2008 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port

[Glenn E.]

Only my second 2008 (the other was a Quevedo). This bottle came from Roy and has been open 5 days, but it doesn't seem to have hurt it one bit.

2008 Quinta do Noval VP

Color: Very dark purple; almost fully opaque. Deep ruby red near the rim.

Nose: Purple brambleberries, some alcohol, and some extremely faint black pepper.

Palate: Black pepper, some heat, and lots of tannins. Very rich and deep with boistrous fruits. Black currants seem to be the most prominent. Full body combined with the tannins makes it almost chewy or leathery in texture. Many complex layers to the fruit, but it's still very young.

Finish: The berries are more refined and mellow here than the palate. Good length with good warmth. After the initial rush there's a slightly bitter note. Some blueberry near the end.

Score: 94 points. For an "off" year, this is a very nice Port!

[Rob C.]

I was also very impressed by this.

In fact, for an "off year", i've ended up buying an awful lot of VP! It will be interesting to see how this, the Quevedo Agodinho and Niepoort Bioma stand up to their 07 counterparts over the coming years.

I think 07 Noval still has the edge over the 08 Noval, but 08 Bioma and 08 Agodinho...i thought they had more immediate attraction than 07 Quevedo and 07 Pisca so will be intrigued by their development.

[Roy Hersh]

No doubt the 2007 is better, for now and the future ... but I was way impressed with this VP and so was Stewart. Both of our scores matched Glenn's exactly.

[Rob C.]

No doubt the 2007 is better, for now and the future ...

I agree, but i know others who don't. Richard Mayson, for one, has scored both the 08 and the 04 Novals higher than the 07 on his site. Regardless, it shows the quality that the Noval vineyards seem to be able to produce year-in year-out.

[Roy Hersh]

Have you had the 2004 Noval VP?

If everyone agreed on which Ports were best, that would be a bad thing.