Wine Advisor
Quinta do Noval, Nacional Vintage Port 2003
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Description
Quinta do Noval, Vintage Port, Porto, Nacional, Douro, Red, 2001
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The Quinta do Noval Nacional 2003 is more backward on the nose than the Vintage Noval ‘03, with perfumed black plum, incense, lavender and spice. The aromatics here are pure and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins matched by a killer line of acidity that comes wholly unexpected given the growing season. Thus, it is extremely focused and vigorous, with superb precision and tension. This is a modern-day legend in the making, superior to the 2000 and 1997. Drink 2018-2045. Tasted January 2014.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
An opaque black/purple hue. The nose is more reluctant than the vintage bottling, but there are potent scents of black cherries, cassis and a touch of honey. The palate is very different, beautifully balanced, less turbo-charged than the vintage bottling, and more intellectual. Black fruits, liquorice, touch of blueberry, quite brutal tannins, and clams up on the finish. This will be a monumental wine but it needs a decade to coalesce. Half a century? Tasted February 2007.
Reviewed by: Pierre Rovani
The dense 2003 Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port displays an impenetrable black robe. Its profound aromatics exude notes of Damson plums, blackberries, fresh herbs, flowers, and hints of vanilla. Built for the long-haul, this refined wine reveals massive thickness, concentration, and depth. Its plummy character is redolent with black cherries, violets, pepper, and figs. Even after 4 days of air this intense effort was firmly backward (possibly even more so than immediately after opening!). Projected maturity: 2035-2055. Importer: William Grant & Sons, Edison, NJ; tel. (732) 225-9000
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2003 Naçional Vintage Port is a vintage that I cannot recall having tasted since its release. It's an absolute gem. The bouquet explodes with a smorgasbord of aromas: sloes, fresh figs, Medjool dates and Xmas cake, all beautifully defined yet startlingly youthful. The palate has a ripe, almost candied entry, lightly spiced, intense and so elegant. The finish is very complex, particularly a second bottle opened by Christian Seely that was more pixelated than the first. Fabulous.
About the Producer
Quinta do Noval is one of the oldest and leading wineries producing Port wine. Among the top port producers, Bird Park is even more distinguished by the fact that its grapes are picked from a single vineyard. Notably, the winery is known for producing Portugal’s best port wine, “Nacional”, a blend from a single vineyard of old vines in the domestic Touriga Nacional. Likewise, the winery also produces high-quality dry red wines from Portugal, the most anticipated wines from the Douro region, showing unparalleled depth and concentration, as well as rich fruit and spice. trait. "Douro" means gold and gold in Portuguese, so the Douro River is also called the Golden River Valley. The Bird Park is located in Pinhao Village, the most central part of the Douro River region. The winery now has about 247 acres of vineyards. The Bird Park was created in 1715, originally owned and operated by the Rebello Valente family for over a century, and passed on to Viscount Vilar D'Allen by marriage in the early 19th century , a man with a passion for wild dances. In the 1880s, due to phylloxera damage, like other local wineries, Bird Garden was also for sale. In 1894, it was sold to Antonio Jose da Silva, a famous local businessman, who replanted the grape The estate was reborn, and his son-in-law, Luiz Vasconcelos Porto, took over the management and has been managing the winery for nearly 30 years. Louis vigorously carried out reforms, widening the width of the terraces, increasing the light and the convenience of field operations, which is a great reform even by today's technical standards, and promoted the winery with the help of Cambridge, Oxford and other clubs to enhance the reputation of the winery. Bird Garden's reputation continued to improve, and the 1931 vintage was an iconic one. Due to the world economic downturn at the time, orders for Port wine fell sharply. During the year, only three wine merchants continued to operate. Bird Garden was the The only Portuguese producer at the time with continuous exports to the Anglo-American market.
