Today, since Her Indoors is in Canada and I'm planning a Saturday night meal on my own, I went to the cellar (the basement under the house) to select a bottle of pinot noir and chose a Main Divide 2015.
While down there and as I'm planning to light the fire later this afternoon I thought that a half bottle of port would go down well. I've still got some half bottles of Warre's Vintage 1983 which need looking at. I uncovered the wooden boxes and the first bottle I laid hands on was a half bottle of Quinta Do Noval 20 Year Old. I was surprised as I'd forgotten that I had this not intending to keep a tawny port for so long - I bought this at least 20 years ago making the wine about 40 years old now - in a half bottle!
Fortunately as a tawny port it has 20% alcohol which is a good guarantee of longevity making me wonder that if I top up my alcohol intake will I last longer as well?
To be honest though I didn't hold out much hope for this wine so opened it early this afternoon to check.
The cork was intact but showing its age and the wine is decidedly mahogany in colour. The nose is stunning. It has a beautiful toffee and creamy caramel character and, surprisingly still smells fresh.
The taste is full and sweet like a date pudding with a bit of smoke. Long and lingering. Impressive!
I won't need to go back to the basement for a bottle of Warre's as this wine will do nicely. A glass of this after dinner will hit the spot. I'll keep it in the fridge during the week for sipping but it will probably fall apart quite quickly. If so, I'll use it in some sort of dessert - a sponge pudding or something.
2 comments:
Robert licks his lips imagining the subtle fragrance then the gentle velvety feel on the back pallet.
" ....the gentle velvety feel on the back pallet."
No, the Noval 20 y.o. is a reasonably expensive wine that isn't often purchased in bulk, certainly not bulk that requires it to be stacked on pallets. Perhaps you are confusing it with the sorts of fortified wines that your brother Richard used to drink, you know, McWilliams Cream Sherry, Glenvale Port etc.
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