This might sound odd. I was finally getting around to putting up my wall
mounted wine bottle rack and remembered that I have been saving a bottle of
wine from our honeymoon. We visited a winery and brought a bottle back with
us for our 5th anniversary. I found it in a box in the basement.

That isn't the surprise...I also found 2 bottles of wine that I brought back
with me from Italy in '95. They have been in a stable temp, about 65F, in a
box full of styrofoam, and kept horizontal. I'm sure they are still good,
but I can't find any info about them on the internet, everything comes up in
Italian.

Here is some info...
1992 Vale do Arco, Douro. Nothing else stands out as any identifier, but
there is more written on the bottle, all in Italian.

1990 Notarpanaro Taurino.

Should I hold on to these a little longer?


--
Buy a man a beer and he wastes an hour.
Teach a man to brew and he wastes the rest of his life.

I don't know anything about them, other than to say that the first
bottle is Portugese, not Italian.

My experience with Portugese dry reds hasn't generally been a pleasant
one, but that's not to say that yours might be. I did recently have a
Casa de Santar that was pretty good, from 2001.

Sorry I can't be of any more help than this, though.

- Chris

"Duck Redbeard" > wrote in
:

>
> This might sound odd. I was finally getting around to putting up my
> wall mounted wine bottle rack and remembered that I have been saving a
> bottle of wine from our honeymoon. We visited a winery and brought a
> bottle back with us for our 5th anniversary. I found it in a box in
> the basement.
>
> That isn't the surprise...I also found 2 bottles of wine that I
> brought back with me from Italy in '95. They have been in a stable
> temp, about 65F, in a box full of styrofoam, and kept horizontal. I'm
> sure they are still good, but I can't find any info about them on the
> internet, everything comes up in Italian.
>
> Here is some info...
> 1992 Vale do Arco, Douro. Nothing else stands out as any identifier,
> but there is more written on the bottle, all in Italian.
>
> 1990 Notarpanaro Taurino.
>
> Should I hold on to these a little longer?
>
>
Let me be the first (maybe) to say, the one is Italian but the Duoro is
Portugese.

--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

Well, www.wine-searcher.com did bring up a minimal amount of info
(hints, really) about your Portugese bottle.

http://www.wine-searcher.com/regions/portugal/201

A shop in Sweden is selling the 2000 version of this wine for $8.99
USD. Given that yours is already 13 years old, I say drink up quickly,
and be prepared for it to be over the hill. If not, then you'll have a
pleasant surprise. In either case, do let us know how it was.

Also via wine-searcher, I was able to determine that your second
bottle, which is indeed from Italy, sells for around $14 currently,
though nothing as old as yours is for sale. In this case, Google
brought up quite a bit of info, in English, regarding this wine. Try
it again. It's still a bit old, probably, but try it anyway, and
report back to us.

- Chris

"Duck Redbeard" > schreef in bericht
.. .
>
> This might sound odd. I was finally getting around to putting up my wall
> mounted wine bottle rack and remembered that I have been saving a bottle
of
> wine from our honeymoon. We visited a winery and brought a bottle back
with
> us for our 5th anniversary. I found it in a box in the basement.
>
> That isn't the surprise...I also found 2 bottles of wine that I brought
back
> with me from Italy in '95. They have been in a stable temp, about 65F, in
a
> box full of styrofoam, and kept horizontal. I'm sure they are still good,
> but I can't find any info about them on the internet, everything comes up
in
> Italian.
>
> Here is some info...
> 1992 Vale do Arco, Douro. Nothing else stands out as any identifier, but
> there is more written on the bottle, all in Italian.
>
> 1990 Notarpanaro Taurino.
>
> Should I hold on to these a little longer?
>
>
> --
> Buy a man a beer and he wastes an hour.
> Teach a man to brew and he wastes the rest of his life.
>
>


http://www.taurinovini.it/Inglese/gbv2.htm

Any idea what style these might compare to?


"Duck Redbeard" > wrote in message
.. .
>
> This might sound odd. I was finally getting around to putting up my wall
> mounted wine bottle rack and remembered that I have been saving a bottle
> of wine from our honeymoon. We visited a winery and brought a bottle back
> with us for our 5th anniversary. I found it in a box in the basement.
>
> That isn't the surprise...I also found 2 bottles of wine that I brought
> back with me from Italy in '95. They have been in a stable temp, about
> 65F, in a box full of styrofoam, and kept horizontal. I'm sure they are
> still good, but I can't find any info about them on the internet,
> everything comes up in Italian.
>
> Here is some info...
> 1992 Vale do Arco, Douro. Nothing else stands out as any identifier, but
> there is more written on the bottle, all in Italian.
>
> 1990 Notarpanaro Taurino.
>
> Should I hold on to these a little longer?
>
>
> --
> Buy a man a beer and he wastes an hour.
> Teach a man to brew and he wastes the rest of his life.
>

As others stated, Douro is a region in Portugal.

But....I've actually had the 1990 Taurino Notapanaro Rosso del
Salentino a few years ago. Can't find notes, but it was a very nice
medium-bodied warmish red. Didn't seem faded at time (I'm guessing
2000). The friend who served it said that they are wines that can
really last. So this one might be tasty.

Well, we opened the 90 Notarpanaro and it was just not right. The cork was
90% saturated and the wine was off. I could only describe it as corky and
sour. Perhaps the other bottle is the prize.

I thank everyone for their info, I have subscribed to this newsgroup and
will be checking it often.


"Duck Redbeard" > wrote in message
.. .
>
> This might sound odd. I was finally getting around to putting up my wall
> mounted wine bottle rack and remembered that I have been saving a bottle
> of wine from our honeymoon. We visited a winery and brought a bottle back
> with us for our 5th anniversary. I found it in a box in the basement.
>
> That isn't the surprise...I also found 2 bottles of wine that I brought
> back with me from Italy in '95. They have been in a stable temp, about
> 65F, in a box full of styrofoam, and kept horizontal. I'm sure they are
> still good, but I can't find any info about them on the internet,
> everything comes up in Italian.
>
> Here is some info...
> 1992 Vale do Arco, Douro. Nothing else stands out as any identifier, but
> there is more written on the bottle, all in Italian.
>
> 1990 Notarpanaro Taurino.
>
> Should I hold on to these a little longer?
>
>
> --
> Buy a man a beer and he wastes an hour.
> Teach a man to brew and he wastes the rest of his life.
>

"Duck Redbeard" > wrote in
:

> Well, we opened the 90 Notarpanaro and it was just not right. The
> cork was 90% saturated and the wine was off. I could only describe it
> as corky and sour. Perhaps the other bottle is the prize.
>
> I thank everyone for their info, I have subscribed to this newsgroup
> and will be checking it often.


Your experience underscores the need to have a back up bottle ready
whenever wine is planned (at least until the world goes from corks to
stelvin) Sometimes even plan B isn't enough, I have had to go to C before


--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

"Duck Redbeard" > wrote in
:

> Any idea what style these might compare to?
>

A Douro wine could resemble the wines of Ribera del Duero. Whether this
means anything to you or not is another question ;-)

Just to place the area, Douro wines come from the area where Port grapes
are cultivated. Some parcels go for the sweet wine, some parcels go to the
dry red wines.

I do not know the specific producer, but I will bet it is fading (if not
totally gone).

Best,

S.

Several years ago I tried the 1997 Notarpanaro at a local restaurant,
and was so impressed I went out and bought a case of it. Last year I
sampled the '99 version, which I found less impressive.

Since the 1997 Italian vintage was so widely acclaimed (the Speculator
called it the "Vintage of the Century" -- how many grains of salt
would you like with that?), I rather expected the Notarpanaro would
have some aging potential. I found that not to be the case. While it
was rich and somewhat syrupy for a couple years, by early 2005 it had
peaked and was sliding.

But hey, it was $10.45, so who's complaining?

http://www.tonyaspler.com
1997 Notarpanaro
"A blend of Negramaro (85%) and Malvasia Nero (15%) with three years
in French oak. Dense purple colour with a mature rim; a mature nose of
plums, sweet dates and vanilla; intense, sweet, dried raisins and
dired berries, full-bodied with a long, spicy finish. ****½

Jef


On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 07:57:14 -0500, "Duck Redbeard"
> wrote:

>Well, we opened the 90 Notarpanaro and it was just not right. The cork was
>90% saturated and the wine was off. I could only describe it as corky and
>sour. Perhaps the other bottle is the prize.
>
>I thank everyone for their info, I have subscribed to this newsgroup and
>will be checking it often.

Santiago > wrote:

> A Douro wine could resemble the wines of Ribera del Duero.

I beg to differ. Ribera wines are definitely "Spanish" (i.e.
Rioja-esque) to me, with a pronounced vanilla sweetness/softness,
while Douro wines (as most better Portuguese reds) make a much
more "classic" impression, i.e. Bordeaux-like in there severeness
and structure.

M.

Michael Pronay > wrote in
:

> Santiago > wrote:
>
>> A Douro wine could resemble the wines of Ribera del Duero.
>
> I beg to differ. Ribera wines are definitely "Spanish" (i.e.
> Rioja-esque) to me, with a pronounced vanilla sweetness/softness,
> while Douro wines (as most better Portuguese reds) make a much
> more "classic" impression, i.e. Bordeaux-like in there severeness
> and structure.
>
> M.

Hi Michael,

I do not really have a large experience with Douro wines, but I have tasted
a few and they do resemble a bit the wines of Ribera del Duero. Not only
one of the grapes used in Douro (Tinta Roriz) is the same as Tinto Fino but
the land is quite similar even if the typical terrace of Douro is not find
in the Ribera del Duero. To me, wines like Pintas, Poeira, Vale Meao... are
more Ribera than Rioja.

We would have to define what is Ribera first. Are we talking Arzuaga and
Pesquera (classic producers)? or are we talking Mauro, Aalto, Dominio de
Atauta, Neo (modern producers)?

However, we may agree to disagree ;-)

S.

Santiago > wrote:

>> Ribera wines are definitely "Spanish" (i.e. Rioja-esque) to me,
>> with a pronounced vanilla sweetness/softness, while Douro wines
>> (as most better Portuguese reds) make a much more "classic"
>> impression, i.e. Bordeaux-like in there severeness and
>> structure.

> [...] We would have to define what is Ribera first. Are we
> talking Arzuaga and Pesquera (classic producers)? or are we
> talking Mauro, Aalto, Dominio de Atauta, Neo (modern producers)?

I am talking those I have tasted which are on the classic side
(Pesquera, Vega Sicilia), I suppose.

M.