Tag Archives: Quinta do Noval

July 19, 2012 · 9:31 pm

Quinta do Noval – 16/07/2012

Cedro do Noval (Vinho Regional Duriense (30% syrah, touriga nacional, touriga franca, tinto roriz)
Bright purple colour, intense but not heavy in colour. Bright juicy yet spicy dark fruit aromas, some interesting floral notes. Fresh full-flavoured clean, great acidity and intensity of fruit. Balanced approachable but structured and with personality.

Quinta do Noval Douro DOC 2008
More intense purple, more extraction and depth. Smoky toasty notes of dark berries, more intense and extractive on the nose. Very intense and dark on the palate, but surprisingly fresh and lifted on the palate. Crunchy toast oak adding to texture but not adding any sweetness. Intense but complex elegant and structured. Still a bit tight.

Noval Black Reserve
Soft jubey plummy cassis and blackcurrant. Intense full and spicy warm, fresh finish and balanced alcohol and sweetness, velvety and dense but clean and juicy, well structured and worth ageing a little bit.

Quinta do Noval LBV 2005
Rounder and fuller, sitting more in the mid-palate. Better balance throughout and extension on the back of the palate, slightly more savoury maturity, serious considered port wine, powerful yet haunting.

Noval ten-year old
nice sweet nutty and toasty dry red fruits and carob spice. Bold yet smooth, very casky and nutty in youth, bright and fresh, clean yet complex, balanced and pure. Excellent clarity of purpose.

Noval twenty year old
Denser fuller and more viscous, more subtle nut characters, almost an almond Magnum flavour to it, nice texture. Opulent rich and yet focused and toasty. Not quite enough difference between 10 and 20 in my opinion.

Quinta do Noval 2008 VP
Spicy mulberry clove green pepper notes. Really intense and not sweet, dry full and powerful, broad yet focused and structured, balanced and long on the palate, but obviously far too young and in need of a lot of time in bottle. A wine too early to see much expression.

Noval Ten Year Old Tawny Port

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July 19, 2012 · 9:19 pm

Déjà vu (Douro Valley, Portugal – Day One)

After six months visiting wine regions in Europe I feel like I am beginning to come full circle. Every major wine-producing country has been covered, and with the exception of Bordeaux (next week) and Burgundy (the end of the year), every important wine region has been visited. The experience and knowledge I have acquired since the beginning of the year scares me slightly, and I hate the idea that I am becoming jaded with my knowledge of wine. I think the time I have planned in the UK and Ireland through August will do me some good, as it will refresh me for working vintage in Germany from mid-September. Probably the main reason that I am feeling a sense of déjà vu is the similarities that the Douro Valley has with the Mosel Valley, which I visited all the way back at the end of January. The way the calm and wide river makes its slow progress to the Atlantic Ocean is hauntingly similar to the Mosel, as well as the deep valley with steep slopes planted with terraced vineyards. They even have some slate/schist here, but a lot more granite and even limestone. There is obviously one glaring difference which is the climate. It is very hot here, often reaching well over 40 degrees in summer, whereas the Mosel is not. When I was in the Mosel it wasn’t getting over zero degrees; on my first day in the Douro it got up to 39 degrees. So a little bit different. I came here to not only actually see the vineyards where the port wine comes from, but to also explore a rapidly growing part of the Douro for dry table wines, getting quite a following.
High above the vineyards of the Douro

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