Event: Brief impressions of a large Port tasting

[Otto Nieminen]

Today I attended a major port tasting held in Helsinki. I won’t write up all my notes, but here are general impressions on some of the wines.

Rozès
I tried the vintages ’97, ’94 and ’91. All were competent and enjoyable, but somewhat lacking in complexity. I thought the ’94 a nodge above the ’91 and ’97. Also their unfiltered LBV ’95 was fine and it had a delectable whiff of tobacco.

Quinta do Noval
This set was actually a little disappointment – perhaps more because of my expectations than of the wines. The Ruby and Tawny were both very well done, but both were a touch volatile and were thick, even bloody, wines. The 1998 unfiltered LBV was also fine but I would have hoped for more complexity. The VP 1995 was again fine, but not as inspiring as I would have hoped: very attractive scents of tobacco, lilacs and berries both red and blue.

Quinta de la Rosa
LBV 1998 was fine and I actually preferred this to Noval’s! It was a rather muscular wine with lots of cigar-box and dark fruit. The vintage 2003 was also very good, but again a very thick and muscular wine with lots of extract, lots of liquorice, chocolate and some earthy scents, copious tannins which however were rather soft. I certainly will be on the lookout for this Quinta – fairly priced and very good wines!

Dow’s
Both the 10 and 20 Y.O. Tawnies were fine, the 20 Y.O. being even elegant! Quinta do Bomfim 1992 was a surprise: the scent was quite lovely with lilacs, tobacco, great depth and harmony. The palate was fine also, but lacking the depth and complexity of the nose, but 30 euros for a realatively mature port is IMHO a great buy nevertheless (at least by Nordic standards). VP 2003 was astoundingly good with an expressive nose of lightly roasted coffee beans, dark berries, some earth, and impeccable balance on the palate. A truly exciting wine!

Graham’s
Both the 20 and 30 Y.O. Tawnies were excellent and very multifarious in their scents; the 10 Y.O. was a tad confected and simple. The 1999 and 2000 LBVs were balanced, correct and tasty but disappointingly simple. Vintage 1991 was very fine indeed with immensly attractive scents of liquorice and good intensity on the palate. The 2003 was very fine, but still IMHO not quite as good as Dow’s or Niepoort’s: opulent fruit on the nose, lilacs, milk chocolate; the palate was very sweet with plentiful tannins, decent acidity, good depth but lacking the finesse which made Dow and Niepoort so exceptional an experience for me.

Warre’s 2003 was also fine but the nose was rather more simple than the other 2003s I tried: opulent fruit, berries and cocoa was about all! The palate was a great deal more expressive with copious soft tannins, fine fruit, much sweetness, balancing acidity and a very prominent aftertaste of salmiak.

Poças Director’s Choice 2003 was quite a nice drop also with an expressive, variegated nose showing both dark and red berries in good opposition to one another, the palate had intense liquorice and rather tight tannins. In fact I was rather taken with the whole Poças line-up: the Ruby, LBV 1999 and 10 Y.O. Tawny were all very fine indeed. They are apparently looking for an agent in Finland, and I very much hope someone will jump at the chance.

Offley’s Boa Vista 2003 I enjoyed much more than Mr. Hersh apparently did judging from his note on this site! Fairly expressive nose with berries, lilacs and a touch of tobacco; the palate is mid-sweet with rather soft tannins, decent depth and decent length. Not the best 2003 today, but a very satisfying one nonetheless.

Quinta do Pégo
A property I have never heard of before, but the 2000 and 2003 were both very fine. Full bodied, thick wines, with interesting bloody/rusty nuances – these are perhaps a tad simple, but still very enjoyable ports.

Niepoort
Saving the best for last. Dirk Niepoort was present at the tasting and he seemed like a very nice gentleman indeed, taking the time to talk to me, a novice and certainly not a distinguished connoisseur, about both his ports and his table wines (none of which unfortunately were on show). Everything from his 10 Y.O. Tawny to his 2003 VP was interesting, but I was perhaps most boweled over by his colheitas. Three were on show: ’79, ’86 and ’94 – all had an astounding nose, very multifarious, with a common theme of intense kumqat. The VP 2003 was alongside Dow’s the best of the evening – possibly even a little bit better than the Dow’s! It wasn’t as opulent or as easily approachable as the Dow, but it seemed to have extra depth, a mineral undertone that in Dow’s wasn’t so prominent.

Quite a fantastic tasting, but a tiring one also.

Cheers,
Otto

[NickA]

>boweled over by his colheitas

Seems most unfair to pick up on this - but it's purely as it's such a wonderful mistype! (I hope you recovered soon :)!)

Anyway, thanks for the notes. The Qunita da Noval LBV '98 could be complained at for simplicity, but I prefer the other tact which is that it's so wonderfully young and fruity, somewhat akin to a recent single quinta, that it's got plenty of pontential still locked away. Still, it won't stop me drinking what for me is a very enjoyable, hedonistic young LBV...

[Roy Hersh]

Otto,

If Finland keeps up tasting like this, I may have to come and join you for one of them. Isn't Dirk a great guy. One of my favorite personalities in the Port trade.

Anyway, I like what you have to say about the Dow and Niepoort 2003s and especially agree with them and the Pocas wines (compare your comments to mine in my cask samples). We agree on quite a few other wines as well, like the Graham's '91 and the underperforming (compared to 1994, 1997 and 1999) the 1998 Noval LBV.

Thanks for posting your impressions HERE! I hope to meet you someday, but you already knew that.

[Otto Nieminen]

Nick, I did enjoy the '98 for the qualities you mentioned. It by no means is a bad wine, but as Roy stated, one would have expected more from it.

And sorry about my spelling, but I'm glad it caused a bit of joy :)

Roy, I believe this is an annual event put up by the Finland-Portugal Society. Maybe we'll see you next year in Finland? I am a little surprised by the Offley as my notes read so different from yours! Oh well, bottles and tastes vary.

Cheers,
Otto