For The Love Of Port

I just saw Belmont Wine Exchange has 11 bottles of the '64 Quinta do Noval Nacional and 3 bottles of the '00 on sale for $495 each. Unfortunately they sent the note out at 11:00 EDT, so I'm not sure what if any they have left, but that's a really good price.

They still have the 1964. But a quick check of TNs here wouldn't make me run out and buy it.

Hmm... I'll have to go take a look at the 1964. I have one, but that's a birth year Port so I wouldn't mind having another!

I just cleaned 'em out of 1964 Nacional. The price was too good to pass up - the best I've seen recently was 3x that.

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Wed Jun 03, 2020 2:08 pm I just cleaned 'em out of 1964 Nacional. The price was too good to pass up - the best I've seen recently was 3x that.

Is that now your new cellar defender?

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Sat Jul 18, 2020 2:58 pm

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Wed Jun 03, 2020 2:08 pm I just cleaned 'em out of 1964 Nacional. The price was too good to pass up - the best I've seen recently was 3x that.

Is that now your new cellar defender?

Ha! No, but it'll now be on the menu for all of my significant birthdays! I have enough now to cover 5-year birthdays through 85 years old, plus one for my retirement party, plus one extra. That one extra will probably get opened for a significant anniversary... maybe our 50th?

have you tried any from the one's you bought?

Moses Botbol wrote: ↑Tue Jul 21, 2020 11:26 am have you tried any from the one's you bought?

No, and I probably won't for several years. They're special occasion bottles for me, not anything that I purchased based on presumed quality.

I had this three years ago, I believe with the PHT2 crew, but it may have been PHT1. Much to our surprise, (again) Christian Seely joined us for dinner and it was a really nice surprise. The first time he did this was in 2006, for our tour's first visit and a tasting none of us will ever forget or be able to best while at the Quinta.

Anyway, Christian had quite the lineup for us in our more recent tour and at the end, there were several that he had specially hidden and wrapped for our group ... and for him to put me on the spot. I was pretty close with all of them, at least vintage wise. But the last one was a 1964 Nacional and I nailed that sucker and watched his jaw drop as it was my first and only guess. Outside of that, he gave nothing away and knowing what a fun guy he can be ... and trickster, he asked me to detail why I guessed that specific vintage of all that it could have been from that decade. And he was not even admitting it was from the 1960''s!

I said, "I'm not guessing, it is the 1964." I then elaborated why it couldn't be the 1960, 1962. 1963, 1966 or 1967. My process of elimination was spot on and I must admit that I am usually not that sure, but I have had all of them before, some many times before and without going into detail of all the aforementioned vintages, here ... the color and nose brought this one right back to me. Typically my retro-nasal memory is not that acute. But it is a fully mature and pleasant Vintage Port and worthy of the price that was mentioned at the beginning of this thread, for a special occasion. But find a special moment or tasting in the next couple or three years, as it doesn't have anything left to age for much longer, in my opinion. Five years or so at most.