From memory, so someone can check to see if I’ve got this right . . . In the late 1980s or early 1990s, my mother in law bought me a copy of the first edition of Parker’s Wine Buying Guide. I come to the section on port and there is a discussion of this unicorn wine that Parker reports that he has heard of but never seen, let alone tasted. He wonders whether it really exists. I made a mental note to try to find some. Fast forward 15 or 20 years and Acker is offering the Rosania Cellar, some of which turned out to be Kurniawan counterfeits. There were two bottles of 1996 Nacional and I took a shot at it. Winner winner chicken dinner.
I opened one and wrote the note that appears at the end of this thread. I have since been able to buy 2 other bottles and almost got a vertical of it from 1963 to present at an auction except some A-Hole SOB outbid the group I put together to buy it and then split it up and resold it. I did, however, go to the warehouse where they were stored before the auction to examine the bottles and the seepage of the 1963 was quite delicious.
After Laurent Gibet mentioned it in his thread, I thought I would start one devoted solely to this wine to get other people’s impressions. I can’t think of any other wine that is hands down, virtually no debate, the best of its class year in and year out except maybe d’Yquem of those that I have had. I once suggested Monfortino to Galloni as being in that group and he responded that Giacosa red label was a competitor. I’ve never had DRC La Romanee or Montrachet, so maybe they would qualify.
Opinions, thoughts, heckling, complaints about how this post is not appropriate for WB because it is not stupid or humorous, whatever.
My tasting note on the 1996 Nacional, with the Parker story omitted. To me 97 points is like Suckling 115. I have never rated a wine higher than 97 points, but my rating scale has shifted a bit, and if I were re-rating this, it would tie with 1970 Monfortino at 99 pts. I forgot to mention that Roy Hirsch was at the dinner and confirmed that he thought it was authentic.
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1996 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage Nacional - Portugal, Douro, Porto (3/12/2013)
Decanted at 9:30 pm the night before into a large open mouthed glass pitcher. Poured back into the bottle at 7 am the next morning. Carefully handled to removed all sediment in the double decant. Opened at the restaurant at 7 pm and drunk at about 9:30. Roy Hirsch gets credit for decanting instructions, which were spot on.
WOW. Absolutely wonderful and a candidate for wine of the decade. Still very primary in flavors but incredibly smooth and sexy with zero rough edges. The flavors are red fruit, cherry and plum, with a tiny bit of undifferentiated spice, hard to pinpoint. Occasional tiny bits of chocolate. No secondary caramel or nuttiness. Lacking complexity only because it is still a baby, but that’s what to expect. My other bottle will have to wait 10-20 years as the flavor profile morphs. Not too sweet, not syrupy in the mouth. Just a smooth, seamless taste experience. . .
This is the first bottle I have ever tasted and it was worth the price of admission. (97 pts.)
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