Sevenhill Touriga Port

[Mahmoud Ali]

N/V Sevenhill Touriga Port, Clare Valley (18%)

SevenhillTourigaA.jpg

This is the second of two bottles that I brought back from Australia in 2001. We bought them at cellar door along with a few 1987 vintage ports. The Touriga Port was an early drinking port meant to be consumed young. It was made from Touriga Nacional grapes planted in 1978 so it’s likely to have been made from vines about 20 years old.

We drank a few bottles along the way when we were driving around and had two bottles left to include in our wine shipment home. The first bottle didn't get opened as soon as it should have. Age had not been kind to it because by the time we opened our first bottle it had lost its freshness and had turned into a stewy, sweet, hodge-podge of molasses, honey, and thick fruit with a treacle-like finish. I did not like it.

Fast forward almost a decade and it has transformed into an entirely different beast. Whereas it was dark in colour before, it was now a dark copper with a light, watery, browning orange rim. The nose was tawny-like, slightly perfumed, with hints of honey and walnut. The palate is light and delicate, not too sweet, with a maderized, nutty, savoury finish. Quite the outcome for something at least 17 years old and having gone through a very awkward puberty.

There is no accounting for what a bottle of wine will do over time.

Cheers .................. Mahmoud.

PS: The 1987 Sevenhill VP a decade ago was a knockout, one that fooled port fanciers into thinking that it was Portuguese.

[michel]

Great photo
Very retro label and reflects the era
I like that colour as well