2005 Quinta do Noval Colheita

The 2005 Colheita Tawny Port is a typical field blend of grapes like Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão, Sousão and Tinta Roriz, bottled in 2019 with 117 grams of sugar, 21% alcohol and a long cork. A dry and pointed Colheita, this shows a little brandy to go with its focused and penetrating finish. Surprisingly complex for a young Tawny, showing dried caramel and fig nuances, it is also remarkably gripping. Overall, this is super for a young Colheita. Noval is known for Colheitas and rightly so. These age well, barring a cork failure, but that's not really the point. The end-date drinking window is just a placeholder. Also, don't drink Tawnies too warm.

The 2005 Colheita Tawny Port was picked in a dry season, with 74% less rain than during the thirty-year average. There were two spells of picking: 29 August to 4 September and then 19 September until 16 October. It is a blend of Touriga Naçional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão, Sousão and Tinta Roriz, all from the Quinta and trodden by foot in granite lagares. About half the production was released after 13 years in barrel, the other half due for release in several years. The 2005 slightly paler than expected, with moderate bricking on the rim as one might expect from a Tawny Port. The bouquet is open and inviting, with scents of red fruit, chestnut, smoke, clove and sage, quite complex and gaining intensity after five or ten minutes in the glass. The palate is well balanced but conveys a welcome fieriness, plenty of ginger and hints of Moroccan spice lacing the red fruit. There is fine weight here, but it is the liveliness and persistence that really elevates this Colheita. Very fine. 19.5% alcohol.