ThePortForum.com

Mid red colour, no youth but no signs of maturity. Sweet and ripe on the nose, full of Turkish Delight - attractive. Gentle entry, rich and full bodied with a delicious spiciness inside a sweet and rich fruit cake core. Mouthfilling aftertaste, sweet raspberries and bitter chocolate. Lovely drinking. 87/100. Drunk 10 March 2011.

Links:

• Review of evening as a whole;
• 1970 Martinez;
• 1980 Graham;
• 1982 Croft;
• 1990 Warre Cavadinha;
• 1991 Fonseca Guimaraens;
• 1991 Quinta do Noval;
• 1991 Quinta de Roriz;
• 1991 Smith Woodhouse;
• 2003 Colmaça;
• 2003 Vale Dona Maria;
• 2005 Osborne LBV;
• NV Dow’s Icon Reserve;
• Planning and arrangements;
• Placemats.

Lightening on the edge. Some fruit. A bit austere. Closed down; needs more years.

Surprised to see such a positive note on this port. When I tried it (years ago) it was on its way down from never being really good. IMO a good example of the trouble Noval was facing back then. But good to see you had a good bottle.

Having just finished the second half of this bottle, I think the impression I took from this was it is a good, light, early-maturing Port. Pretty much what you would expect from a single-quinta wine in a light vintage. I do wonder what it could have been, had the Van Zellars hung onto the Quinta, especially having tried the 2003 Vale Dona Maria at the same tasting...

JacobH wrote:I do wonder what it could have been, had the Van Zellars hung onto the Quinta,

??? At that time it was still owned and produced by the Van Zellers.

Sorry; I meant ‟what single-quinta wine from Roriz could have been like in the future had the Van Zellers hung onto it and not lost it with Noval?”. I think I’m right in saying that this is the only one produced by them from Roriz; some of their more recent wines from Dona Maria are very good, so they could have produced some excellent Ports from the property in the 1990s and 2000s.

Ah, ok. But Roriz was never sold to Axa. It was owned by João van Zeller until 2009, when he sold it to the Symington's. From 1999 on the wine from Roriz was made by the Symington's, I believe until 2007. Between 2007 and 2009 it was made by Christiano van Zeller and his winemaker Sandra Tavares.
I didn't taste the most recent Roriz ports, but I very much liked the style of the port from 1999 on.