Vintus

Quinta do Noval, Porto

Quinta do Noval Vintage Port is produced exclusively from selected plots at the Quinta, and only declared in exceptional years. Touriga Nacional, Tinta Cao, Touriga Francesca, Tinta Roriz and Sousao are the grape varieties, all trodden by foot in the lagares at Quinta do Noval. The wine is aged around 20 months in old oak barrels of 640 liters or larger. Intensely powerful and concentrated, this port is perfectly adapted to age in bottle, and has the capacity to mature gracefully over decades.

• 2011 Vintage

  • “The 2011 Quinta do Noval has wonderful precision on the nose with blackberry, cassis, intriguing flinty notes and a whiff of smoke. It might not possess the power of the Naçional but it has freshness to spare. That comes through on the beautifully composed palate, which is underpinned by fine tannins that lend it a silky smooth mouthfeel. There is real intensity here, but it is very controlled with superb minerality on the finish. Excellent.”  94-96 Points Wine Advocate

  • “Dark purplish crimson. Quite a claret-like build for a port. Dense and racy and wonderfully intense and compact. Very fine, firm tannins and dry rather than voluptuous on the finish. Intense, tense fruit. Dried herb flavours. But not a hint of dried fruit or raisins. Very sinewy and lively. Nothing remotely heavy about this. Really exciting wine.”  18.5 Jancis Robinson

• 2008 Vintage

  The 2008, temperatures were well below historical averages. This decrease in air temperature allowed the vines to achieve a more balanced maturity with smaller berries. The low temperatures in May disrupted flowering, especially in the Touriga Nacional, and greatly reduced yields. The harvest was delayed by two weeks compared to 2007, and took place from September 10.

  Following harvest, the grapes were trodden by foot and fermented in the traditional "lagares" of the Quinta, with temperature control at 28º, where a disciplined and intense treading is fundamental for a good final result. The musts showed good sugar content with good acidity, well suited to make Port and Red Wine. The first tastings show us wines extremely colorful, elegant but well structured, with great aromatic intensity, assuring a very good overall quality of the vintage.

  Deep inky color with an intense nose of wild flowers and black fruits aromas. This Vintage Port is rich and powerful but elegant and smooth, with layers of concentrated fruit flavors, firm luscious tannins and a very long finish.

  • "Intensely aromatic with floral, olive, meat and dark fruit characters. There are blackberries, blackcurrants and plums. The palate is concentrated and boldly fruity with real depth and some nice, spicy structure. Expressive and quite serious. Delicious now, but with potential for real development, with firm but fine tannins." 96 Points Jaime Goode, Wine Anorak

  • "Tasted single-blind. Inky purplish-garnet optic that is nearly opaque. Beautiful brambly bouquet of blackcurrant, sachet of lavender, wet stone minerality and a distinctive whiff of spicy ground white pepper. This Port possessed a fresh, elegant, medium-full bodied, fleshy and silky mouthfeel. Delicious off dry flavors of Damson plums, figs, milk chocolate and spicy licorice, with a massive primary and mouth filling palate presence. The harmonious balance is supported by supple acidity and bold ripe tannins that should provide 3-4 decades of cellaring ability. A prodigious 2008 Vintage Port, this Quinta do Noval has firmed up since my last taste 18 months ago, and it's now showing its complex character, stellar finish and 25 year potential."  94+ Points Roy Hersh, For the Love of Port

• 2007 Vintage

  The 2007 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port displays a dark, inky color, with super-ripe, rich fruit, and spicy notes on the nose.  It is extremely elegant, with lovely balance, big velvety tannins, and dense black fruit flavors.  It has an extremely long, profound finish.

  • "Cask sample. Super extracted ink which absolutely epitomizes “blackstrap.” Upon pulling the cork on day 1, this already presented as a benchmark for the 2007 vintage. It stood out like Ali in his prime with the same pound for pound impact. The purity of the aromatics is sumptuous, with briary blackberry intertwined with sweet blueberry jam and fresh cut lavender, accentuated by mocha. It represents the essence of Noval at its best: monumental in its sheer depth, muscular and concentrated, yet balanced by extraordinary acidity and tannins. It avoids jammy, remains fresh and unctuous throughout, with waves of ripe black and purple fruits. The tannins? Tame early on and then the lion awakens. Not astringent, just aggressive…my tongue, cheeks and lips were literally left numb. A remarkably complex middle leads to a highly nuanced finish and it’s the first time I’ve ever used the descriptor “peach” for a purple-plush-Port. I can’t wait to see what this becomes down the road a couple or three decades when it will resemble a young teenager. In reality, young vintage port does not get much better than this, and when it does, from my palate’s preference it usually requires a hot vintage like 2003 to achieve that. In a vintage packed with numerous standouts, the 2007 Quinta do Noval was the most complete Vintage Port of all. " 97-99+ Points Roy Hersh, For the Love of Port, #1 Vintage Port of 2007

  • "Black ruby-purple color, one of the darkest colors of the vintage. Superripe, high-pitched, rather brooding aromas of black and red berries, bitter chocolate, flowers and spices. Hugely rich, sweet and mouthfilling yet at the same time savory, with uncanny verve for such a thick, silky wine; darker in character than the Silval. This saturates every millimeter of the palate with black fruit and spice flavors. Is any other 2007 this dense, deep and ripe? A wine of great intensity and persistence. (Incidentally, there is no Quinta do Noval Nacional from vintage 2007, as this vineyard "just did not sing," in the words of managing director Christian Seely.)" 96 Points International Wine Cellar, #1 Vintage Port of 2007

  • “Impressive aromas of crushed blackberry, mineral and dried flowers. Intense and deep. Full-bodied, very sweet and dense on the palate, with big, round tannins and a long finish.” 94-97 Points Wine Spectator

  • “It has so much primal intensity: blackberry, raspberry, liquorice, fruitcake, a touch of Indian ink. Beautiful.” 95+ Points Neal Martin, Wine Advocate

  • “A dynamic and resonant blueberry blue. There's also boysenberry, pomegranate, bosky cherry and schist. It's ornate and vibrant-the potent fruit suspended by the tannin, then exploding into luscious chocolate blackness; the finish is notably refreshing.” 95 Points Wine & Spirits Magazine

  • "The 2007 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port is a star of the vintage. Dense purple-colored, it gives up an already complex aromatic array of lavender, Asian spices, incense, and an amalgam of black fruits with a hint of chocolate in the background. Plush and mouth-filling, this large-scaled Port manages an uncanny blending of elegance and power. Long and savory in the finish, it will continue to blossom for another 20+ years and drink well through its 50th birthday if not longer. One of Oporto’s famous names, Quinta do Noval decided not to produce its flagship Nacional bottling in the 2007 vintage. The two Ports it has chosen to release are first class in their own distinctive styles." 94 Points Jay Miller, Wine Advocate

• 2003 Vintage

  The wine is aged around 20 months in old oak barrels of 640 liters or larger in the air-conditioned cellars of the Quinta, at the demarcated region of the Douro Valley before bottling. It should age in bottle for 10 to 15 years before attaining the complexity and bouquet characteristic of a Vintage.

  • "What a nose. Ripe fruit, with chocolate, blackberries and raisins. Full-bodied and medium sweet, with velvety tannins. Finish goes on and on. Layered and wonderful. Best after 2014." 96 Points Wine Spectator

  • "Deep black/purple hue. It has a decadent nose with blackberry, damson, a hint of prune, fresh coffee beans and dark chocolate. The palate is full-bodied and beautifully balanced with silky smooth tannins, sweet black fruits, black plum, bilberry and a citric thread lending it freshness and vigour. Of course, still primal, but it has the harmony and the glycerine to make it drinkable even at this premature stage. Drink now-2040." 94 Points Neal Martin, Wine Advocate

  • "A pure fruited wine, with an unusual touch of toast and new wood. The fruit is well structured with flavors of thyme and rosemary. This is a smooth, polished Port, which is definitely in a modern style of winemaking." 90 Points Wine Enthusiast

  • "Saturated deep ruby. Sweet aromas of black cherry, cassis, licorice, molasses, minerals, toffee and violet. Dense, sweet and pliant, with outstanding precision and depth of flavor. Like the Silval, this boasts a seductively creamy texture. The explosive, mounting finish offers a fine dusting of ripe, suave tannins and great breadth. Deceptively easy to taste today owing to its finesse, but it's hard to believe that it won't shut down in bottle in the near future. This wine features a particularly high percentage of touriga nacional." 94 Points International Wine Cellar