1985 Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port

[Eric Menchen]

Tasted blind. Medium ruby red with a slight brown tint. This is, however, the most brown of the flight (1985 Rabello Valente, Krohn, Kopke, QdNN, and Croft). This has even deeper berry aromas than the first three wines of the flight, with more of the blackberry, zwarte currant type. There is also some faint lemon, and possible VA. No, not really VA. There is some fig aroma, almost more fresh than dried, and faint grape stem. In the mouth, there are some tannins, and a decent amount, really a lot of acid. The fig comes through in the flavor, but not is much more of the dried fig filling character. This is more oxidized than the first three wines, but still quite tasty. There is some warmth in the finish. And later I detected a buttery Indonesian cinnamon roll character. 92-93 points, I’ll settle on 92+. (It slightly edges out the next wine tasted, a 1985 Croft which I also scored at 92.)

[Al B.]

Since this was the same bottle as the note posted by Glenn, should the notes not be combined into the same thread? The same is true for all the other notes people have posted as different threads for the same bottle?

[Andy Velebil]

Since this was the same bottle as the note posted by Glenn, should the notes not be combined into the same thread? The same is true for all the other notes people have posted as different threads for the same bottle?

No, as this way they appear as different TN's in the searchable Database.

[Mike Meehan]

Since this was the same bottle as the note posted by Glenn, should the notes not be combined into the same thread? The same is true for all the other notes people have posted as different threads for the same bottle?

No, as this way they appear as different TN's in the searchable Database.

Is that a good thing? If 10 people taste the same bottle and all post positive separate tasting notes, and I come along later and read them, I see 10 great write-ups for a port and think this must be a nicely consistent and great port. All based on a single bottle (but I can't tell that)...

[Glenn E.]

Since this was the same bottle as the note posted by Glenn, should the notes not be combined into the same thread? The same is true for all the other notes people have posted as different threads for the same bottle?

No, as this way they appear as different TN's in the searchable Database.

Is that a good thing? If 10 people taste the same bottle and all post positive separate tasting notes, and I come along later and read them, I see 10 great write-ups for a port and think this must be a nicely consistent and great port. All based on a single bottle (but I can't tell that)...

Provided the taster has filled in the Tasting Date, you would at least have that clue to work with.

Keeping them all separate also allows you to seach for a given tasting note by a particular person on a particular date. This is useful in general, but also has the side effect of allowing us to provide you with that handy "My Tasting Notes" link so you can look back through your own history if you want to.

[Andy Velebil]

No, as this way they appear as different TN's in the searchable Database.

Is that a good thing? If 10 people taste the same bottle and all post positive separate tasting notes, and I come along later and read them, I see 10 great write-ups for a port and think this must be a nicely consistent and great port. All based on a single bottle (but I can't tell that)...

Provided the taster has filled in the Tasting Date, you would at least have that clue to work with.

Keeping them all separate also allows you to seach for a given tasting note by a particular person on a particular date. This is useful in general, but also has the side effect of allowing us to provide you with that handy "My Tasting Notes" link so you can look back through your own history if you want to.

+1
And no way is going to be perfect. We've found this way tends to work the best more often than not.

[Mike Meehan]

...also has the side effect of allowing us to provide you with that handy "My Tasting Notes" link so you can look back through your own history if you want to.

Ah, that is an angle I wasn't aware of. Very handy.