Quinta do Noval is an astonishing wine estate, with a rare combination of deep history and innovation. Founded in 1715, it has changed hands just twice in over 300 years. As we’ve so often written, the most important thing to understand about Quinta do Noval is, that unlike the other famous names in the world of Port, Noval is a single estate, a single vineyard, a producer that controls every step of production from vine to bottle. The much larger Port houses buy the vast majority of their fruit and therefore cannot control the viticulture (except at any quintas they own). They also make wine in far larger volumes which, as we know, has its cons.
Quinta do Noval haven’t missed declaring a vintage for well over a decade. This is partly a reflection of a decade with some outstanding harvests but also Noval’s tendency to behave more like a Bordeaux château than a traditional Port shipper. Christian Seely reports that homogenous ripening resulted in ripe, healthy lagares with clean aromatic expression, phenolic balance and ideal freshness. The results were excellent for several parcels of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesa and Sousão. The (ungrafted) Nacional and other old field blend parcels were exceptional. Made from 12 different wines from different parcels, the wine matured for 18 months in old wooden barrels and was bottled in May 2025 with 92 g/L residual sugar.