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From the 1966 v 1967 tasting on 13 Nov 09

D+18 days (60ml kept in the fridge)
Very dark ruby red. Spicy nose. Thick entry, quite bitter and woody. Very, very tannic and dry. Will re-visit later.

I just re-visited this and am now convinced it is well and truely corked

What a darn shame. I don't have too many of these left but each and every time I've opened one of mine, they have been insanely young, purplish-garnet, and could easily pass for a wine 20-25 years younger. It is a massive VP and needs many hours to unfold. I opened a bottle with Alex B., Sean, Andy, Julian and Moses ... their first time having the 1967 and the only issue with that bottle is that it did not have another 8 hours of time in decanter before it was all gone. Crazy good and under-rated. No way a regular 1967 Noval would beat it side-by-side, if both bottles were in proper form.

Roy Hersh wrote:What a darn shame. I don't have too many of these left but each and every time I've opened one of mine, they have been insanely young, purplish-garnet, and could easily pass for a wine 20-25 years younger. It is a massive VP and needs many hours to unfold. I opened a bottle with Alex B., Sean, Andy, Julian and Moses ... their first time having the 1967 and the only issue with that bottle is that it did not have another 8 hours of time in decanter before it was all gone. Crazy good and under-rated. No way a regular 1967 Noval would beat it side-by-side, if both bottles were in proper form.

Roy is right on with that. Never seen a port so young and open up so slowly. The Dick Clark of port! For sure a 24 hour decant! Truly amazing vintage.

Roy Hersh wrote:What a darn shame.

You're not wrong!

This wine was universally declared as being "flat" on the night of the tasting but, as no-one else has posted a TN I'm not sure whether or not anyone detected TCA. However, the colour and texture of this wine stand up to the description Roy and Moses give. Given this youthfull profile, a non-tainted bottle of this must be a fabulous wine.

I will repeat my previously stated emotion on this

Roy Hersh wrote: No way a regular 1967 Noval would beat it side-by-side, if both bottles were in proper form.

Roy,
Other than the one time last year at Noval, how many times have you had the regular Noval? As I'm not so sure I'd agree. I think the regular would give the Nacional a run for it's money. The only time I've had a regular 67 Noval was when Rute served it blind to us last year on the Harvest Trip. Everyone at the table had no idea Noval even made a regular 1967. It was utterly fantastic and I was amazed this was a regular Noval and not a Nacional..and from 1967 no less. I don't have my TN's handy for a score, but I remember it being in the 97-98ish range. I'll check when I get home. Either way, it would be fun to put these two side by side, double blind, to see how they stack up.

Andy V wrote:

Roy Hersh wrote: No way a regular 1967 Noval would beat it side-by-side, if both bottles were in proper form.

Either way, it would be fun to put these two side by side, double blind, to see how they stack up.

That's exactly what we tried here, but it didn't work out to be a fair fight

DRT wrote:

Andy V wrote:

Roy Hersh wrote: No way a regular 1967 Noval would beat it side-by-side, if both bottles were in proper form.

Either way, it would be fun to put these two side by side, double blind, to see how they stack up.

That's exactly what we tried here, but it didn't work out to be a fair fight

That happens

Andy,

I very much do agree although I did not have this Port after 24hrs+ in the decanter. I do like the Noval 67 a lot and actually much more than the Nacional of this year, which I had twice already in 2009.

Axel

Much darker than NN66, nosing of aniseed and a hint of rotten fruit. To taste rather acidic, and also hot.

The RAF Club on 13th November 2009.

Links:

• Arrangements and planning;
• Review of the evening as a whole;
• First session, a 1966 versus 1967 semi-blind double-horizontal:
  • Placemats;
  • 1966 Noval Nacional;
  • 1967 Noval Nacional;
  • 1966 Sandeman;
  • 1967 Sandeman;
  • 1966 Noval;
  • 1967 Noval;
  • 1966 Warre;
  • 1967 Martinez;
  • 1966 Taylor;
  • 1967 Taylor Vargellas.
• Second session, bring-a-bottle to share:
  • Placemats;
  • 1960 Cockburn;
  • 1963 Dow;
  • 1980 Dow;
  • 1963 Ferreira;
  • 1970 Fonseca;
  • 1970 Gould Campbell;
  • 1963 Graham;
  • 1970 Graham;
  • 1960 Martinez;
  • 1963 Morgan.