1966 Quinta do Noval

[JacobH]

Notes: Amber in the centre, fading to light orange. A stack of fresh spearmint on the nose. No fresh fruit left in the mouth, but a glorious sense of marzipan and dried fruit like cherries. Very long aftertaste with caramel. Excellent Port to drink now.

Tasted at: Quinta do Noval Virtual Tasting with 67 Pall Mall

Date: 28th June 2020

Rated: C

http://www.jacob-head.com/port/records/ ... al_1966_VP

(A Note on Ratings

My rating system attempts to answer the question “is this a good Port?” one of three ways: No; Possibly; or Certainly. Ports generally are rated against others of their category. Therefore, a Ruby Port which I rate as C for Certainly good, might not be as good as a Vintage Port which receives the same rating. I sometimes modify my rating with a plus or minus indicating that the Port is better or worse than might be expected for this category.)

[* This is the correct link but it is buggy: my script pulls in the Nacional notes for standard Noval.] [Edit: I hope the link now works properly].

[Alex Bridgeman]

Decanted under Argon by 67 Pall Mall for one of their online Zoom tastings.

A wonderful mature brick-red colour with a wide rim but still opaque at the centre. Served at cellar temperature (12C) the nose is initially quite closed. Allowing the glass to stand for half an hour allows the wine to show its wonderful flavours: flavours of baked redcurrant, golden syrup and a refined floral perfume. The fruit leads on the palate, redcurrant with golden syrup. The surprise on the mid-palate is the presence of dusty tannins. The sweet redcurrant fruit becomes sweeter and more of a cocktail cherry fruitiness on the aftertaste and wonderfully long finish. This is a very good example of a Port at the top of its secondary phase and is truly delicious. 93/100.