After reading Roy's notes and looking at what I paid for each of the NN vintages I have I figured that if there was such a thing as a QPR Noval Nacional then the 1987 should be it.
I will start this process by admitting here and now that I am way out of my depth. I accepted from the outset that I probably would not appreciate the finer qualities and complexity of this port as I do not have the experience required to do so. That said, I couldn't stop myself from trying.
This bottle was purchased in March 05 from the Noval shop in Gaia. Provenance is therefore not an issue.
I had very little time to play with so I decanted straight from the cellar through a filter as set out in the Hersh Method but without the cheesecloth. On decanting there was very little smell from the wine but then it was still at around 12 degrees C. The wine was dark red but with a very slight brown tinge, not purple as I would expect with port this dark. There was very little sediment in the bottle and the wine was clear, not cloudy, which surprised me given the decanting method. I poured half the bottle into a 375ml and put it in the fridge for tomorrow. Many of you might think I should be hung for this alone :?
My first taste was after 1 hour - I have no patience or willpower
- there is now a powerful but subdued fruit packed aroma. It reminded me of the dense smell I got from the 2003 VP's I tasted last year. The taste is a new experience to me - tons of fruit but nothing specific in my memory to associate it with. Velvety mouth feel with absolutely no heat. A good long finish but then bone dry, pulling the cheeks together as the tannins kicked in.I had 3 more glasses over a 2 hour period and did not detect any significant change in aroma or taste. At this point I was slightly disappointed, even though the wine was superb and certainly among the top 3 I have tasted, the others being Fonseca 63 and 66. My disappointment was mostly at my own impatience - had I not given this wine enough respect and time in the decanter?
Day 2
I poured the 375ml back into the decanter leaving a small amount of fine sediment in the bottle. There was no brown tinge in the wine this time and the colour was a brighter darker red than on the previous evening. I got exactly the same initial smell, almost none, but enough to tell me this wine had not evolved in the fridge overnight - phew!
I managed to wait 3 hours before tasting. This time I could smell the fruit before I even got my nose over the decanter. Huge black jammy fruits in the air. The colour seemed to be improving all the time and is now very dark bright red with a dark pink rim. The mouth feel was silky smooth. The taste was of immense amounts of black fruits. Not so drying as the day before but those big tannins were still around somewhere. There is now a very small but warm and satisfying heat after 10 seconds or so in the mouth which lingered into the finish. My mouth watered from the second the smell hit my nose all the way to the end of the finish, which seemed to be measured in minutes rather than seconds.
Over the next 2 hours this wine just got bigger and better but not different. It seems to come out of itself without changing into something else, if you know what I mean?
I don't (or rather can't) give scores to wine but I definately rate this in my top 3 in terms of overall impact (smell, colour, taste, finish). As mentioned before, the other 2 are Fonseca 1963 and 66 - which are both more than 20 years older and more evolved than this is.
This wine reminds me of an adolecent boy - more muscles and potential than he knows what to do with and not yet ready to be properly tested. After I had finished it I read my Broadbent book - his recommended drinking window for this wine starts in 2012, I think he might be right
- must remember to work on that patience thing.My 1st Nacional is an experience I will not foget and has only made me want more - I will buy more 1987 when I am next in Gaia 8) and now want to open my other 5 bottles of NN :?
Derek
- she did have a small taste but, unfortunately (