Single Varietal Vintage Port & a Gould Campbell 1985

[JacobH]

On the 8th September RAYC and I met up at an Italian Wine tasting organised by Berry’s (which rather reinforced my view that the best Italian wine is Moscato d’Asti / Alba!) and then retreated to the Crusting Pipe for some single-varietal Ports and a Gould Campbell 1985.

Unfortunately, I left my Port notebook at the Crusting Pipe so I don’t have a tasting note for the Gould Campbell 1985, although I remember it was drinking very well. The single-varietal notes were scribbled on the back of another piece of paper which I do have:

• 2009 Quevedo Touriga Nacional Sample
• 2009 Quevedo Touriga Francesca Sample
• 2009 Quevedo Tinta Roriz Sample
• 2009 Quevedo Tinta Cão Sample
• 2009 Quevedo Susão Sample

Port of the night was obviously the Gould Campbell! Second place probably went to the Tinta Roriz; out of the single varietals, this made the best Port on its own. However, a little blending easily produced something much better, rather reinforcing the importance of this to the Port.

What interested me the most is whilst the Tinta Roriz and Susão both seemed quite nice on their own, the Touriga Nacional and Touriga Francesca really had to be blended together before they became a nice Port. The Tinta Cão was a monster and pretty horrible on its own. I wonder if this is what goes into some of those very very dark Ports you occasionally come across.

I am very grateful to Quevedo for providing these samples which are really interesting; and I would strongly recommend any Port lover who has a chance to try some single-varietal Port to give it a go.