1931 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port

[Moses Botbol]

1931 Noval Vintage Port

Decanted 5 hours, this port was dark and dense. Color was equal to our 1970 Fonseca but not as clear. The nose was intense with spice, plum and grape. There were leather and tobacco notes in nose as well in taste. This port showed a lot plum, “old well aged wine flavors like mushrooms, but not musty or fungal…” and reminded me of an old Burgundy. It was just so concentrated tasting like everything else had disappeared like the alcohol into a sublime port with plenty of fruit still left. I can’t recall many ports with as long a finish.

This vintage hits the mark in every aspect. Based on the decant time, color, nose, taste, and finish, this vintage is still going strong. 98 points.

[Andy Velebil]

Excellent TN and I got *the* phone call from Sean. I hope Sean had a great birthday and he did use you to play guitar hero

[Moses Botbol]

Excellent TN and I got *the* phone call from Sean. I hope Sean had a great birthday and he did use you to play guitar hero

Ya we had a good birthday drinking. No guitar hero... The 1951 Delaforce Colheita was awesome too. Will write up something on that when I get a chance. Like usual, no notes just my impression the next day on these . We were all amazed on the '31 Noval. 1970 Fonseca had a great showing too, but what else can be said about that vintage?

As for the Malvedos, sorry... it got blurry at that point. I had two cigars by the time we drank it...

[Andreas Platt]

Moses,

if i may ask: do you have a pic of the bottle? I have never seen an old Noval and would like to know how it looks.

Thanks in advance

Andreas

[Moses Botbol]

Moses,

if i may ask: do you have a pic of the bottle? I have never seen an old Noval and would like to know how it looks.

Thanks in advance

Andreas

I think SeanC is going to post a picture. The bottle didn't look like much, I think the label was shredded looking. He had plans to post his review as well.

[Roy Hersh]

I am pretty sure I've posted pictures in PORTraits on the 1931 Noval, but if not, look in the article archives on the 22 vintage vertical of Nacional I wrote about. Comparing 1931 Nacional to the regular bottling was one of my all time greatest thrills in Port.

I've had the 1931 a handful of times at least and each and every experience has been amazing (although one time the bottle was not as good as all other experiences).

Ok, so I must ask this of Moses:

You gave this wine 98 points. I would imagine this might have been the best Port you have ever put in your mouth. I know it has been for me, certainly one of the top 2. So what prevented you from scoring this 99 points or even 100 points? What have you tasted that you liked even more than this?

[Moses Botbol]

Ok, so I must ask this of Moses:

You gave this wine 98 points. I would imagine this might have been the best Port you have ever put in your mouth. I know it has been for me, certainly one of the top 2. So what prevented you from scoring this 99 points or even 100 points? What have you tasted that you liked even more than this?

This is the highest I have ever rated a port. I don't think 100 is really attainable for me, I want to leave that open for a once in a lifetime. This is certainly a once in a lifetime port... I don't just being that Jewish critic that nothing will be good enough "Close" to this are (for vintage) 1948 Taylor, 1908 Graham, 1935 Cockburn, 1970 Fonseca and 1970 Niepoort, just to name a few.

As an aside, the 1952 Delaforce Colheita was on par with the 1952 Dalva White Colheita (in being top rated Colheitas in my book).... Are all 1952 Colheitas that good?

[Roy Hersh]

Moses,

A good explanation and I get not giving a 100 point score, as I held out over 20 years before feeling comfortable enough to do so with Port and even longer for table wine. Actually, I've only given that score to one Port, one Madeira and one table wine -- ever. Nonetheless, given it was the best Port you've ever had, you might have been just one point more generous. Just sayin' ...


In terms of 1952 Colheitas, I've had a few:

Barros
Dalva - I have not posted notes every time but have had this over 20x now.
Delaforce
Kopke
Niepoort
Rocha

The Rocha note I have posted was not all that favorable but I've had it again since then and it was pretty darn good but not up there with the rest. Every other one is above 90 points and most are in the mid-90 point range for my palate. That is why I believe (most others say 1937) that 1952 is the greatest year for Colheita. I am sure others may now claim 1952, but this is not the first time I've written this. 1957 is darn good too, but there just were not enough houses that produced 1957 Colheitas. 1937 is fantastic too, don't get me wrong and it is probably the widest single vintage of Colheitas produced and why I made sure to do a horizontal of 9 bottles during my Colheita bash in mid-2007, amongst some of the all-time greats back to 1815. I still feel that 1952 across-the-board delivered a higher level of Colheita than 1937 overall.

[Moses Botbol]

Moses,

A good explanation and I get not giving a 100 point score, as I held out over 20 years before feeling comfortable enough to do so with Port and even longer for table wine. Actually, I've only given that score to one Port, one Madeira and one table wine -- ever. Nonetheless, given it was the best Port you've ever had, you might have been just one point more generous. Just sayin' ...

I should wait until I try a few more ulitmate ports before I would feel comfortable boosting my rates on a "perfect" port. Hopeufully, I will get to revisit the '31 Noval again. Who am I to give a port a perfect rating? Maybe in 20 years of rating, like you I will comfortable giving out a 100 point score and it would be hoot if it went to the '31 Noval. This vintage is not gaining, but not declining rea quick either. I think if I had it 10-20 years from now it would still be favorable. I think Sean rated 97 points, and we are almost always within a point of each other's score. Then again that is generally true with just about everyone I have had the pleasure of having a tasting with.