Wine Advisor
Quinta do Noval, Vintage Port 2018
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2018 Vintage Port from Noval, picked from 5 September, has a really lovely bouquet with black plum and cassis fruit, still with that faint tincture of fireside hearth, concentrated and supremely well focused. This is the most "vinous" recent vintage insofar that it veers away from a fortified wine, perhaps with less VA than the 2017. The palate has a satin-like texture on the entry, a little spicier than the 2019, hints of black pepper, graphite, clove and allspice, very harmonious and poised on the graphite-tinged finish. Excellent. Tasted at the Quinta do Noval tasting at Spring restaurant in London.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2018 Quinta do Noval is exuberant and calls out for attention on the nose: black plums, sage, cloves and potent scents of fireside hearth. Lovely definition here and very focused. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled tannins, smooth and disarmingly harmonious. It fans out with confidence and delivers Oriental spices, hoisin, tobacco and black pepper on the very persistent finish. This is a superb Quinta do Noval.
Reviewed by: Mark Squires
The 2018 Vintage Port is a field blend aged for 18 months in old wood vats. It comes in with 100 grams of residual sugar. This was bottled May 13, 2020. Simply gorgeous, this is aromatic, chock-full of flavor and wholly delicious—but that's just the starting point. It has a serious backbone too, perfectly countered by the mid-palate depth. More than lovely, it might well be my favorite of the 2018s I've seen thus far, if I were forced to pick just one. It is surprisingly accessible, in a way, but that's because the mid-palate soaks up the power. It was certainly still vibrant days later. It should age well, but let's be just a little conservative now in evaluation and drinking windows.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2018 Vintage Port from Noval, picked from 5 September, has a really lovely bouquet with black plum and cassis fruit, still with that faint tincture of fireside hearth, concentrated and supremely well focused. This is the most "vinous" recent vintage insofar that it veers away from a fortified wine, perhaps with less VA than the 2017. The palate has a satin-like texture on the entry, a little spicier than the 2019, hints of black pepper, graphite, clove and allspice, very harmonious and poised on the graphite-tinged finish. Excellent. 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.
