2011 Vintage Port review from TFP, Noval, and Romaneira

[Andy Velebil]

2011 Vintage Ports
from
The Fladgate Partnership
Quinta do Noval
Quinta da Romaneira

This past Monday I attended the 2011 Vintage Port release for these three Houses. As well as tasting the 2011’s there was a number of slightly older vintages offered up so tasters could not only compare all the 2011’s side by side, but also to compare recent vintages of each House side by side. This is invaluable as it allowed people to see consistent traits such as flavors, texture, body, and other subtle nuances. Leading this remarkable tasting was Adrian Bridge - CEO of The Fladgate Partnership (TFP), David Guimaraens - head winemaker for TFP, and Christian Seely - Managing Director of Quinta do Noval and owner of Quinta da Romaneira.

Much as already been said about the vintage so I’ll skip the details and dive right into tasting notes. But before I do I wanted to mention some house keeping things. As with my previous review, these are very early cask samples tasted at a walk around tasting. I’ve included scores. Take them with a grain of salt as a general overall impression and not a final review. At this young stage VP’s change quite often and what may not show well today may show very different a few days, or even hours, later.

One thing really impressed me and stood out. Typically, Taylors and the Vargellas Vinha Velha have what I call ‟Vargellas spirit.” That is, a slight heat streak in them when young. These did not show that at all. I spoke to David Guimaraens about this and he stated that was reflective of how pure and well balanced the fruit was in 2011 from Quinta de Vargellas.

Having now tasted what are considered many of the ‟prime” houses for VP I can confidently state that I am very impressed across the board with all the 2011 Vintage Ports which have crossed my lips. If you are thinking of buying, buy early. There was little made and it is already starting to sell out.

2011 Croft Vintage Port
The nose was very floral and with raspberries. Very bold and rough fruit greeted the palate, this is a full bodied VP but retains freshness at the same time. The finish was a rough and tumble tannic youngster. I was very pleased with this vintage and I am glad to see Croft continuing to make a come back.
92-94(+) Points

2011 Fonseca Vintage Port
The nose offered up sweet rich black fruit. Soft and sweet initially on the palate, but then bold black stone fruit, massive tannins, extremely expressive and complex, a long tannic finish was a seamless transition from the body. This was stunning and one of my favorites of the 2011’s on show.
96-98 Points

2011 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port
Deep dark fruit nose. Silky yet full bodied at the same time, lacking any heat, sneaky tannins suddenly turn to monstrous ones. The fruit was a bit hard to get out at times as this was changing rapidly in my glass. Though nice minerality did show. The deep fruit did come out on the long tannic and acidic finish.
94-96(+) Points

2011 Taylor Fladgate Vargellas Vinha Velha Vintage Port
This comes from old mixed ‟field blend” vine parcels at Quinta de Vargellas. The nose was very tight and hard to get much out. But the palate was another story. Initially soft and sweet, this quickly started hammering the palate with dense sweet fruit, great acid, bold tannins, good minerality, yet elegant at the same time. Like the Fonseca, the long finish was a simple extension of the body. Another of my favorites from this tasting.
96-98 Points

2011 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port
Still slightly tanky with passion fruit on the nose. Rich black fruit, plums, a wall of tannins, outstanding acidity came late, semi-sweet overall, with a long full bodied finish. I was quite impressed with this vintage of Noval and at this tasting thought it showed as well as the Nacional. Though I imagine in time this will change.
95-97 Points

2011 Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port
The first released vintage of this since the spectacular 2003. Nose of fresh dark berries and stone fruit. Silky and subtle, dark fruit was subdued then all of a sudden popped alive. Then the prominate acidity and tannins took over and led into a long rich sweet finish.
95-97 Points

2011 Quinta da Romaneira Vintage Port
Still quite tanky with passion fruit dominating the nose. Bold red fruit, building tannins grew in the mouth, very silky and elegant, with clean fresh fruit. A long red fruit finish retained that elegance. Though young this has been my favorite VP on release from this house. I look forward to this house continuing it’s ascent to the greatness it is capable of.
92-94 Points

[Axel P]

Thanks for sharing, Andy.

Axel

[g-man]

I just attended the same tasting in NY.

my impressions.

The Noval nacional is the stand out for me showing great depth, complexity. The plums backed silky tannins that builds body in the mouth and finally coating everything purple, it showed a lovely baking spiced mixed with freshly crushed cherry nose finishing wiht a lovely sweet blackberry jam finish

Regular Noval: like it's bigger brother except softer and more acidity.

Romaneira: I found this awkward, greenish with touch of bell peppers on the nose that detracted from some of the taste. There is certainly loads of fruit, but it felt muted and a bit more dominated by crushed black peppers that detracted from the port.

Taylor VVV: This reminded me alot like the 2009 Taylor which I really like and I would say it was my #2 in the tasting trading off with teh noval nacional. Lovely nose of crushed currants, freshly ground cinnamon and that vargellas 'spirit'. This builds on the palate first with tart cherries leading into blackberries and just coats the palate completely finishing a spirity, warming and sweet that lingers around for minutes.

Taylor: Spirity nose with a touch of violets and plums. This surprisingly was softer on the mouth and belied the heat on the nose. The tannins got distracting though as the noticeable acidity had my salivating bringing out more of the sweetness of fruit. Quite enjoyable but needed more water to clean the palate.

Fonseca: Fresh bottle and I was disappointed. I had the 2003 next to it and I would say that I'd prefer the exotic 2003 Fonseca by far. However, time did do this bottle justice. What was muted on the body opened up to cardonmon, freshly ground cinnamon, touch of ginger and tons of plums.
This snuck in and became my top 4.

croft: I'd say this one is a bit rough around hte edges showing a bit of spirit on the mouth but backed with loads of fruit . It's a brute, not as sweet or lush as it's other 2011 brethen. The nose showed some nice dried orange peels, spirits and plums.

[Chris Doty]

I was a guest of Jeff's at the NY tasting, which also featured all of the declared VPs from each shipper from 2003-2011 (across Croft, Fonseca, Taylor, Taylor VV, Noval, Nacional and Romaneira) -- quite a lot of port!

Always great to see David, Adrian and Christian. Port is very lucky to have so many passionate, articulate and open ambassadors of its top wines.

At the risk of being unoriginal, I thought that the 2011 Nacional and the 2011 Taylor VV were tops, but I was also quite impressed by the regular Taylor 2011. The Fonseca and Noval 2011s were both good, but were in a separate tier, on the basis of this showing. The Croft was a further notch below, on the basis of its having weight, but little complexity/openness at this stage. The Romaneira had a hard time competing in this company.

Of all the prior vintage wines, I continue to love the 2007 Noval, despite its having shut down quite a bit since I first had it at the BBR tasting a few years ago. The 2003s are also starting to open back up, however slightly. The Fonseca and the Croft in particular seeming vibrant, but still waaaay too young to reward consumption. Most of the wines from 2004-2009 are quite closed and difficult to enjoy/assess at this stage, to my palate, at least.

Later that evening Jeff organized a dinner for Oscar Quevedo, who is in town, and I was able to again try his sensational 2011. To me, it is an earthshaking wine, and I put it even ahead of the Nacional and the Tvv

good times, good times.

[g-man]

my favorites of the tasting were the 2003 Fonseca and the 2007 Noval acutally

[g-man]

the price of the 2011 noval nacional made me blink and compelled me to post the price in ny

700$!!!

[jdaw1]

700$!!!

£395 × 1.55 $ per £ = $612¼, on which there has been a market up of about 14%.

[RAYC]

700$!!!

£395 × 1.55 $ per £ = $612¼, on which there has been a market up of about 14%.

£395 was the BBR release price rather than the UK wholesale price...

[Glenn E.]

the price of the 2011 noval nacional made me blink and compelled me to post the price in ny

700$!!!

I can get futures for $500.