark in the glass, with a clear meniscus. It did not disappoint!

We tried another glass this morning, and found a little sharpness returning. Tom C's father was proffered a glass which he shared with remainder of his staff.

I have one cling filmed glass in my fridge which I will keep for the FTLOP UK Xmas bash on December 10th, and my long suffering business partner, Dave - finished the dregs.

Tom

[Derek T.]

What a great story, Tom 8) - 10th December can't come quick enough now


Presumably this will be the cheapest N31 bought at auction this year

Derek

[Roy Hersh]

I have had this particular bottling at least a half dozen times or more and Tom,

Talkabout surrendipity. You must be living the clean life to be so blessed by a simple mistake like this. How cool and what a great story. I have never found plastic wrap to do a good job of preservation, pour the glass into the smalles bottle you can find. Then talk Mr. Chadwick into waxing poetic on his experience ... PLEASE. I live for this kind of post.

Thank you!

it is still my all time favorite Port. I have never been disappointed with a single bottle of it. I have been fortunate to drink these with some interesting folks and good friends including Dr. Dick Peterson who opened a bottle (he was the BV Georges de la Tour winemaker that followed Andre Tschelistcheff ... his daughter is winemaker Heidi Peterson-Barrett, think Screaming Eagle and many others), not to mention Michael Broadbent 2x and others such as Clive Coates and Christian Seely in March of last year. Now to get back down to earth.

I have always found these to show purple or very dark ruby in color which is absolutely remarkable as they could easily pass for 1994s in terms of color alone. But it is their innate beauty and ability to drink incredibly well 3/4 of a century later. I have had my share of old Ports from the 1800s and first 4 decades of the 1900s and nothing has ever topped ANY of my tastings of this bottling, which includes my one experience with the '31 Nacional that I had beside the regular Noval in 2004.

One is very fortunate to experience a bottle of this, once in a lifetime!

[Andy Velebil]

How cool is that. A great find

[Tom Archer]

I'm supping a Morgan '91 at the moment, and can't be bothered to write it up fully (but Alex - you were right!)

There's one little detail to this tale -

I had a good feeling about this bottle, but was not alone -

- I was determined to buy it and got into a bidding war..

.. in fact I paid £700

- but then, it wasn't just one bottle..

Tom

[David Spriggs]

Great story! Loved it. How lucky!

-Dave-

[Derek T.]

.. in fact I paid £700

- but then, it wasn't just one bottle..

Tom

So does this mean "it wasn't just any one bottle" or "I actually managed to secure a whole stash of these gems for my £700"

Derek

[Tom Archer]

..er

.. yes 8)

Tom

[Derek T.]

Tom,

I have a Noval 1996 in my storage unti if you fancy doing a mini verticle next week

Derek

[Tom Archer]

I bought a Nacional '83 at Bonhams last sale - if I can get my hands on it in time, I'll bring that along.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with these N31's - with the bottle I bought earlier this year,I now have a full case of matching bottles (but sadly, no wooden case)

The auction prices can be quite insane when full cases of the classics are sold - especially in the US

I must take advice on this one...

Tom

PS If anyone - anywhere - has an original N31 wooden case, I will offer serious money for it.

PPS I forgot to score this wine

For immediate gratification, it easily earned it's 10, with no sign of it falling over - incredibly youthful for it's age - it gets another

So my score is:

10-10

[Alex K.]

Are we talking a whole case for $700? I think that I'm going to cry.

[Tom Archer]

Get out the handkerchief!

Tom

[Derek T.]

Are we talking a whole case for $700? I think that I'm going to cry.

Not as much as the poor sod who put it in that auction thinking it was some unknown juice from 1947 - I just hope he never reads this thread

Derek

[Derek T.]

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with these N31's - with the bottle I bought earlier this year,I now have a full case of matching bottles (but sadly, no wooden case)

The auction prices can be quite insane when full cases of the classics are sold - especially in the US

I must take advice on this one...

Now then Tom, let me see if I can give you some advice on what to do with these bottles......

You have 11 N31's that have just cost you £58 each. You have 1 other N31 that you got at a knock down price in an earlier auction. My advice would be to keep the first one you bought. Sell a 6 pack for around £12,000-£15,000 at the next Christie's US auction and I'll take the other 5 bottles off your hands for £58 each - I will even pick them up from your house to avoid any inconvenience to you. I would even open one of my bottle to let you try it next Sunday

Does this sound like a good plan or what?

Derek

[Kurt Wieneke]

Unbelievable. I am shaking my head. This is the stuff dreams are made of.

[Tom Archer]

Sorry Derek - but I WILL pick up the tab next sunday

KillerB - can we tempt you down?

Tom

[Tom Archer]

Not as much as the poor sod who put it in that auction thinking it was some unknown juice from 1947 - I just hope he never reads this thread

Without permission, an auctioneer must not reveal the identity of the vendor, but Tom Chadwick did observe that the vendor lived remarkably close to where I live.

- don't think I'll give the local paper the story...

Tom

[Derek T.]

Tom,

I have heard 2 remarkable stories this week:

1. A lucky B*st*rd who picked up £24k of port for £700, and:

2. A colleague of 22 years of age with 3 children who found out on Tuesday that his wife was expecting Quins (5 babies!!!)

I hae to say that your story gave me the most amusement

Derek

[Roy Hersh]

I did not realize it was a case. Remarkable. Are we correct that this is the regular bottling of Noval?

[Tom Archer]

It was a UK (I think) Fearon bottling - I can't find out much about Fearon, but most of the N31's sold over the last year have been bottled by them.

Tom