1987 Barros de Zellaer Vintage Port
Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 10:26 pm
Barros de Zellaer Vintage Port - 1987
Cristiano had not brought any of this along with him to the tasting and very kindly offered to buy the bottle from the store and open so the group could try this. I could tell he was proud of it, being the first vintage that I believe that particular Quinta released**?
Although a few hours in a decanter may have done this port a better justice, small amounts swirled rigorously in our glasses for 30-45 minutes certainly did a decent job of opening this beauty up.
Upon decanting a fresh, yet mellow nose greeted me. There were hints of blueberries, blackberries and a strong influence of liquorice. A small hint of pipe tobacco followed the procession of aromas. Wrapping the bouquet was the presence of a floral aroma, very elegant.
This wine was a softer red colour than I have seen in my previous two VPs and I thought that it might be approaching a tawny age.
A small taste after only 10 minutes of story-telling from the man who produced it yielded fresh berry notes, still young, with a very slight twinge of alcohol. There appeared to be no strong tannins present, and I wrote down "amazing that even freshly decanted, the port is exceptionally mellow and smooth." A small hint of alcohol was present on the back of the palate, but not strong and overpowering.
Amazingly enough, after continuous swirling and two or three questions to Cristiano, 30 minutes had elapsed and the alcohol seemed to disappear completely, integrating itself and hiding amongst the fresh berry flavours. The liquorice nose had disappeared, being replaced with a less vibrant fruit nose. The smoothness resembled that of a Tawny, but with a youthfulness that reminded me that it was indeed not tawny but a much more fruit-intensive wine.
This port is drinking amazingly well right now. I would feel confident opening 375 or 750s. I also believe that the smoothness has the ability to stick around for at least a decade and may even become finer with greater aging.
I rate this a 7-8 on the Tom scale.
My only complaint is that I had to leave as I was on call and got paged, but not before I purchased a bottle of this exceptional port to open at home. I would like to see the effect that greater decanter time has on the wine.
An additional note is that when I purchased the port from the store and was about to leave, Cristiano asked me for my bottle. He picked up a felt tip pen and not only signed my bottle, but wrote a short note on the label, personally addressed. I found it incredible that despite have met and shook hands with about a dozen people since the beginning of the tasting, he not only recalled my name, but the fact that we had discussed the 2003 Vintage (of which i am at the point of deciding which selections to include in the case (or two) that I will be laying down for my son, who was born in that year.) He warmly shook my hand, wished me a long and happy life, and many good bottles of Port for me and my children. (I'll have to see if I can take a picture and post it here.)
A class act all around, I cannot imagine a better way to be introduced to some fine new ports (and Douro reds!) than the gentleman that was Cristiano van Zeller.
**Note: By this point in the tasting my head may have been spinning a bit from the combination of a long, hard day at work, no lunch, and three previous Duoro red wine samplings plus the 2000 VP from Quinta do Vale Meão, so if my facts are off surrounding '87 being the first VP release from Barros de Zellaer, please let me know. Being a smaller house, Google was a bit sketchy on the details of their VP offerings!
Cristiano had not brought any of this along with him to the tasting and very kindly offered to buy the bottle from the store and open so the group could try this. I could tell he was proud of it, being the first vintage that I believe that particular Quinta released**?
Although a few hours in a decanter may have done this port a better justice, small amounts swirled rigorously in our glasses for 30-45 minutes certainly did a decent job of opening this beauty up.
Upon decanting a fresh, yet mellow nose greeted me. There were hints of blueberries, blackberries and a strong influence of liquorice. A small hint of pipe tobacco followed the procession of aromas. Wrapping the bouquet was the presence of a floral aroma, very elegant.
This wine was a softer red colour than I have seen in my previous two VPs and I thought that it might be approaching a tawny age.
A small taste after only 10 minutes of story-telling from the man who produced it yielded fresh berry notes, still young, with a very slight twinge of alcohol. There appeared to be no strong tannins present, and I wrote down "amazing that even freshly decanted, the port is exceptionally mellow and smooth." A small hint of alcohol was present on the back of the palate, but not strong and overpowering.
Amazingly enough, after continuous swirling and two or three questions to Cristiano, 30 minutes had elapsed and the alcohol seemed to disappear completely, integrating itself and hiding amongst the fresh berry flavours. The liquorice nose had disappeared, being replaced with a less vibrant fruit nose. The smoothness resembled that of a Tawny, but with a youthfulness that reminded me that it was indeed not tawny but a much more fruit-intensive wine.
This port is drinking amazingly well right now. I would feel confident opening 375 or 750s. I also believe that the smoothness has the ability to stick around for at least a decade and may even become finer with greater aging.
I rate this a 7-8 on the Tom scale.
My only complaint is that I had to leave as I was on call and got paged, but not before I purchased a bottle of this exceptional port to open at home. I would like to see the effect that greater decanter time has on the wine.
An additional note is that when I purchased the port from the store and was about to leave, Cristiano asked me for my bottle. He picked up a felt tip pen and not only signed my bottle, but wrote a short note on the label, personally addressed. I found it incredible that despite have met and shook hands with about a dozen people since the beginning of the tasting, he not only recalled my name, but the fact that we had discussed the 2003 Vintage (of which i am at the point of deciding which selections to include in the case (or two) that I will be laying down for my son, who was born in that year.) He warmly shook my hand, wished me a long and happy life, and many good bottles of Port for me and my children. (I'll have to see if I can take a picture and post it here.)
A class act all around, I cannot imagine a better way to be introduced to some fine new ports (and Douro reds!) than the gentleman that was Cristiano van Zeller.
**Note: By this point in the tasting my head may have been spinning a bit from the combination of a long, hard day at work, no lunch, and three previous Duoro red wine samplings plus the 2000 VP from Quinta do Vale Meão, so if my facts are off surrounding '87 being the first VP release from Barros de Zellaer, please let me know. Being a smaller house, Google was a bit sketchy on the details of their VP offerings!