For The Love Of Port

Quinta do Javali 2004


At 8 AM i decanted the bottle. A very dark purple, although not quite to the level of “Squid Ink” .
I noticed there is absolutely no sediment at all. Talking about value for money !!
A strong nose of cherries, raspberries and lots of other red and black fruit hits me when i pour the wine into the decanter. I let it breathe for about 3 hours before my first taste.

11:00 AM. As promised my first taste. Wow, my fist impression is: Fresh ! Sweet ! Then the tannines hit me, i never had so much tannine in 1 glass. I must say i enjoy it very much. The finish is medium in length and goes down quite smoothly. The alcohol on the nose is very well integrated and balanced with the fruit on the palate. Also, i noticed a faint earth taste which is fine with me. At this point i cant quite taste the fruit that much. In 3 hours or so i will try again. Definately a promising wine although not a blockbuster yet.

16:00 AM. Tried my second glass of the day together with some São Jorge cheese. The cheese is from the Azores where it has been considered the best cheese of the Azores. A full flavoured unpasteurised cow`s milk cheese with salty and sweet taste, earthy, deep, pungent, almost smoky-peaty. So this will go well with the wine was my guess.

Indeed, what a treat. The cheese really lifts the wine to a higher level, making it almost a creamy delight. I can taste fresh fruit like cherries, plums and grapes aswell. I even detect almonds and smoked wood. The smell is even better, heavy on the nose but never too overwhelming. Man oh man, the best port i ever tasted till now.

This is simply gorgeously balanced for a wine this young. That said, there is structure and tannin that should keep this going a while. I don’t know if this will be a 30 year port, but I would bet on 20. I am very curious how this wine will develop over time.

I rate this 93-95 now with 5 bottles left

Erik,

I have enjoyed introducing Javali to Americans when we are in Portugal. None of it makes its way to the USA at this point. Their LBVs, basic Tawny Port and Vintage Ports are priced very low and offer a great purity of fruit. I spent an hour with the winemaker solely trying to get him to raise his pricing within Portugal.

You can do a FTLOP search and will not only find a bunch of TNs on Javali but also a good amount of background information on this up and coming producer.

It is refreshing to see Javali mentioned here and I thank you!

Wow - great TN. I hope someone starts importing this to the US soon. I'd like to find some of the cheese too. Americans are sadly deprived regarding cheese. If it's not pasteurized, it almost has no chance of getting into the country. Good combo. Wish I could have been there.

I did taste this VP from a cask sample last fall and was drawing the same verdict as your tasting note.

If you want Javali imported into US, just work with an Importer that could be interested and it should work. I did this last year, thanks to Mario, and it worked. I guess their wines are not sold out very fast. Their douro reserva is especially very good as for Port, I really think their LBV and 10yo tawny are above average for their respective category.

I also have never seen Javali around n the local market, but would give it a try based upon this TN - brilliant Erik!

Todd