What have you opened this week?

[Marc J.]

Smith Woodhouse 10 year old

[Sandy Becker]

1994 Kopke Colheita. I poured a glass last night, and set it at my desk while I worked for an hour, and the room filled with such a great aroma. I didn't even need to drink it to enjoy it (but I did).

[Phyllis D]

Noval Black.

Opened earlier this week and while it is a very drinkable port, the last glass tonight was showing its age.

[Roy Hersh]

2007 Osborne VP
2005 Cockburn Qta dos Canais VP
2004 Ramos Pinto LBV
1995 Martinez' Eira Velha VP
Quinta do Portal 20 year old Tawny
Kopke 10 year old Tawny

[Andy Velebil]

1970 Warre's VP
1992 Quinta do Crasto LBV (Unfiltered)

[Phyllis D]

At first I looked at Roy's list and thought . Then it hit me, wait a min. Friday was PORT day. DUH!

[Andy Velebil]

At first I looked at Roy's list and thought . Then it hit me, wait a min. Friday was PORT day. DUH!

Don't let him fool you, that was just his afternoon tipple

[Roy Hersh]

I had no idea you drank non-fortified wine sir.

[Lars]

Croft 1963 - decent, nothing special.

[Josh S.]

Fonseca 1970 -- a leaker in honor of someone's newborn leaker :) it was fantastic. Also opened a Warre's 2000 for #PortDay, which was good, just coming out of its dumb phase, and still full of tannins. Typical Warre's style roughness evident, but it pulled a pomegranate out of its hat after a while in the glass.

[Marc J.]

1963 Quinta do Noval VP

[Carl D]

Kopke 30 year tawny (bottled 2011, 375ml)
Kopke 1982 Colheita (bottled 2011, 375 ml)

Phyllis and I tasted these two side by side, and also with various dessert items that we acquired earlier in the day. Some notes:

Pop-n-pour, no decanting of either wine.

The 30 y/o had some dark, moldy-looking residue on the rim of the bottle, under the T-stopper. None was visible inside the bottle or on the cork part of the stopper. Due to bad lighting, I didn't notice this at first, so first pours were made over this residue. Phyllis could taste the difference between this first sip and a later one after the top of the bottle had been cleaned - she described the difference as an "old leather" taste. I didn't taste any difference (and I'll admit from the outset that her sense of taste is vastly more sensitive than mine!)

We found these two wines to be very similar, with the 30y/o being a more refined version of the 1982. We both perceived the '82 as being hotter, and both perceived the 30 y/o as having a richer mouth feel and more pleasant aroma. Flavors that we found in the wines included brown sugar, caramel, muscat rasins, butterscotch, figs, oranges. We both initially preferred the taste of the '82 and the aroma of the 30y/o, but after 20 minutes in the glass, I preferred the 30 y/o in all respects.

We tried three different dessert items with these:
1. English toffee cake. The wines went very well with the flavors of this cake, although the cake was really too sweet to pair really well.
2. Italian Lemon cake. Way too sweet - wines were sour and bitter on the after taste when eaten with this, although the lemon curd that topped the cake worked reasonably well with the '82.
3. Red Velvet cupcake. Also way too sweet, although the flavors of the cream-cheese frosting went well with the port, the sugar just overpowered the wines.

Finally, the most recent old tawny that we've consumed before these was the Quinta do Noval 1937 Colheita. Not surprisingly, it blows both of these out of the water and probably set our taste expectations a bit too high! Time to drink a couple of more down to earth tawnies to get our expectations recalibrated.

[Phyllis D]

1963 Quinta do Noval VP

And?

Please tell more.

[Marc J.]

1963 Quinta do Noval VP

And?

Please tell more.

This bottle was opened for #PortDay and I must say that it was stunning. I've noticed that some of the 1963 Noval VPs are beginning to dry out, but not this bottle! It was very well integrated, fully mature and very drinkable. I wouldn't hold this wine for too much longer, but there is still plently of pleasure to be had.

[Al B.]

1997 Ferreira LBV, bottled with a driven cork in 2011.

[Rob C.]

1997 Ferreira LBV, bottled with a driven cork in 2011.

really?!

[Glenn E.]

1997 Ferreira LBV, bottled with a driven cork in 2011.

really?!

I suspect he meant to say that it was bottled in 2001. 2011 would be a Colheita, not an LBV.

[Andy Velebil]

1997 Ferreira LBV, bottled with a driven cork in 2011.

Drinking and typing sometimes don't mix

[Andy Velebil]

After all that talk in the other thread and a busy day at work, I opened and had a glass of Noval's Black last night. Then I promptly fell asleep on the couch with the TV on.

[Al B.]

1997 Ferreira LBV, bottled with a driven cork in 2011.

Drinking and typing sometimes don't mix

OK, you got me. Drinking and posting via iPhone is probably not conducive to accuracy.