For The Love Of Port

In the 1980s I bought a bottle of Quinta do Noval Garrafeira Velha at auction. It is still in good condition after all these years. I have wanted to drink it with knowledgeable port people. I've just never been to a tasting of older colheitas & garrafeiras to include it in.

It was bottled in 1941. How old do people think it might have been when bottled?

It has a leather disk from Noval around the neck, I've never seen anything like it.

Is that a Garrafeira in the way Niepoort does or just a Colheita?

Moses Botbol wrote:Is that a Garrafeira in the way Niepoort does or just a Colheita?

Pretty sure that in this case we're talking about an "old bottling" rather than a style of Port. I've had many "Garrafeira Particular" from other producers that have nothing to do with the Garrafeira style of Port.

I really have no idea on age prior to bottling. As I recall the original Niepoort VV was around 50-80 years old on average when bottled, but those V's (for vinha velha) may not have anything in common with this one.

This is a different label, but it is clearly what we think of as Colheita. As I brought from home a 1941 Noval Colheita, to open for Noval's winemaker, Antonio Agrellos, (he loved it!); same juice, different label and possibly a different release date. Garrafeira translated directly to "cellar" in English. MANY old bottles had that on Port and even table wine labels back in the day.

The fact that the label says "Bottled in 1941" and no mention of a vintage, I'd guess this is some kind of blend of tawny's. Given the year it was bottled and world events transpiring at that time, I'd guess this was probably meant for a specific customer (importer) at their request. Not a lot of non-essential things were being imported to many countries in 1941.