Multi: A Malvasia and a Trio of Terrantez.

[Eric Ifune]

Drinking the last of a bottle of Barbeito's 1942 Malvasia Quinta Mae dos Homens. Initally after opening a big brash Malvasia with a big nose but lacking acidity. Over time, the acidity has become more pronounced and the wine much better balanced. It has remained big and brash with a huge musky Malvasia nose. Still very youthful with good depth and richness. Nice and long.
Over the past two days, I've been drinking Barbeito's Terrantez Reserve, Broadbent's Terrantez Old Reserve, and D'Oliveira's 1977 Terrantez. I opened them together and have been sampling them side by side. The Broadbent has a Tee-type stopper. Of course the wine was made by Justinio's for Broadbent and the Tee stopper shows this. The Barbeito and and D'Oliveira have driven corks.
The Barbeito has a Green amber-gold color. The Broadbent somewhat lighter, but the D'Oliveira a bit darker.
Initially at opening, the Barbeito shows sweet citrus and dried fruit aromas. Butter toffee and a bit of VA. The Broadbent shows more nuts, caramel and creme brulee. No VA that I noticed. The D'Olivera shows much more VA, with the high toned lift that it brings. Flowers and toffee. On the palate, the Barbeito is medium-light. Quite sweet. Smoky with more citrus. Long and rich. The Broadbent shows a similar weight. Less richness but more acidity. I like it's balance. The 1977 is least sweet. High, high acid. Definitely a baby. Not showing much intially.
After several hours, the Barbeito shows better balance. The acidity has come out. Still quite sweet. The Broadbent has put on weight. Sweet, but not as much as the Barbeito. The D'Oliveira shows more fruit. This has improved quite a bit, with less screechy acidity.
The next day, the Barbeito is still sweet and rich. Sweeter than most Verdelho's. Good depth and length. The Broadbent has continued to put on weight. Richer with good balance. The D'Oliveira is also still improving. I'm liking it more and more. It has the acidity I look for and the fruit has come out.
On the second day after opening, the Barbeito has become a big, rich wine. Blind, I'd have guessed Bual. Good depth and length. The Broadbent is also quite rich. Less sweet than the Barbeito and more classically Terrantez. It's obvious that these two wines have a considerable amount of older wines as components. The richness and maturity are evident. The D'Oliveira 1977 is a baby. Lightest and driest of the three. Definitely the most acidity. I hope they have more in cask. I'd love to see this with a couple more decades of cask age.

[Gary Banker]

Thanks for the TNs. It's especially interesting to see how they evolve. My take on the Barbeito and the Broadbent are that the Broadbent is the sweeter. I also noticed the citrus notes from the Barbeitowine.

I have two different bottlings of the D'Oliveira 1977T. One is about 1998 and the other is 2005. It's too little to notice a difference. I would think that D'Oliveira is parcelling the stock out as they need it. If we live long enough, we may get to compare. I'll hold on to some of the older bottles.