2007 Magalhães Vintage Port -- (Cask Sample)

[Glenn E.]

Tasted blind at Roy's house, July 1-4, 2009.

Bottle #1: redacted
Bottle #2: 2007 Quinta de Valle Longo Vintage Port (Cask Sample)
Bottle #3: 2007 Magalhães Vintage Port (Cask Sample)
Bottle #4: 2007 Porto Rocha Vintage Port (Cask Sample)

2007 Magalhães Vintage Port (Cask Sample)

Day 1
Color: a very standard medium purple with what's becoming a very standard 3/16" fade. (Standard for a cask sample, anyway. That's a seriously opaque Port otherwise.)
Nose: hiding and difficult to draw out. I manage mulberries, but that's about it. Some alcohol, but even that's hiding.
Palate: very rich, with a medium full body. It's on the medium sweet end of the spectrum, too. Good grip. Blackberries and mulberries. Very nice.
Finish: fresh fruits, big tannins. Long and even fade out without any bite.

Initial score: 92-95. I was trying to be conservative, but Roy's score came in at right the same spot. This is a good one, but we'll see how it develops.

Day 2
Color: no change
Nose: still pretty closed. A brief but very vivid impression of my Mom's chocolate cake. Working to pull out more fruits brings out some alcohol as well, but the purple fruits add depth.
Palate: rich, mellow, purple fruits. Still medium sweet and still a medium full body. Good grip and good acidity. Overall noticeably nicer than Day 1.
Finish: strong tannins, mellow fruit, and some mild (pleasant) heat.

New score: 93-96, with room to keep going up. I commented on Day 1 that while clearly an outstanding Port, a rating of 96+ is supposed to mean extraordinary and I wasn't sure it was that good. Today, though, it has crept into the range where I must conceed that it might someday be considered exactly that, so the range had to include at least 96.

Day 3
per tradition, I didn't taste on Day 3

Day 4
Color: no change. It's very crisp and clear, though, at least the part you can actually see through at the rim.
Nose: a muddled purple fruit compote along with fairly strong alcohol. It's possible we're past the peak.
Palate: still rich and still a medium-full body. The fruits are more red, tending toward ripe/mellow red raspberry. Strong tannins, but they're fine-grained. Some fresh purple fruits like boysenberries show up late. Still very good acidity. All of the flavors are strong, but I get the sense that they're not ready yet.
Finish: good tannins, some mellow fruit, and eventually (after a nice long fade) some grape skin.

Final comments: This seemed to have trailed off every so slightly today, but not enough to warrant a change in score. Things just seemed to brighten up a bit, which caused the overall effect to seem a little bit less rich.

Final score: 93-96

Reveal: Magalhães Vintage Port from Quinta do Silval. Not to be confused with Quinta do Noval's Silval Vintage Port. One I'd never heard of before, but very impressive.

[Roy Hersh]

Quite good and a nice surprise. I don't know too many others who will be rating these types of properties, but why not? They deserve the attention!

[Glenn E.]

Yeah, and this bottle is a perfect example of why they absolutely do deserve the attention. Yum! :lick: