Quinta Do Noval Vintage Port 2014

Only in Port country is it considered eccentric to release a wine from a very good vintage! Quinta do Noval continue to follow the path less travelled with this small-batch declaration from 2014, becoming the only house (to our knowledge) to release a Vintage Port from this year. ‘The fundamental principle for us,’ explains Christian Seely, ‘is that if we have a wine that we believe is of the quality and personality required to be bottled as a Quinta do Noval Vintage, then we should bottle it and declare it, whether or not we declared a Vintage the year before.’ While there is bound to be some controversy (the 2014 represents Noval’s fourth consecutive declaration) a wine this good has every right to be released, and savored. Indeed, Seely states that based on the quality of select parcels of wines, he ‘had no hesitation at all in declaring [a] very small quantity of Quinta do Noval Vintage 2014’. The 2014 is a blend of Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca with small amounts of Tinto Cão Tinta Francisca and Sousão. The grapes were trodden by foot and fermented in traditional lagares with temperature control at 28ºc. It was matured for 18 months in wooden barrels.