An Affair to Remember: 1851-1994
Sammamish, Washington
Tasted Monday, May 6, 2013 by theportguy with 240 views
Introduction
This "bucket-list" tasting was organized by some Port wine acquaintances who wanted to have a blow out tasting for their friend, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer. The full story of the evening can be read here: https://www.fortheloveofport.com/an-affair-to-remember-1851-1994/
1851 Warre Porto Vintage 99 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
This was one of the great three vintages in the 1800s. This bottle was bought at auction forty years ago. Medium red core with bricking on the edges. There was initially some light spearmint and a touch of clove on the nose, but with some air I picked up some floral notes. Bright fruit and strawberries on the medium-bodied palate. This is an expressive, beautiful wine, and while I would not go so far to call it elegant in style, it exudes an amazing sophistication for such an old wine. Excellent acidity and a medium-long finish.
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1896 Dow Porto Vintage Flawed
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Light ruby in color with clearing at the edges. Some vegetative and herbal notes on the nose. Sadly, this bottle is corked. You can smell it on the palate, but surprisingly, the tight palate had some red fruit and cherry hiding behind the TCA funkiness. We tried an old trick of adding Saran Wrap to the wine to try and reduce the TCA. We figured we had nothing to lose. It did not seem to make much of a difference.
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1912 Warre Porto Vintage 88 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Light ruby in color. Nice clarity and depth of color. Some spirit and eucalyptus on the nose. No sign of sediment, despite a lot of sediment coming out of the bottle. There is some spirit on the palate as well, but just underneath are some nice strawberry and red fruit notes, along with some orange peel and Madeira-like qualities. Medium-long finish.
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1927 Fonseca Porto Vintage 80 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
This was bottled by Whitwhams. Slightly dusty amber in color with some cloudiness. This bottle is corked. The nose if very off-putting. There are some spicy notes, but it all seems oxidized and disjointed. The palate has some metallic notes, and there really wasn’t much fruit remaining. Overall, this one was rather disappointing.
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1931 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage 98 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Some mocha, toffee, light, spirity notes on the nose. The color is a very dark ruby, which is surprising for a wine this old. Intense mouthfeel with some red fruit still present. Expansive mouthfeel with red fruit and bing cherry, and a complexity that is quite delightful. The wonderful flavors continued to roll through the exceptionally long finish. Wow!
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1945 Warre Porto Vintage 97 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Bright, clear ruby in color. Cherry hard candy and a touch of spirit on the nose. The palate had an amazing texture and sported notes of Christmas spice, clove, and Twizzlers. Good acidity and some lingering red fruit on the palate. Sweet, long finish
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1945 Dow Porto Vintage 95 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Very dark ruby in color. Great intensity and fruit on the approach. Some slight herbal notes on the nose, but the full-bodied palate with notes of red currant, pomegranate, and just a touch of spirit made up for any deficiencies on the nose. The tannins were pronounced on the mid-palate and resolved to a nice balance of acidity and tannins on the medium-long finish.
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1945 Croft Porto Vintage 96 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
This was bottled by Whitwhams. Medium-ruby in color, with lightening on the edges. Some spirit was present on the nose, along with fennel, pomegranate and a touch of toffee. Really nice complexity of red fruit with some elegance and spice on the palate. The long, complex finish was really enjoyable and rounded out this outstanding wine beautifully.
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1945 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage 95 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Ruby in color with clearing on the edges. some dusty red fruit on the nose with dusty raspberry, cherry, red currant, and a hint of cinnamon. The entry on the palate was luscious with red fruit and Christmas spice, backed up by tremendously balanced tannins. The long, complex finish provided waves of red fruit and spices.
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1945 Fonseca Porto Vintage 98 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Dark ruby in color. Some absolutely beautiful aromas on the nose of raspberry, red currant, and cranberry, with some light espresso notes underneath. Incredible intensity and balance, with waves of flavor and a smooth, silky mouthfeel that just keeps bringing me back and back. The complexity of red fruit, intricately balanced with tannins and acidity on the crazy long finish was sublime, and just put the cherry on top of this phenomenal wine.
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1948 Fonseca Porto Vintage 97 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Bottled by Corney & Barrow. Very dark purple in color. Intense aromas of red fruit mingled with toasted almonds. The palate is smooth and elegant, with some lush blueberry and dark fruit still lingering around. The tannins and acidity are well-balanced on the very long, luscious finish.
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1948 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage 97 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Light ruby in color with some bricking on the edges. Some herbal and spice notes on the nose. Great red fruits and some underlying toffee and molasses on the well-balanced palate. Light, elegant wine with strawberry on the palate. The long, smooth finish delivered waves of flavor and incredible balance.
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1931 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage Nacional 100 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
My oh my. This is a legendary bottle that I never thought I would get to try in my lifetime. We have a regular segment in our For The Love Of Port newsletter where interview personalities from the Port trade. One the standard questions we usually ask in our interviews is “What is the one Vintage Port you wish you could try, but never have.” I would (unscientifically) venture to say that 80% say “The 1931 Noval Nacional.” My friend Roy Hersh helped to secure this bottle for an epic “bucket list” tasting, and the buyer paid $10,000 for the bottle. Despite seemingly good provenance, when we used Port tongs to open it, the kitchen immediately started to smell like wet cardboard. It was a corked bottle, and undrinkable. We were obviously extremely disappointed, but the buyer didn’t seem to be too worked up about it. Unbeknownst to use, he had discovered another bottle of the 1931 Noval Nacional and had flown to the Bahamas to pick it up from the famous Graycliff Restaurant. The bottle was pulled from a bag, places on the counter, and our roller-coaster of emotions went from sadness to jubilation! The wine was light amber in color as it was decanted, and we breathed a sigh of relief when we smelled some wonderful aromatics wafting up from the decanter. After carefully pouring everyone a glass, we sat down to taste and write our notes. There was a little spirit on the nose, with a touch of red fruits and even some light floral notes. On taking the first sip, there was an intense flavor of bight cherry and red fruit, with some crazy complexity of swirling espresso bean, dark fruit, brown sugar, and some black cherry. The immense, evolving mid-palate was smooth and balanced. The finish was incredibly long, with the flavors, acidity and residual tannins dancing playfully seemingly minutes after I’d swallowed. This was likely a one-in-a-lifetime bottle for me, and while it might be tempting to rate this wine higher because of the experience, the wine in the glass before me earned this perfect score all on its own.
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1963 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage Nacional 98 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Dark purple in color. Fully opaque. There are some caramel notes on the nose, and some vibrate cherry and strawberry notes as well. On the palate, there is ample Bing cherry and red fruit on the palate, with great structure, acidity and balance. There is an intense concentration of fruit and well-structured tannins stretching from the mid-palate into the very long finish. Wow!
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1966 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage Nacional Flawed
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Medium-dark purple in color. Hints of root beer and a touch of cinnamon on the nose. There is something off with this bottle. The group agreed that this was severely flawed
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1967 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage Nacional Flawed
Portugal, Douro, Porto
This wine is very dark purple in color. There is a touch of spirit on the nose, but something seems a little off on the aromatics. On the first sip, it had an intense mouthfeel, with still a hint of primary fruit. However, there was still something funky going on even on the palate. It wasn’t corked, but maybe just an off bottle.
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1994 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage 100 Points
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Deep purple in color with almost complete opacity. There is cocoa powder and still some primary fruit on this beast. Extremely intense, primary black fruit on the palate. Amazing intensity. Unbelievable longevity for this wine. Balance is so perfect on this wine, and the finish just keeps on going with wave after wave of fruit and tannins. This wine is drinking like a young VP right now, but the incredible structure underneath means this wine is going to be an even bigger rock star down the road than it is tonight. This was a stunning wine.
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