Mature red colour, lightly pigmented with a 40% opacity. Lots of redcurrant on the nose, effusive but slightly odd with interesting bruised fruit complexity. Poised entry, full of dirty, bruised plum fruit. Generous acidity keeping the abalnce with the faint tannin lurking in the background. The fruit is supported by acidity on the aftertaste, which is followed by a big, chewy fruit-led finish. This is an odd and atypical port and I wonder how this will develop. 88/100. 08-Feb-16. Decanted 7½ hours.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
NN87 I am very grateful to Julian for bringing this along, as it was my first taste of the revered Nacional. Unfortunately it wasn't the greatest of ports. I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, and maybe it is going through a dumb phase and may show better in a few years time. I felt it had a touch of marmite(?) on the nose which i have not come across before. There was a touch of sediment showing too, and some discussion as to whether it was 'dirty'. For differing reasons to the other ports on the night, I hope to try this again in the future when hopefully it will be closer to the legend that is.
87 Points
