NV Quinta do Noval Tawny 20 Year Old

95 POINTS

Wine Spectator

This is a shade or two darker and richer than its peers, with warm toffee, hazelnut cream, roasted vanilla, cinnamon and walnut husk notes leading the way, backed by halva, pistachio oil and dried fig details. Lush through the finish, with the walnut hint lingering long enough for all the elements to fall in line. An exotic tawny.

95 POINTS

Decanter

Set up in 1715, Noval is the only historic Port wine shipper to bear the name of its quinta. Its declaration of 1931 as a vintage year – arguably the greatest vintage of the 20th century – helped establish Quinta do Noval as a famous Port house. Grapes for this tawny are foot-trodden, creating a suitable must for fermentation which is later pressed in large stone vats, called lagares. Richard Mayson - Savoury on the nose and palate. A little toasted and baked but rather lovely, with a dry finish. Rod Smith MW - Warm aromas of baked fruit, toast and honey, along with some caramel and hazelnut. Nicely proportioned and uniform yet complex, with a long, lip-smacking finish. Demetri Walters MW - Caramel dominates the front palate here, while a marked sweetness punctuated by leather and iodine characters create excellent mid-palate weight and expression, with a note of baked orange completing the finale. A sweeter style, but convincing with it.

95 POINTS

Decanter

Set up in 1715, Noval is the only historic Port wine shipper to bear the name of its quinta. Its declaration of 1931 as a vintage year – arguably the greatest vintage of the 20th century – helped establish Quinta do Noval as a famous Port house. Grapes for this tawny are foot-trodden, creating a suitable must for fermentation which is later pressed in large stone vats, called lagares. RM Savoury on the nose and palate. A little toasted and baked but rather lovely, with a dry finish. RS Warm aromas of baked fruit, toast and honey, along with some caramel and hazelnut. Nicely proportioned and uniform yet complex, with a long, lip-smacking finish. DW Caramel dominates the front palate here, while a marked sweetness punctuated by leather and iodine characters create excellent mid-palate weight and expression, with a note of baked orange completing the finale. A sweeter style, but convincing with it. Judges: Richard Mayson, Rod Smith MW, Demetri Walters MW

94 POINTS

Jim Gordon - JamesSuckling.com

This layered, complex, rich and detailed Port is delicious, vibrant and sweet, packed with hazelnut, honey, maple, caramel and dried apricot flavors that linger for minutes on the finish. Blended from a core of 20-year-old casks with older and younger ones to express the sophisticated house style.

93 POINTS

Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

My favorite of the three tawnys reviewed in this segment is the 20 Year Old Tawny. It offers an amber color, a spicy, tobacco, cedary, smoky, complex nose, dense, rich flavors that belie the color's aged, feeble look, and an expansive personality. It is a classic example of how delicious and complex a 20 year old tawny port can be. Tawny ports are aged in wood from essentially a solera system for the number of years indicated on the bottle. In most cases I prefer the younger ten or twenty year Tawnys to the ancient forty to fifty year old wines, but it is really a matter of taste. I tend to like more fruit rather than the oxidized and aged characteristics of the very old tawnys.

93 POINTS

Mark Squires - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The NV 20 Year Old Tawny Port was bottled in 2016 with a bar-top cork and 132 grams per liter of residual sugar. Gloriously fresh and completely alive, this adds an extra layer of depth and concentration of flavor to the 10 Year Old, of course, but that's not the main attraction here. This has all of Noval's typical grace and elegance while the complexity level is nicely above average. Then, its bright demeanor makes its fruit lifted and drives the medley of flavors home. It persists nicely, becoming something to contemplate as well as enjoy. This is a bit on the pricey side for a 20, at least judging from the list price, but it was also one of my favorites here. I don't want to be a broken record, but remember that aged tawnies should be drunk a bit cool. This was brilliant around 58-60 degrees Fahrenheit, boring around 72.

92 POINTS

Wine Spectator

Pure, fresh and minerally, this elegant tawny offers a rich mix of glazed apricot, dried citrus, peach and butterscotch flavors, wrapped in plenty of creamy notes. Offers a spicy finish.

92 POINTS

Wine Spectator

An elegant, delicate Tawny, with a full raft of dried white fruit, toffee, cream and butter flavors. The bright finish offers pear tart and spice notes, with suave, smoky overtones.