70% opaque (but the lighting was poor); deep red and with a bricking rim. Red licorice on the nose, with stewed purple damsons - inviting and sweet. Sweet and mature, full of bruised plums and black licorice on the palate. Concentrated - perhaps too concentrated - and powerful. The tannins are almost fully integrated with bruised apple acidity providing a counter-point to the huge, powerful stewed fruit. Bruised apples show again on the aftertaste, and eventually fade to allow an immensely long finish of black licorice to shine through for a full 5 minutes.
Clearly this is unbalanced, but could be suffering from a mid-life crisis (in much the same way as the Taylor 1985 was until recently) but there is such a concentration of sweet fruit that I will hope for a better showing in 5-10 years time. 88/100. Drunk 30-Aug-12. Decanted 4 hours.
1987 Quinta do Noval Nacional
- Alex Bridgeman
- Graham’s 1948
- Posts: 14880
- Joined: 13:41 Mon 25 Jun 2007
- Location: Berkshire, UK
1987 Quinta do Noval Nacional
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.