Quinta do Noval Vintage Port 2017 6 x Bottles.

Quinta do Noval Vintage Port is characterised by its purity of fruit and a fine, delicate quality that is typical of the wines of the property in general, but which finds its most remarkable and enduring expression in the Vintage Ports.

Equilibrium, harmony, finesse and elegance characterise our great Vintage Ports, which are declared only when we are certain that the year has produced a blend, however small, that is worthy of bearing the name of Quinta do Noval Vintage Port.

Noval follows its own path in its approach to Vintage Port. If we believe that we have wines of the quality and personality to join the ranks of the Quinta do Noval Vintage Ports of previous years, we will bottle it and declare it, even if this means declaring several years in a row, and even if it means, as is often the case, bottling only a few hundred cases of Quinta do Noval Vintage Port, representing a tiny percentage of the total production of the Quinta.

Of course, in very great years, when there is unanimity among Port producers, and a General Declaration results, Quinta do Noval will declare its wine also, and perhaps with a little more wine than usual. But whatever the year, the standards of selection in the Noval tasting room are extremely rigorous, and even in the more generous years volumes of our Vintage Ports are always extremely small: at the very most, up to 15% of the production of our great vineyard terroir.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VINTAGE: 2017 was characterised by a cold, dry winter followed by an exceptionally hot and dry spring and summer. Apart from heavy rainfall (25 mm) on 6 July at Quinta do Noval, only 300 mm of rain fell since November 2016.

June was the hottest month since 1980, with temperatures reaching 42-44°C in the Douro Valley during a heat wave lasting from 7 to 24 June. Due to these extreme weather conditions, all phases of the vine's growth were 15 to 20 days early compared to 2016.

The vines weathered the shortage of water and the high temperatures well. At the end of August the harvest looked very promising, with excellent sanitary conditions.

Harvest started much earlier than usual due to the weather: from 17 August for the white wines and 21 August for the reds and the Ports, lasting until 28 September, with high temperatures and a total absence of rain.

GRAPE VARIETIES: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão, Sousão, Tinta Roriz.

VINIFICATION: Grapes are trodden by foot to obtain the must, then during fermentation macerate to obtain the best possible extraction in the lagares, the traditional stone vats from the Quinta.

MATURING: It is matured for 18 months in wooden casks in the air- conditioned cellars of the Quinta, at the demarcated region of the Douro Valley before bottling.

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 - 95+ Points The Wine Advocate Sep, 2020.