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I write this on the train back to Porto from Pinhão, as I think I struck gold (or maybe fool’s gold).

As we were checking out of our small hotel in Pinhão this morning, I stepped into the shop and immediately spotted a single bottle of 2000 Noval Nacional. I had the receptionist confirm the price on the list was correct - 240€. It’s obviously now coming home with me!

She said she had worked there for four years and it had been there all that time. They had a decent selection of higher quality wines at the appropriate prices (Signet, Graham’s ‘52 Jubilee, etc.) so I wonder if this was the last of a small lot of bottles purchased years ago and forgotten.

The bottle was standing upright, probably for a few years, but away from sunlight. I figured that there’s a risk it’s a fake or has oxidized from being upright, but it was worth a gamble.

Anything I should be looking out for as counterfeit bottle? Any advice aside from lay it down for a few years/decades?

That could be the find of a lifetime. You might have come across a bottle which was purchased for the hotel shop 20 years ago and which has not been repriced since then.

Any chance of some pictures?

If there were any more I'd pick them up tomorrow!

Pics would be helpful. Most likely it is legit. But not the only time a fake NN has been found up river.

Photos here: https://imgur.com/a/y2YobOw

The seal on the back has been lost to time at some point but I can see where it tore off

MigSU wrote: ↑18:26 Sun 07 Jul 2024 If there were any more I'd pick them up tomorrow!

It was the only bottle - I would have taken a case at that price!!

Looks good. Aside from the "always stood up" issue, the other immediate questions I would consider before purchase would be light -for which you've said "away from sunlight - and whether the shop is well temperature regulated. Obviously you have already bought it, so now I would suggest that to allay potential concerns and/or to manage expectations if needed, to shine a torch through the bottle and check level and colour if you have not done so already. With the bottle stored vertically there won't have been any seep, so the main questions would be potential loss from evaporation and/or oxidisation as a consequence of expansion/contraction from temperature variations or cork drying out, and/or loss of colour from oxidisation or light exposure. Hopefully none of these will apply, and if the wine has a good level and is very dark with no seepage once the bottle is laid down, then you would indeed have found an excellent bargain.

As Phil says, the bottle looks to be genuine to me from the pictures you’ve posted. I’d follow his guidance to see if you can get a feel for the state of health of the contents and be and give thanks for your lucky find!

Alex Bridgeman wrote:As Phil says, the bottle looks to be genuine to me from the pictures you’ve posted. I’d follow his guidance to see if you can get a feel for the state of health of the contents and be and give thanks for your lucky find!

Agree

Thanks for the advice! The level is just at the bottom of the seal, so I don’t think there has been any evaporation. The only flashlight I have is on my phone, but even at the neck I can see it through the glass above the fill level but not through the wine itself.