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It has been some time since there was a Noval tasting and I feel it is time to correct this. The original plan was to try to include a few bottles of Nacional but, following a few discussions, I have decided to focus this tasting on Quinta do Noval and look to set up a dedicated Nacional tasting separately. I still might see down the line if I can arrange one or two Nacional bottles but that will not be the theme of the tasting.

Unless others disagree, we’ll skip the period from 1980 to 1991 unless we have insufficient bottles. I suspect on this basis we will end up at around the 2000 Vintage but not sure.

If interested could you let me know and also list what bottles you would be prepared to provide.

Attendees:
1 MJRM
2 MSC
3 CPR1
4 JohnDavidFrance
5 nac
6 Christopher
7 flash_uk
8 PhilW
9 idj123
10 NigelM
11 AlexB
12 jdaw1
13 winesecretary
14 cem?

Reserves:


Unable to attend:
MichaelC
Justin K
hadge

Vintages:
1880 cem
1931 cem
1945 cem
1947 MJRM
1950
1951
1954
1955 cem (bottle/mag)
1957
1958 idj123
1960 flash_uk; idj123; CPR1
1963 nac; idj123; MSC
1966 nac; flash_uk; idj123; MJRM; MSC; CPR1
1967 MJRM
1970 JohnDavidFrance; nac; idj123; MJRM; MSC; NigelM; PhilW; jdaw1
1975 PhilW (adopting from nac); jdaw1
1978 AlexB
……..
1991 winesecretary (adopting from nac)
1994 CPR1; Christopher
1995 NigelM
1996
1997 CPR1
2000 CPR1
2003 jdaw1; Christopher
2004
2007


Current draft of the placemats.

That sounds like fun ... Can you add me to the list ....

Yes please, sounds great

I have a 1970 noval if useful so count me in if space allows

Yup. Have a few.
Will check and confirm.

nac wrote: ↑14:21 Sat 02 May 2026 Yup. Have a few.
Will check and confirm.

Definitely have 60, 63, 66, 70. Nothing earlier. Will check post 70.

Yes please!

Sounds fab, yes please.

Would love to join but have very little.
Have Noval 1970 and/or Noval '62 crusted (bt '65), or happy to adopt as needed.

Yes please.

Yes please!

Yes please!

Yes please for 8 Sept. I know I cannot make it on 1 Sept.

Have N66 and N70.

Please put me on the reserve list… I have none of the wines, in the specified time period, as for some reason Noval and I have very rarely chimed.

Yes please.

I’d keep 1978 in the line up. I don’t know if I have any at the moment, but I’ve drunk a couple of cases of 1978 Noval and thoroughly enjoyed them. It’s very definitely a Port which is ignored by most Port drinkers so is usually a bit of a bargain.

nac wrote: ↑14:23 Sat 02 May 2026

nac wrote: ↑14:21 Sat 02 May 2026 Yup. Have a few.
Will check and confirm.

Definitely have 60, 63, 66, 70. Nothing earlier. Will check post 70.

Actually don't have 60 - must have drunk it.

Loads of 63, one bottle of 66, loads of 70, one bottle of 75, and loads of 85. Also have NN01 that might be good to try at 25.

nac wrote: ↑14:21 Sat 02 May 2026 Loads of 63

You can never have enough 63

I’m washing my hair that night

Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑23:09 Sat 02 May 2026 Yes please.

I’d keep 1978 in the line up. I don’t know if I have any at the moment, but I’ve drunk a couple of cases of 1978 Noval and thoroughly enjoyed them. It’s very definitely a Port which is ignored by most Port drinkers so is usually a bit of a bargain.

Thanks Alex. I have updated the opening post. I have never tried the 1978 so would certainly be interested to try it.

nac wrote: ↑15:37 Sun 03 May 2026

nac wrote: ↑14:23 Sat 02 May 2026

nac wrote: ↑14:21 Sat 02 May 2026 Yup. Have a few.
Will check and confirm.

Definitely have 60, 63, 66, 70. Nothing earlier. Will check post 70.

Actually don't have 60 - must have drunk it.

Loads of 63, one bottle of 66, loads of 70, one bottle of 75, and loads of 85. Also have NN01 that might be good to try at 25.

Some nice ports there. The NN01 would be a great addition. I am hoping we can maybe get 5 or 6 NN in total in the tasting to see how they fair overall against the regular Noval. It will also depend on the depth of Noval people have. We definitely have 63-70 covered.

Looks like we have enough interest for me to check availability with B&F. In the meantime if people who would like to attend can disclose any bottles they would be prepared to
include that would be great. We will definitely have enough 60-70! I plan to include a 1947 so we have that as well.

Bertie3000 wrote: ↑05:22 Mon 04 May 2026

Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑23:09 Sat 02 May 2026 Yes please.

I’d keep 1978 in the line up. I don’t know if I have any at the moment, but I’ve drunk a couple of cases of 1978 Noval and thoroughly enjoyed them. It’s very definitely a Port which is ignored by most Port drinkers so is usually a bit of a bargain.

Thanks Alex. I have updated the opening post. I have never tried the 1978 so would certainly be interested to try it.

The good news is that I still have a couple of bottles left from the last case.

flash_uk wrote: ↑14:40 Sat 02 May 2026 Sounds fab, yes please.

I've got 60 and 66 for sure. Probably also 70.

I have 58, 60, 63, 66 and 70 and nothing else (save for 2011 and later).

nac wrote: ↑15:37 Sun 03 May 2026

nac wrote: ↑14:23 Sat 02 May 2026

nac wrote: ↑14:21 Sat 02 May 2026 Yup. Have a few.
Will check and confirm.

Definitely have 60, 63, 66, 70. Nothing earlier. Will check post 70.

Actually don't have 60 - must have drunk it.

Loads of 63, one bottle of 66, loads of 70, one bottle of 75, and loads of 85. Also have NN01 that might be good to try at 25.

And some 91.

This tasting has now been confirmed for 1 September (sorry Michael C, as I know you could not make this date, but this date worked for more).

As updated in the first post, I have tweaked the theme to focus on Noval only and will look to organise a separate Nacional tasting. I have made this decision after a few separate conversations where the general feeling was to split. As I have said above, I still might see if we can get one of two bottles of Nacional for comparison purposes but will worry about that later and would not expect attendees to pay equalisation payments.

I have now updated bottles disclosed and attendees, hopefully correctly. Early days but could those who have not disclosed yet please confirm what bottles they have.

Yes please, unless super-Nacional-expensive. Will confirm bottles.

I Have 70 but as that slot is taken I will bring a very immature 95. (Plus a bonus bottle that says 'Noval over 40 years Port, bottled in 1987') we can have that on arrival, early bird catches the Port.

Cheers
NM

I've got 63 66 70 14 17 21 and 22

While fetching another bottle from my cellar yesterday, I discovered a bottle of Noval 1970 which I thought had been previously drunk. So I do still have "some" Noval after all (albeit a very small quantity!)

The date is a bit awkward, but please put me down if there is space. I will do my level best to attend.
Ones I know I have from that list without checking, which don't have any bringers yet are:
1931
1945
1955 in bottle or mag
I might have others.
Also, I have a cache of 1880 that I have never tried. I assume there is no objection to popping one of those!

cem wrote: ↑16:38 Tue 26 May 2026Also, I have a cache of 1880 that I have never tried. I assume there is no objection to popping one of those!

The Book wrote:► A list of declarations since 1880 was sent in February 2009 by Rute Monteiro of Quinta do Noval.

QdN: 1880, 1887, 1924, 1927, 1931, 1934, 1945, 1947, 1950, 1955, 1958, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1975, 1978, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2004

So 1880 is the earliest vintage previously known to the Quinta.

PhilW wrote: ↑09:17 Wed 13 May 2026 While fetching another bottle from my cellar yesterday, I discovered a bottle of Noval 1970 which I thought had been previously drunk. So I do still have "some" Noval after all (albeit a very small quantity!)

I have added you to the list of attendees

cem wrote: ↑16:38 Tue 26 May 2026 The date is a bit awkward, but please put me down if there is space. I will do my level best to attend.
Ones I know I have from that list without checking, which don't have any bringers yet are:
1931
1945
1955 in bottle or mag
I might have others.
Also, I have a cache of 1880 that I have never tried. I assume there is no objection to popping one of those!

I have added you to the attendee list. Hoping you can still make it work.

I have updated the attendee list. Could those who have not yet disclosed bottles please do so….although we seem to have enough 1970!

I can offer 60, 66, 94, 97 and 00

CPR 1 wrote: ↑08:26 Fri 19 Jun 2026 I can offer 60, 66, 94, 97 and 00

Great thank you. First post updated.

I have just updated the opening post with provisionally who might bring what (too hot to do anything else today!).

We are still awaiting bottles from jdaw1, hadge and Christopher so this might change.

PhilW will need to adopt but I suggest we do this, and determine if anyone else needs to offer a second bottle, once other bottles re known.

I can adopt the N75 from Neil if that makes sense? (Neil would be happy with this)

PhilW wrote: ↑10:36 Fri 26 Jun 2026 I can adopt the N75 from Neil if that makes sense? (Neil would be happy with this)

Thanks. Opening post updated to reflect adoption.

Please can jdaw1, hadge and Christopher disclose bottles. Thanks.

Bertie3000 wrote: ↑16:54 Sun 05 Jul 2026Please can jdaw1 … disclose bottles.

I have:
• N70, one bottle, and this would be an excellent use for it.
• N75, given to me for a purpose not yet come to pass. If it were important, then of course this purpose would be more important, but I prefer not.
• N03, in unopened OWC, and this would be an excellent reason to open it.

There is a 91 national in chiswick auction at the moment? Finishes on the 17th...

I have an NN80 that I’m willing to donate. (And yes, I know what happened last time.)

jdaw1 wrote: ↑21:29 Sun 05 Jul 2026

Bertie3000 wrote: ↑16:54 Sun 05 Jul 2026Please can jdaw1 … disclose bottles.

I have:
• N70, one bottle, and this would be an excellent use for it.
• N75, given to me for a purpose not yet come to pass. If it were important, then of course this purpose would be more important, but I prefer not.
• N03, in unopened OWC, and this would be an excellent reason to open it.

Thank you. Noval 2003 will work well. First post updated.

Just waiting for hadge and Christopher to declare their bottles.

cem wrote: ↑16:38 Tue 26 May 2026 The date is a bit awkward, but please put me down if there is space. I will do my level best to attend.
Ones I know I have from that list without checking, which don't have any bringers yet are:
1931
1945
1955 in bottle or mag
I might have others.
Also, I have a cache of 1880 that I have never tried. I assume there is no objection to popping one of those!

You currently have 4 bottles that no one else has disclosed. Could you confirm which bottles you are happy to provide (assuming you are still able to make it).

jdaw1 wrote: ↑20:18 Mon 06 Jul 2026 I have an NN80 that I’m willing to donate. (And yes, I know what happened last time.)

Thank you. Very kind. I actually think we might have enough Noval without introducing any Nacional but am waiting to finalise the bottles. I think I will try to organise a NN tasting separately, probably in 2027, as discussed with a couple of people.

Please can hadge and Christopher disclose their bottles so I can finalise the list. Thank you.

I can do 94, 03 or adopt please