For The Love Of Port

1991 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port

The only bottle of this I have, and the only one I've ever seen. Not sure why, but seems this vintage of Noval isn't exactly an easy find in the market place. I've never seen or even heard anyone ever talk of this bottling, not even so much as a tasting note until I asked here on the forum recently. So what better bottle to chose for this months Virtual Tasting...ok, and a little birthday celebration too

Been sipping this for the last few hours and its held steady during that time. A VP that still has a mix of some young fruit yet noticable secondary flavors emerging. Lighter in weight than others from this vintage, yet by no means thin. A bit tough on the palate as it flirts between the young fruit and those secondary flavors. The tannins show up late and are quite soft for such a young VP. But where it fails is in its complexity and finish, it just isn't there. While I don't think this has peaked quite yet and has a few more years to go, I don't think it will get much better with more age. Without the tannins and complexity and with the lighter body, I fear this will lose the freshness that is holding it all together at its current stage. I'd recommend to start drinking them now and over the next 4-5 years to catch it at it's best. 87 points
04/16/09

I bought 3 bottles of the 1991 Noval too Andy, ooops, those are actually Nacionals. :wall:

Roy Hersh wrote:I bought 3 bottles of the 1991 Noval too Andy, ooops, those are actually Nacionals. :wall:

Never had it, but if it's anything like this one, then OUCH! That's a lot of money for what may be a substandard Nacional. Have you had the 1991 Nacional yet? Curious as to how it performed compared to my TN of the regular version.

Yes, actually it is a very solid Port wine. Fortunately, I bought these from a friend who had scored six and didn't want that many. A real steal of a deal, well under $200 apiece in the day.