QUINTA DO NOVAL

The 2015 Vintage Port from Noval was picked from 2 September, stopping for the mid-September rain and restarting on 24 September. It has a tightly wound bouquet with black cherries, eau-de-vie, touches of sage and pencil shavings, light menthol scents emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with a slightly saline entry, fine depth, but not the most powerful Noval in recent years; black pepper becomes more prominent towards the finish. This Port is sleek and seductive, though probably five or six years away from being ready as there is still a bit of toughness on the finish. Tasted at the Quinta do Noval tasting at Spring restaurant in London. Drinking range: 2026 - 2065 Rating: 94 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Nov 2022)

Enigmatic nose, seemingly a bit light on first impressions, but it develops a ripe, heady aroma in the glass and then a classic scent of succulent, soft ripe cassis fruit, well defined and backed by fine-grained, linear tannins. Beautifully poised. 2,600 cases were produced. Drinking range: 2028 - 2045 Rating: 95 Decanter Magazine (Oct 2017)

This is very polished in feel, with long, caressing, fine-grained structure that allows plum eau-de-vie, boysenberry puree and blackberry cobbler notes to play out at their leisure. Light anise and ganache hints accent the finish while the fruit blazes through. Rock ‘em, sock ‘em Port. Best from 2030 through 2045. 2,600 cases made.— Drinking range: 2030 - 2045 Rating: 95 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Oct 2017)

Christian Seeley explains the philosophy of a Noval vintage thus: ‘a Quinta do Noval declaration cannot be categorised according to the traditional distinction between a full declaration and a single quinta declaration, for the simple reason that all our greatest wines are wines from a single quinta, the great vineyard of Quinta do Noval. Whenever we decide to declare a Quinta do Noval Vintage Port, we are clearly saying that this is a great wine that deserves to bear the Quinta do Noval label.’ The 2015 is enigmatic on the nose, seemingly a bit weedy on first impressions, this developed a ripe, heady aroma in the glass and then a classic scent after three days; soft, succulent, slightly ripe cassis fruit, very pure and well defined, backed by firm, fine grained, linear tannins. By no means massive but beautifully poised with plenty of finesse. 2,600 cases have been produced, which amounts to about 9% of the total production of the quinta. Rating: 18 Richard Mayson, www.richardmayson.com  (Sept 2017)

This is very polished in feel, with a long, caressing, fine-grained structure that allows plum eau-de-vie, boysenberry puree and blackberry cobbler notes to play out at their leisure. Light anise and ganache hints accent the finish while the fruit blazes through. Best from 2030 through 2045 Drinking range: 2030 - 2045 Rating: 95 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Aug 2017)

Very deep purplish crimson. Almost impenetrable. Very serious stuff. So dense and concentrated that the nose has to be encouraged. This is classic young vintage port! Massive young treacle notes with a top layer of dried herbs and clean, zesty, ripe, complex fruit on the mid palate. Not the sweetest 2015 vintage port but thoroughly convincing and glamorous - if very youthful. I wonder what quantity was made? Drinking range: 2030 - 2060 Rating: 18 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jul 2017)

Exquisite aromas of blackberry, stone, violet and blueberry. Lead pencil too. Ink. Full body, chewy and linear with super polished yet intense tannins and a long and flavorful finish. Classic Noval character through a direct punch to the palate. This needs at least until 2022 to open but already excellent. Rating: 95 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Jun 2017)

The winter was cold and dry. Spring very hot, with five heat waves and heavy rainfall that replenished the water levels in the soil, allowing a good development of the vines and grapes. The summer was very hot and dry. The vines responded well to this hot and dry period thanks to the reserves of water in the soil, and at the end of an August that was cooler than average, the harvest presented itself beautifully. The harvest started on the 2nd of September with our ripest parcels, in glorious hot and sunny weather. However, a set of rains fell on the 13th to the 16th of September. 30% of the harvest had been brought in before these rains. With a favourable longer term weather forecast we stopped the harvest for a week, and then restarted on 24th of September with excellent weather and grapes in very healthy condition, improving every day, which allowed us to harvest our best plots at the right time. In this period, some exceptional ports were made. The red Ports were very promising from the moment grapes were crushed in the lagares, showing deep colour. The resulting Vintage Port, a strict selection of the very best wines of the year, representing just 9% of the harvest of Quinta do Noval, has a great aromatic intensity and purity of fruit. The nose has wild spicy black pepper notes, with great freshness and balance on the palate. There is an underlying strong tannic backbone. The wine is powerful deep and long and should develop into a classic Quinta do Noval Vintage Port. Winemaker's notes (Apr 2017)