1963 | Quinta do Noval | Vintage Port

Detailed Description

Very elegant and powerful wine with great concentration. Great elegance and length in the mouth. A monumental wine of great finesse.

Producer Information

Quinta do Noval, established in 1715, is one of the only Port houses to be located in the heart of the Douro Valley of Portugal. It is perhaps best known for its Nacional Vintage Ports, the 1963 is considered by many critics to be the greatest Port ever made. Quinta do Noval is also one of the only houses that is named after its most famed vineyard, in this case the Quinta do Noval. The majority of the vineyards at the quinta are planted with the noble varieties of the Douro: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Cao. These grapes do well on the mix of schist and clay soil types found here. There was a large scale replanting of the vineyards in 1994, and each plot was planted with a variety that best suited that soil, altitude and exposition. Historically, the vineyards had been planted in blended plots; however this practice is dying out in the Douro, as the plantings become more specific to individual terroir. In the heart of the Quinta do Noval vineyard is a small plot of ungrafted vines that were lucky enough to avoid the devastation of phylloxera in the 19th Century. These grapes are used in the Nacional wines. Alongside the production of fine Ruby and Tawny ports, the house also produces an unfortified style of Douro wine, as well as the newest introduction, the Noval Black, a Port that is made to be drunk young and fresh, without age or decanting. Since 1993, the managing director has been Chris Seely who is also in charge of a host of vineyards within Europe, as part of the AXA Millesimes group. This investment group also owns estates such as Château Pichon-Longueville, Château Pibran as well as Disznóko in Hungary.