Quinta Do Noval Port Black NV 750ml

The NV Black cuvée comes half from estate vineyards (the rest is sourced from the Cima Corgo region in the Douro Valley) and is aged two years in larger oak and stainless-steel vats. At 20 bucks, it’s a terrific, forward, sexy Port offering lots of currants, raisins, candied olives, and dried herb aromas and flavors. It’s worth buying.

The NV Black Ruby Reserve Porto is mostly Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca and Tinto Cão aged in an equal mixture of oak and stainless steel. It comes in with 100 grams of residual sugar per liter. This has many fine attributes, but the most important is that it seems very much like Noval. Laced with an invigorating eucalyptus/cistus aromatic, it is always elegant in the mid-palate yet somehow still solid, something I find Noval does very well. It was one of the relatively few in this report that actually seemed better two days later (and most of the others were unfiltered). There is plenty of finesse and lift to the fruit. It is pointed, ripe and chock full of flavor while still showing off some power and structure. This was, in fact, a bit tight on opening. One of the more distinctive Reserves (in part, thanks to the aromatics), this is very well done at a good price point. It became one of my favorites. It is lovely and exceeds expectations, so I'm leaning up on this a bit. It should still be drunk young, as it won't reward aging.