1964 Quinta do Noval Colheita Port
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 11:36 pm
My yearly indulgence. I bought up every bottle of this that I could find for less than $100 a couple of years ago and have been rationing them 1 per year since. Decanted for 4 hours before being re-bottled and taken to a restaurant for dinner.
1964 Noval Colheita
bottled 2006
Color: Almost a perfect tawny color - medium dark with the right amounts of both brown and orange. Slightly green at the rim.
Nose: Some VA or high-toned alcohol, but it's not distracting. LOTS of vanilla or vanilla custard. Some caramel, some cotton candy. Just a little bit of coffee to prevent it from being too soft and sweet.
Palate: Delicious. Rich and full. Very much on the sweet side; perhaps lacking a bit in acidity. Some brown sugar and very mellow ripe apricot. Perhaps some mandarin orange or possibly orange zest. Just the faintest hint of nutmeg.
Finish: Lovely. Mostly sweet, some dried apricot. Pleasant heat. Plenty of vanilla here too. Good but not great length. Rather, the length is very long but is also very faint for most of the time. Tails off with some tart apple.
Score: 95 points. Best bottle that I've opened so far. It's hard to say whether or not the bottle age is helping because I purchased my supply from about 5 different sources so the variation is more likely a difference in storage, but each year they do seem to be getting better. I could drink an entire bottle of this in one sitting, which would be pretty out of character for me. 2-3 glasses is usually all I need to slake my thirst for the night.
1964 Noval Colheita
bottled 2006
Color: Almost a perfect tawny color - medium dark with the right amounts of both brown and orange. Slightly green at the rim.
Nose: Some VA or high-toned alcohol, but it's not distracting. LOTS of vanilla or vanilla custard. Some caramel, some cotton candy. Just a little bit of coffee to prevent it from being too soft and sweet.
Palate: Delicious. Rich and full. Very much on the sweet side; perhaps lacking a bit in acidity. Some brown sugar and very mellow ripe apricot. Perhaps some mandarin orange or possibly orange zest. Just the faintest hint of nutmeg.
Finish: Lovely. Mostly sweet, some dried apricot. Pleasant heat. Plenty of vanilla here too. Good but not great length. Rather, the length is very long but is also very faint for most of the time. Tails off with some tart apple.
Score: 95 points. Best bottle that I've opened so far. It's hard to say whether or not the bottle age is helping because I purchased my supply from about 5 different sources so the variation is more likely a difference in storage, but each year they do seem to be getting better. I could drink an entire bottle of this in one sitting, which would be pretty out of character for me. 2-3 glasses is usually all I need to slake my thirst for the night.