The legendary Noval has produced a deliciously attractive, light and poised wine, with fresh fruit and acidity. It is dry in style, with some tannins, and a layer of spirit that is well in balance. The aftertaste floats with acidity and fruit.

This is layered with plush flavors of Christmas pudding, plum tart and raspberry, delivering details of caramel and dried berry, with plenty of buttery accents on the finish. Drink now. 900 cases imported.

Quinta do Novel's 10 Year Old Tawny exhibits a light ruby/garnet color, sweet jammy fruit, nice spice, cedar and smoke in the nose, and good concentration. 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.