Received my allocation and couldn’t resist popping a 0.375 L. I opened and decanted this young monster on Saturday afternoon. Left it standing for a few hours and then brought it to dinner at a friend’s house.
It had a very nice nose of sweet dark fruit, a hint of minerality (know that sounds strange but it was there) and vanilla. On the palate is was quite unpleasant with a very strong taste of grape brandy.
Now it’s Tuesday, Day 3, and still a wonderfully deep and fruity nose but much more sweet fruit on the palate now. Still an extremely young VP but a great glass of wine none then less. I’ll check in on the next bottle in about 15 years ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers")
LOL, yes patience. You’re probably still getting tanky notes. Normal for VP this young. Give it another 8-12 months and that should blow off. Otherwise this is a very fine VP and I can’t wait to get my allocation.
Yeah probably a sound advise. Could you please explain what “tanky” means? Don’t think I’ve come across that word before.
I’ll be going to Porto and Douro in 3 weeks time so will probably have to do the hard work of tasting quite a new 2011s
Off notes from being held in wine tanks for a while. I guess the best way to think if it, is as young bottle stink.
Have a great trip, I’m sure you’ll get a fair amount of 2011’s to try. Where are you visiting?
Thanks Andy - makes more sense to me now.
It’s only a short 4 day and we only have two days in the Douro so have decided to focus on one winery per day and then try to see more (and not only taste), maybe participate a bit in the harvest, walk the vineyards, see the cellars and of course do a tasting.
I have gotten to know Oscar Quevedo through some event so we’ll visit Quevedo, which I really look forward to. Have only had great experiences with his wines (both tawny and ruby style). And then Oscar recommended Quinta Santa Eufemia, which then will be our second visit. In replying to my confirmation e-mail Quinta Santa Eufemia offered us to join for lunch - very generous and kind of them. And super exciting for us. Read that they make old white tawny and really interested in trying those. Do you have any experiences with those wines?
Andreas
Oscar’s a great guy and a friend who’s been to my house when he’s been out here in L.A. He and his sister are really doing some wonderful things, both with Port and with Douro DOC wines. Make sure you try the dry wines as well. I know you’ll have a really good visit, oh and his 2011 VP rocks as well.
Quinta Santa Eufemia also makes some very nice Ports. I’ve not been to there property yet, but have tasted there line up before and generally been happy with what I tasted.
Sounds like you’ve got a nice short trip set up. Let me know how things went after you get back.
I’ll give the dry red a go and be sure to posts a few photos and notes here return I return.
Hi Andy
Sorry for not reporting back sooner - things have been a bit too busy lately.
I had a great trip to Porto and the Douro in early October.
The visit with Quinta Santa Eufemia was amazing. We tasted the whole range with the order white tawny being the stars together with a wonderful 2005 LBV. We visited the celler, helped at the sorting table, ate lunch with the family and jumped into the lagar to help crush the newly harvested grapes. It was an amazing day.
The following day we went to visit Quevedo. Sadly Oscar was in Holland but Claudia was kind enough to give us a tour of the winery and cellar and we tasted some wonderful wines from barrels. The 2010 SQVP and a ruby 2011 (that might turn into LBV or something else) was notning sort of exceptional.
Two very different visits but both very interesting, full of great ports and warm people. I’ll come back for sure.
Andreas
Andreas,
Thanks for the follow up note on your visits. Glad you had a great time!