TN: Looking for good QPR ports
A spate of good offers made me on the lookup for better buys, but in fact the best buy was actually the full price one!
Croft Indulgence (£6)
Mid ruby, a little watery to rim. Simple nose of sugary kirsh, raisons and sweet alcohol. Simple palate – simple, sweet – warming red fruits but with little extract. Simple, basic, and the only indulgence is this was a good glass rinser for the better ports! 75/100
Cockburns LBV 2000 (£7)
Similar colour to above. Mire vinous nose of spicy, earthy pithy cherry – good fruit definition, less alcoholic impact – but still lightly extracted if balanced. No obvious tannin, and short finish. Nothing wrong here, but hardly exciting. 80/100.
Warres LBV ’99 (£7) (Note not the unfiltered version)
Mid to deep ruby – quite a lot of extract in tears. Rounded, quite mellow maturity in evidence with tobacco tinged plum and cranberry. Good balance of fruit extract, alcohol and acid with light tannic finish. Not long on finish, but good maturer style. 84/100
Grahams LBV ’99 (£8 )
Stonkingly corked. Returned for cash – it missed its chance to be in this line up.
Noval LBV ’98 Unfiltered (£11)
Blackish core to the deep blood red colour. Deep spicy/chocolaty/plum and blackberry nose. Ripe, full bodied tannins and extract on entry (but not astringent) – some warmth – moderate sweetness but good overall balance with integrated acid and alcohol. The first of all those so far with a decent mid-palate and finish. Excellent LBV, drinking now and perhaps for 10 more years. 90/100. Showed some interesting graphite and cranberry notes next day, and showed less oxidation than the Grahams ’97 after a similar time.
Grahams ’97 vintage. (£22)
Similar colour to the Noval. Similar deep chocolaty nose to the Noval too. More blueberry than blackberry with a notch more concentration. Richer seeming, slightly more extract but no additional astringency. Soft yet full bodied and long. You can drink this now, but perhaps its value (compared to the Noval) will be better displayed given more time. 92/100 Oxidation on day 2 was unexpected.
Noval LBV ’99 Unfiltered (£11)
Similar dense colour to the ’98. Slightly more towards Burgundy but not much to call. A more obvious nose of sweet alcoholic fruit – showing crème de cassis. Good depth and bodied to the palate, balanced and while youthful, certainly drinkable. I was struck but how similar rather than different, once you’ve taken the year’s difference into account. This came across very much as I recall the ’98 at this stage. Indeed, the longer this was open, the alcohol and the associated sweetness dropped away showing more ’98 like although I’m not sure this is as concentrated. Today the quality is about the same, but the ’99 comes across more jammy and 2000 like in terms of maturity, whereas the ’98 shows more ’97 like characteristics. Take your pick! 90/100.
Multi: Assorted LBV & Vintage Port TNs
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Tom Archer
- Posts: 2790
- Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:09 pm
- Location: Near Saffron Walden, England
My best result recently was the Calem '85, as the bottle was virtually free. However, it has a reputation for duff bottles - I was lucky!
At the lower end of the scale, I was very impressed with Delaforce Paramount.
On the VP front, look out for brands like Royal Oporto and Gonzalez Byass. They're not top flight, but they sell below their weight, as the trade tends to ignore them.
Tom
At the lower end of the scale, I was very impressed with Delaforce Paramount.
On the VP front, look out for brands like Royal Oporto and Gonzalez Byass. They're not top flight, but they sell below their weight, as the trade tends to ignore them.
Tom