Aging potential of 2010 vesuvio and 2012 Noval vintage port

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esben
Cruz Ruby
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Aging potential of 2010 vesuvio and 2012 Noval vintage port

Post by esben »

Hi,

I'm still quite new to drinking vintage port and have a question regarding the aging potential of two ports I consider buying for my to sons born in 2010 and 2012. My hope is to buy port that will keep well into their adulthood. I know 2011 is a much better vintage and will consider buying from that year instead if the aging potential is too poor in 2010 and 2012 it just would be more fun if I could find something from those two years.

The best choices I have found would be to buy

2010 Quinta Do Vesuvio vintage
2012 Quinta Do Noval vintage

If cellared under the right conditions should these ports improve over the next 30+ years or would they peak earlier and start to fade?

Are there other ports from those two years with better potential?

Would it be a far far better option to buy a 2011 vintage in the same price range (50-60£) (in which case I would just have to lie about my sons birth years :D )?

I look very much forward to hearing your take on it!

Best

Esben
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jdaw1
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Re: Aging potential of 2010 vesuvio and 2012 Noval vintage port

Post by jdaw1 »

esben wrote:to buy port that will keep well into their adulthood.
That is a question not only of what, but also of how much. A bottle a month (yes, I agree, rather ascetic) from the age of 18 to 57 requires 40 dozen. Might as well round up to a shipper’s pipe of 56 dozen. :wink:
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Aging potential of 2010 vesuvio and 2012 Noval vintage port

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

There is something rather special about drinking a vintage port from the year of your birth. I am still very grateful to my grandparents for buying 13 bottles of port from my birth year and giving them to me on my 21st birthday. The 13th bottle was opened at my family birthday dinner and when I decided that I liked it, the other 12 bottles in an unopened case were given to me. (My grandfather later confirmed that if I hadn't liked it, he would have kept the case for himself!)

The Noval 2012 will certainly keep 30+ years and will probably hit its plateau around then. The Vesuvio 2010 I am less convinced about - that may peak at only 25 years. However, the romance associated with drinking a bottle from your birth year completely outweighs the fact that the wine might be starting to fade, you need only drink one bottle a year to keep the tradition going.

Your choice of ports is good and does not need to change. However, you could buy Vesuvio for both children so as not to be accused of favouritism. Vesuvio made a very respectable vintage in 2012 and it is probably easier to get hold of than the Noval.

And then, as JDAW points out, you do have to consider how many bottles you buy for each child. I was lucky enough to be given 12 bottles, but they lasted me less than 10 years. Fortunately by the time the bottles ran out I was earning enough to be able to replace them, but it would have been wonderful to have had 24 rather than 12. Or a pipe, as JDAW suggests.

I presume from your comments that you're sorted for storage but if you want any thoughts or guidance then let us know and we'll be happy to offer you whatever wisdom we can.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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jdaw1
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Re: Aging potential of 2010 vesuvio and 2012 Noval vintage port

Post by jdaw1 »

Douglas Adams wrote:Many men of course became extremely rich, but this was perfectly natural and nothing to be ashamed of because no one was really poor — at least no one worth speaking of.
Likewise, in this esteemed place, everybody was born in a year a fabulous vintage year, and nobody was born in an off year — at least nobody worth mentioning. Should there be any unfortunate souls suffering from such an unspeakable condition, they should do an Agg-Gardner, who, despite being born in November 1846, was a member of the House of Commons’ 1847 Club (restricted to members born in that year), which drank Port of the reputable 1847 Vintage (of which I have have regrettably little experience).

So this child of ’68 does not stress about restricting his drinking to his birth year. Indeed, ’tis barely worth the effort. I am available, night and day, to be ‘insulted’ with a Port from two years away from that, in either direction.

Were you to buy the ’10 child, and the ’12 child, each a pipe of ’11 Port, neither would feel unfairly treated. (Indeed, I am in need of adoptive parents willing to buy me a pipe of 2011. Please sir!)

† I can quote what others write, but cannot do the prepositional ending in my own voice.
PhilW
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Re: Aging potential of 2010 vesuvio and 2012 Noval vintage port

Post by PhilW »

I would agree with AHB, that while 2011 will undoubtedly be the better port, there is something special about receiving something from your birth year, and at 25 years old both should be drinking fine. I would therefore go with 2010 and 2012 as you propose, however I would suggest going for Vesuvio from both years, primarily because the presentation case in which the Vesuvio bottles come would add to the package as a present.

A final suggestion; buy a case of 2011 and hide it away as well; if either (or both) turn out to love port, this would be an amazing future gift as well, as one of the best years of production in this decade (or two).
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