1990 Quinta do Noval LBV Port
Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:10 am
Bottled in 1996, Unfiltered.
A few months ago I was at a wine offline in South Orange County (California) and I saw this bottle behind some other Port bottles in their makeshift cellar/bar area. By the end of the evening I convinced the owner to allow me to buy the bottle and take it home, without being opened. Now it wasn't exactly a steal of a price at $35, but I've never had a 1990 Noval LBV and was really curious to try it. Not to mention this is a bit of a historical thing too. As it was vintified by the Van Zellers and then finally bottled after AXA had taken over the property.
When I decanted this it was a bit light in color for a filtered LBV of its age but had a very appealing nose of fresh and aged fruit. But after 7 hours it was still quite light in body, with a simple straight forward palate, and a short hot finish. I just about gave up hope and set it aside, opting to open a very nice 2002 Lone Madrone Nebbiola to have with some homemade fajitas. I headed off to the movies with a date and came back to this some 12 hours later. My oh my, has this really changed for the better. It has gained a lot of body weight and structure. What was initally lean and hot and morphed into a thick spicy LBV with some fully resolved tannins, soild structure, and good acidity to balance out the the flavors. I really like the finnish on this now too. It is quite integrated and is quite pleasing to drink. Matter of fact I must be honest and say I didn't really care for the finish on this earlier, but now I absolutly love it. Amazing what a few extra hours of decanting will achieve. Anyways, since this is my first bottle of this particular LBV, and if it is typical of other bottles, then I'd say it's time to start drinking these up. As the tannins are fully resolved and I don't see this getting any better with further aging. Matter of fact, I would say this won't hold up with any further extended cellering. 90 points.
01/18/09
A few months ago I was at a wine offline in South Orange County (California) and I saw this bottle behind some other Port bottles in their makeshift cellar/bar area. By the end of the evening I convinced the owner to allow me to buy the bottle and take it home, without being opened. Now it wasn't exactly a steal of a price at $35, but I've never had a 1990 Noval LBV and was really curious to try it. Not to mention this is a bit of a historical thing too. As it was vintified by the Van Zellers and then finally bottled after AXA had taken over the property.
When I decanted this it was a bit light in color for a filtered LBV of its age but had a very appealing nose of fresh and aged fruit. But after 7 hours it was still quite light in body, with a simple straight forward palate, and a short hot finish. I just about gave up hope and set it aside, opting to open a very nice 2002 Lone Madrone Nebbiola to have with some homemade fajitas. I headed off to the movies with a date and came back to this some 12 hours later. My oh my, has this really changed for the better. It has gained a lot of body weight and structure. What was initally lean and hot and morphed into a thick spicy LBV with some fully resolved tannins, soild structure, and good acidity to balance out the the flavors. I really like the finnish on this now too. It is quite integrated and is quite pleasing to drink. Matter of fact I must be honest and say I didn't really care for the finish on this earlier, but now I absolutly love it. Amazing what a few extra hours of decanting will achieve. Anyways, since this is my first bottle of this particular LBV, and if it is typical of other bottles, then I'd say it's time to start drinking these up. As the tannins are fully resolved and I don't see this getting any better with further aging. Matter of fact, I would say this won't hold up with any further extended cellering. 90 points.
01/18/09