2007 Quinta do Vale Dona Maria Vintage Port
Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:18 am
Opened for this month's virtual tasting, and in an attempt to gage this one for the future ...
Decanted at 8 a.m. Color is deep dark magenta. I hear a lot of young Port characterized as inky purple, but this was more on the red/pink side of the spectrum without enough blue to make it into violet or purple. Still, it was dark as I expected. First whiff was jammy fruit, then I noticed a hint of dried spice and later a little leather on a thick background. Later in the day I thought the aroma was of red fruit, and in the evening it had turned to berry, like a huckleberry or lingonberry. I couldn't quit place it, but it was not one of the more common berries like strawberry, raspberry, or blueberry, although of those three, closest to the blueberry.
D+14 hours: Aroma was fruity along with some menthol and eucalyptus or other dried leaf. In the mouth, WOW! I've never had a VP this young. I own 2005 and 2007, but prior to this the youngest I had tasted was 2003. This was huge. There is definitely a lot of tannin here, as after a glass I felt like I had been sampling Port all evening. However, as I was drinking it I didn't find the tannin so overwhelming because of all the fruitiness and the thick medium to heavy body. That eucalyptus flavor was big in the mouth too, although I couldn't quite place it. It was more of a herbaceousness. My wife said this one had a lot of grape skin flavor, and while I didn't disagree, I thought it was more of grape stem. Good finish, but I don't remember how long it was. I'll try to capture this in a subsequent tasting.
Score? I really don't know about this one. I've started scoring some Port where I have a basis of comparison, but I don't have that in this case. It was a pleasant drink, even at this age, so somewhere in the 90-94 range? I suspect it will be a nice drinker in the future, but I really couldn't tell you based on this tasting how great it might be or when.
Decanted at 8 a.m. Color is deep dark magenta. I hear a lot of young Port characterized as inky purple, but this was more on the red/pink side of the spectrum without enough blue to make it into violet or purple. Still, it was dark as I expected. First whiff was jammy fruit, then I noticed a hint of dried spice and later a little leather on a thick background. Later in the day I thought the aroma was of red fruit, and in the evening it had turned to berry, like a huckleberry or lingonberry. I couldn't quit place it, but it was not one of the more common berries like strawberry, raspberry, or blueberry, although of those three, closest to the blueberry.
D+14 hours: Aroma was fruity along with some menthol and eucalyptus or other dried leaf. In the mouth, WOW! I've never had a VP this young. I own 2005 and 2007, but prior to this the youngest I had tasted was 2003. This was huge. There is definitely a lot of tannin here, as after a glass I felt like I had been sampling Port all evening. However, as I was drinking it I didn't find the tannin so overwhelming because of all the fruitiness and the thick medium to heavy body. That eucalyptus flavor was big in the mouth too, although I couldn't quite place it. It was more of a herbaceousness. My wife said this one had a lot of grape skin flavor, and while I didn't disagree, I thought it was more of grape stem. Good finish, but I don't remember how long it was. I'll try to capture this in a subsequent tasting.
Score? I really don't know about this one. I've started scoring some Port where I have a basis of comparison, but I don't have that in this case. It was a pleasant drink, even at this age, so somewhere in the 90-94 range? I suspect it will be a nice drinker in the future, but I really couldn't tell you based on this tasting how great it might be or when.
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