Wine Advisor
Quinta do Noval, Vintage Port 2015
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Mark Squires
The 2015 Vintage Port is a field blend aged for 18 months in old casks. It comes in at 94 grams per liter of residual sugar. This was a tank sample, out of barrel and the final blend, about two weeks away from bottling when tasted at Noval's lodge, but it was also retasted from bottle in the USA a short while later. Given the shipping not long after bottling, I'll still use a range, even if leaning to the higher part of it. It should be in the marketplace by the time this article appears. Lighter styled, this has an elegant mid-palate and subtle demeanor—but Noval always seems to me to emphasize mid-palate finesse. Then, there are the gloriously fresh flavors of the vintage, a year that produced fine intensity of flavor. Strongly aromatic, it also has hints of eucalyptus on the nose and/or cistus. Tightening steadily as it aired out, it demonstrated that it has that serious backbone, the firmness, I've come to expect, too. It was much more interesting about three days after it was first opened, sunnier and more expressive. The finish is long and jam-packed with delicious fruit, while the purity of that fruit is remarkable. Between its backbone and the freshness of the year, it should age well. Few will refuse a second glass of this debonair Porto at the moment, but it has a significant upside in the cellar. The fashionable trend these days is to suggest drinking Vintage Port younger and younger, but many will be happier with this around 2030-2035 or so. Admittedly, it is wonderfully delicious now.
Reviewed by: Mark Squires
The 2015 Vintage Port is part of our mini-vertical this issue. As compared to its immediate siblings in this mini-vertical, this is a big step up on the 2014. Really—it isn't far off the 2016, either. Pretty much every component is better here than on the 2014, and by a wide margin. The fruit is better here, and the concentration is better; so, too, is the structure. The texture is caressing while the acidity strafes the fruit and mingles nicely with the ripe (relatively ripe, that is) tannins. It is pure, rich, sexy and still balanced, with an invigorating finish. It's delicious too, its lively fruit and good structure promising a long life ahead. This has blossomed since I first saw it for sure. You can think about drinking this in a decade, more or less, but keep it longer for best results, or give it a few hours in a decanter.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
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.
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.
