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Quinta da Pacheca is an independent quinta on the South side of the Douro, opposite Régua. I get the impression that it’s quite popular with visitors and that a few members have been there but this is my first experience with their wines.

This LBV produced huge amounts of sediment on decanting and is very dark; albeit with a surprising amount of lightening around the meniscus. Drinking just after decanting, on the nose I am immediately struck by how thick and heavy this feels. There is a touch of what I think you would describe as rancio if encountered in brandy but this is perhaps overwhelmed by something which I can’t quite describe: pepper with a dark, savoury and smoky sensation.

In the mouth, it is quite muted: there is no obvious fruit and the sugar is not particularly strong. There’s a touch of heat and the after-taste has a certain amount of pepper. I imagine that this will need some time to open out properly and display nicely.

On this initial tasting, this reminds me a bit of the Noval unfiltered LBVs. If you like those, you’ll probably like this. Unfortunately, it’s just not a style of LBVs that appeals to me

I dug the second half of this bottle out of the fridge this evening (where it had been residing in an air-tight 375ml bottle). Very similar strength on first tasting, with perhaps a touch of almonds on the final palate. Based on similar Ports in the past, I can still see others liking this, but it’s just not doing it for me!

Just been working my way through a second bottle, opened to see if it was like the first. Again, too much rancio for my liking. I'm sorry to say that I'm now quite glad that I didn't buy more...