Quinta do Noval

Quinta do Noval – a name in the port wine world

The name Quinta do Noval first appeared in the land registry in 1715. The history of Quinta do Noval has been shaped by the actions of visionaries: António José da Silva, a shipping merchant from Porto, acquired Quinta do Noval in 1894 after the vineyards had been destroyed by phylloxera. He restored the estate by replanting the hillsides. Luiz Vasconcelos Porto, his son-in-law, continued the innovations: he converted many of the narrow, older terraces into wider ones. This allowed for more efficient use of the land and better exposure to the sun. Quinta do Noval finally made a name for itself worldwide with the Quinta do Noval Vintage Port 1931 and the Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port 1931. Due to the global depression and the enormous production and shipping of the 1927 vintage, most bottlers had not declared the 1931 as a vintage port. With this success, Quinta do Noval established itself among the great names of vintage port in the English and American markets, a leading position in terms of reputation that has been maintained to this day.

Since 1993, Quinta do Noval has belonged to the international wine-growing group of AXA Millésimes. A new bottling plant and a warehouse were completed in Alijo, near Pinhão, in 1997. With this project, Quinta do Noval became the first of the traditional port wine shippers to focus all its activities in the Douro Valley. In the 1990s, around one hundred hectares of the estate were replanted, with vine training methods adapted to each plot. Today, Quinta do Noval has high-quality vines which, on the one hand, ensure the excellence of Quinta do Noval’s port wines and, on the other, the production of Douro wines since the 2004 vintage.

The terroir of Quinta do Noval

Quinta do Noval benefits from a privileged location in the heart of the Douro Valley. The 192-hectare vineyard, which is entirely classified as A (the highest level of classification for port vineyards), is planted with the noblest grape varieties of the Douro:

• Touriga Nacional
• Touriga Franca
• Tinta Roriz
• Tinto Cão
• Sousão

The plots of the vineyard display rich geographical diversity:

• Altitude from 100 to 500 m
• Exposure to all points of the compass
• Soil: schist, mixed with some clay to varying degrees

This lends the wines special nuances depending on the plot from which they come. The interplay of these nuances creates the magic of the wines of Quinta do Noval.

Today, the plots are planted with individual grape varieties suited to each plot, depending on three main factors: altitude, exposure, and the type of vine planting. The magnificent old terraces of schist rock still shape the vineyard of Quinta do Noval. Quinta do Noval is the only historic port wine producer that uses the name of its vineyard and produces a vintage port from a single vineyard when it is declared.

The vineyard of Quinta do Noval is alive

The Noval vineyard is always different and has a personality all of its own, which does not necessarily follow the same rhythm as the rest of the vineyard. In 1996, for example, which for the rest of the Quinta do Noval vineyard was not declared as a vintage year, the Nacional vintage was excellent, and it was decided to declare it. But there are also years in which the estate declares great Quinta do Noval Vintage Ports while the Nacional is simply not as good, so it is not declared. This was the case, for example, in 2007.

The fact that the Nacional Vintage is so sought after is partly due to the tiny quantities we produce, only 200 to 250 cases per declaration year. It represents only a small percentage of the production of Quinta do Noval Vintage (1,200 to 5,000 cases per declaration year), which in turn accounts for around 10% of Quinta do Noval’s production in declaration years. Because of this extremely low production, the Nacional Vintage is sold only in very small quantities. The bottles of Nacional Vintage that come onto the market from time to time are sold at a very high price, reflecting the exceptional quality and rarity of this most highly prized port wine in the world.