Quinta do Noval joins Port peers in declaring 2018 a vintage year

By Lisa Riley

Published: 27 April, 2020

Quinta do Noval has become the latest Port house to declare 2018 a vintage year following “extreme” weather conditions.

“It will perhaps come as no surprise that we are declaring the Quinta do Noval 2018 Vintage Port,” said Christian Seely, MD of Quinta do Noval, who at the same time also declared 2018 a vintage year for his private quinta - Quinta da Romaneira, which he co-owns.

The 2018 vintage - the eighth in a row, was like 2017 a year of low yields, he said, but for different reasons.

“2017 was a year of extreme drought, while 2018 was marked in the first part of the year by heavy rainfall. This meant that potential yields were naturally much reduced by the difficulties of the flowering period.

“Subsequently however, a long hot dry summer ensued. Water levels in the soil had been replenished, and the result of this excellent ripening period on a low yield is evident in the 2018 vintage Port, which is magnificently ripe, profound and expressive.”

The Quinta do Noval Vintage Port is made exclusively from grapes from its Quinta in the heart of the Douro, with the quantity bottled (1600 cases) just 7% of the Quinta’s production.

The 2018 vintage port is dominated by the Touriga Nacional and Touriga Francesa varieties, which Seely said had both “flourished in 2018,” in particular the latter, which he said had benefited from “the ideal ripening conditions”.

The move follows the declaration of 2018 as a vintage year by The Fladgate Partnership’s Taylor’s Port house; The Symington Family, which has produced small quantities of vintage Port from six of its principal properties in 2018, while Sogrape Estates has declared 2018 a vintage year for its Sandeman, Offley and Ferreira estates.

Printer friendly version