LEFT A BIT

 I did some further 'fossicking' in the cellar (actually it's just a basement now as the wine cellar has gone after having sold off all the treasures and I haven't been buying any 'keeping' wines) I turned up a few more fortified wines that we will consume over the winter months.

Left to right are:

• Noval 10 y.o. (half bottle)
• Quinta da Noval 1997 vintage port (half bottle)
• Hardy's Whiskers Blake tawny 'port'
• Lauriston Reserve Muscat
• Noval 10 y.o.
• Warre's 1970 port
• Dalva 10.y.o.

The gems here are the Warre's 1970 and the Quinta da Noval 1997.

Warre's 1970 is rated as being the best vintage of Warre's produced which will make it interesting drinking after the outstanding 1983 (half bottle) we tried on the weekend and the subject of the previous post).

Here are a couple of reviews from tasters who have tried it over the last year:

I'm looking forward to trying our one. We have friends visiting in a few weeks so will likely open it then.

The Quinta da Noval 1997 is similarly well rated. Here a re a couple of reviews:

Again, I'm looking forward to trying it again.Being a half bottle we will drink this soon just between the two of us.

Both the Warre's 1970 and the Quinta Da Noval 1997 are fetching huge prices on the market and maybe if I had several bottles I might be tempted to sell but as we kept these bottles back when we sold all the ports and other good wines at auction a few years ago, these are for drinking.

The other ports (and the muscat) won't be great but we have had them for a long time (between 20 and 30 years) so while the styles don't improve in bottle should have mellowed quite a bit. Hey! We're set for the possible very cold winter we are going to have.

I'll post on the wines as we try them.

*******************************

PART 2

I had finished this post and then I went down to the cellar basement later looking for some old Zinfandel that I remembered having.

I moved the spare wheel to the trailer, my bike, the trailer tarpaulin cover, some old rope and fishing poles, several cartons of wine glasses and three big bags of golf balls and there was a box of old ports - staring me in the face all the time!

I also discovered, along with a few bottles of old American Zinfandels an unopened case of Novum NZ Pinot Noir 2019 vintage. I'd totally forgotten about this. I'll post on these wines later as this post is about port.

I brought the six bottles of port upstairs and cleaned the bottles.

They are:

• Taylors 20 year old
• Silval 1997 vintage
• Noval forty year old
• Noval Late Bottled Vintage 1994 (three bottles)

Sadly one of the Noval LBV has leaked but at least we have two more.

The wine is stuffed.

This again was a treat as I'd totally forgotten about these as well.

The Silval, another from the Quinta da Noval stable, while not being as renowned as the main Quinta da Noval wine has had some pretty good reviews.

The Taylors 20 year old and the Noval 40 year old (20 years and 40 years aged in barrels) should also be interesting drinking. The 1994 Noval Late Bottled Vintage  (usually spending a couple of years aging in barrel before bottling) will be a good medium between the vintage ports and the barrel aged ones. All three of these are fetching high prices on the market and getting great reviews. Once again I'll post a review as we taste them. Her Indoors is already making noises about opening one of the half bottles tonight - not waiting for the weekend!

SATURDAY NIGHTS ALRIGHT FOR ...

 ... well, not for fighting, that's for sure.

The cooler weather has made us think of robust and roasted meals and 'warmer' drinks. To this end I fossicked in the cellar and brought out a half bottle of Warre's 1983 vintage port.

The label slipped a bit after washing the bottle

Thankfully the state of the label wasn't an indication of the state of the wine in the bottle. The cork was intact and extracted safely. I decanted the wine which we will have this evening (roasted potatoes and pumpkin with a broccoli and cauliflower cheese bake is dinner).

As an afternoon starter we've been drinking a bottle of Veuve Cliquot NV Champagne. You know what it looks like so I won't post a picture - orange label remember. The Champagne is fresh and lovely. We love this brand.

I've left the port to 'breathe' in a decanter - not 'gasp' as you might think with it being 41 years old and we will drink it after dinner. We had a tasting glass though and were astounded. The colour is tawny but still has reddish hues. The nose has sultanas and vanilla with no nuttiness. It is still very much alive and well. The wine is silky smooth to taste and is rich, round and sweet which suggests that the fruit is still outbalancing the alcohol or, as you'd expect, the alcohol volume has dropped with the age.

I'm happy to say that I still have a couple of half bottles left of this wine but I imagine that we will have drunk them before spring.

OLD AND PAST IT

 We like Champagne at our house .... send us some!

Last week when I was cleaning up and clearing out the basement I found a box of forgotten wines stuck in a corner covered by tools, carpets and an old bicycle.

In the box I 'found' (at the corners of my memory I knew they were there somewhere) some 1980 vintage ports (Warre's) half bottles, a couple of bottles of 1988 Ravenswood Zinfandel, a decanter bottle of 10 y.o. Dalva port and three bottles of Remy Martin Club Cognac. "All good" I thought although the Ravenswood will be stuffed. At the bottom of the box was a bottle of de Venoge 1973 'Cordon Bleu' Champagne.

I've had this bottle since 1987 (37 years) when I was clearing out the basement of an old wine and spirit merchants that I'd taken over as manager. It was among some other old relics that, sadly had been opened (old postwar whiskies, vodkas and gins from the 1960s etc that would have been valuable if unopened and intact. I kept the de Venoge as it was unusual in being in a decanter bottle that had the glass stopper strapped to its side. In 1987 the wine was 14 years old - not old for a vintage Champagne but I had no knowledge of its provenance and didn't know how it had been stored so never opened it to try it.

Well, last night I did. I expected it to be flat which it was but hoped for some old Champagne taste. I was disappointed . The wine was sour like old and very tart apple juice. A shame that.

de Venoge 1973 'Cordon Bleu' Champagne doesn't fetch high prices on the international auction market. I found  it for 52GBP on one site and 250 USD on another - good luck to anyone buying it - so don't feel like I wasted anything by opening it.

1973 rated well in the Champagne vintages but generally, recent tastings have proved that Champagne doesn't last that long:

"Overall, the 1973 vintage for Champagne was fantastic with a fair few age-worthy examples. Although, simply due to the sheer length of time passed, many Champagnes are likely to be past their best. The top examples, however, may still be drinking now although careful research is advisable."

 With my bottle the label showed wear but the cork and muselet seemed to be in good condition. 

On opening, the cork was compressed which is not unusual with age and this exacerbates oxidation.

On their website de Venoge still market the Cordon Bleu range but have put the wine in the standard bottle. The 'decanter' bottle is now used for the Princes range.

The wine as you'd expect had no bubbles and was browned. The taste as I said was sour  (more Granny Smith than lemon and honey) and not worth 'freshening up' with some newer bubbles ....

..... I resorted to an old favourite instead - Stoneleigh Rose.