QuintadoNoval,2020VintagePort

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The 2020 Vintage marks the tenth consecutive Vintage Port release from Quinta do Noval, in line with their long-held belief that the quality of the vintage, not the market, should be the only determining factor in whether a Vintage Port is made. In the case of 2020, Christian Seely describes these wines as “exceptional”, with a hot and dry summer resulting in an unusually early harvest and higher residual sugars. The wines display an “unusually powerful and rich style but nevertheless retain the purity and freshness of Pinhao valley fruit that are typical of Noval wines”.

Quinta do Noval Vintage Port is characterised by its purity of fruit and a fine, delicate quality that is typical of the wines of the property in general, but which finds its most remarkable and enduring expression in the Vintage Ports.

Equilibrium, harmony, finesse and elegance characterise our great Vintage Ports, which are declared only when we are certain that the year has produced a blend, however small, that is worthy of bearing the name of Quinta do Noval Vintage Port.

Noval follows its own path in its approach to Vintage Port. If we believe that we have wines of the quality and personality to join the ranks of the Quinta do Noval Vintage Ports of previous years, we will bottle it and declare it, even if this means declaring several years in a row, and even if it means, as is often the case, bottling only a few hundred cases of Quinta do Noval Vintage Port, representing a tiny percentage of the total production of the Quinta.Of course, in very great years, when there is unanimity among Port producers, and a General Declaration results, Quinta do Noval will declare its wine also, and perhaps with a little more wine than usual. But whatever the year, the standards of selection in the Noval tasting room are extremely rigorous, and even in the more generous years volumes of our Vintage Ports are always extremely small: at the very most, up to 15% of the production of our great vineyard terroir.

Reviews:

2020 was a hot and dry year, with a prolonged ripening period throughoutthe summer that led to an early harvest, as the grapes became fully ripeby early September.The resulting wines are extremely rich and powerful,voluminous, sensual, with great density. Tannic structure is immense, butwith remarkable finesse.

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