For The Love Of Port

This bottle has been opened since yesterday and this TN is solely from today's taste of it, as I didn't get to try it yesterday. Aged in 400 liter French oak casks, soft ripe plums dominate some oak on the nose. Initially, soft Bing Cherries lead you to think this will be a flabby over-ripe wine, but only long enough for the tannins to kick in and tell you otherwise. While this is a more fruit forward wine than the Pombal do Vesuvio, I enjoyed the subtle minerality and dry tannins on the finish that kept this in balance. And that finish stays for quite some time and is one of my favorite parts in this wine. I wish I could have tried this yesterday just to see how it may have evolved, but I can say 24 hours later this is drinking very nicely. I've heard some people knock 2006 Douro wines as not being very good. All I can say is after enjoying a couple glasses of this they are wrong! I've not had the 2007 version yet, but considering it was a better overall vintage, I look forward to hopefully trying it soon.
90 points
3/9/10

I agree, the 2006 vintage offers some lovely wines, that are wonderful to drink while the big boys are in the cellar.

Ronald Wortel wrote:I agree, the 2006 vintage offers some lovely wines, that are wonderful to drink while the big boys are in the cellar.

Ronald, what are some other 2006's you've enjoyed. I'm always on the look out for something I've not yet had and something tells me I'm sure you've had it

Andy; your post on the 'o6 got me curious and when standing at the wine shelves of Sá Supermarket in Funchal today, seeing the '07 of the Post Scriptum I just had to buy it! In Madeira it's retailing at EUR 11,75 (USD 16) and wow, what a wine! It's not nearby Chryseia but what fine elegance, concentration and tannin structure it has, the '07 Post Scriptum. Still young, needed some hours of decanting to open up, it showed a modern style, fine restrained fruit and integrated oak, Quite compact tannin structure and lovely dark plum, dark cherry fruitiness and almost a bit BDX. Fine, clean and quite long finish. Boy, I like this wine a lot and will most surely buy it again. Rated the '07 at a 90 p.

Thanks for the post and inviting me to a new tasting experience!

Best,

Niklas J

Niklas,

Anytime Glad you liked the 2007, which I've not had yet but have been told it is even better than 2006. Which I hope would be the case given what a better year '07 was. So to hear you also post good things about it makes me want to try it that much more.

And I will try to find the '06 for comparative reasons! I really liked the 2007. Don't be frightened by my 90 score - same as yours on the '06. I'm quite conservative

Best,

Niklas - who despite being conservative yesterday put the 1903 Boal from Pereira d'Oliveira at a 98-rating

Andy Velebil wrote:

Ronald Wortel wrote:I agree, the 2006 vintage offers some lovely wines, that are wonderful to drink while the big boys are in the cellar.

Ronald, what are some other 2006's you've enjoyed. I'm always on the look out for something I've not yet had and something tells me I'm sure you've had it

Andy, did you try Dirk's Pinot Noir Projectos 2006? It's a great wine. Other fine '06's that come to mind are the Passadouro, Portal Reserva, Pintas Character and Pó de Poeira. But I doubt that these names come as surprises to you.

Actually I've never had a Pó de Poeira wine before. I'll have to look, as I don't know if they are imported to the US.

Agree the Passadouro and Pintas are good and I don't think I've had the 2006 Portal Reserve (but need to check my notes later to be accurate).

I've not had the Niepoort Pinot, but hopefully maybe later this year when I head back to the Douro I can finally try it. I think Dirk is one of the top dry wine guys in the Douro and he comes up with some amazing projects.

Thanks for the list.

If you're going there for the Pinot, make sure to taste the 2006 Voyeur as well, a sort of mini-Charme Dirk made for an art project. I have a bottle here but haven't tasted it yet (I'm waiting for LadyR to be able to drink again), but I heard it's a good wine.