Quinta do Noval deep dive: latest releases and more from this important Douro estate
Head to the Douro and then make your way to Vale Mendiz in the Pinhão Valley, you’ll find one of Portugal’s most important wine estates. It’s Quinta do Noval, which since 1991, when it was acquired by the wine arm of France’s AXA. Things hadn’t gone well for Noval in the previous couple of decades, and a lot of work was needed to renovate the vineyards.
Christian Seely, who heads up AXA’s wine division, and who started out with AXA at Noval (he was responsible for turning things around) was in town with winemaker Carlos Agrellos showing off the new releases and a few other bits and pieces. Carlos took over winemaking duties from his father, Antonio, back in 2020. There was a two year transition period preceding this hand-over. ‘He’s making great strides in improving the quality of the table wines,’ says Christian.
Noval now have 192 hectares under vine, and with the way the vineyards are in the Douro, this represents lots of diversity: there’s altitude and aspect. It’s because of the extent of the vineyard that Noval are known for their ‘eccentric’ declarations, making vintage Port pretty much every year. But the smallest declarations are 3% of production, which is just under 1000 cases. The larger declarations are just 7% of production. Such a diverse vineyard with different bits behaving differently each year means that they can always find something that’s of Vintage Port quality.
Noval’s first foray into table wines was back in 2004. The Douro is now 50/50 table wines and Ports, says Carlos, with 15% of the dry wines being white. Overall, there are 65 permitted red varieties and 49 white varieties. But the older vineyards are field blends and it’s not always easy to identify what is planted.
Since the 1980s 10 varieties of each have been selected and companies are working with this more limited palette. But slowly people are starting to select and regraft some of the older varieties. Carlos says that it wouldn’t surprise them if we suddenly begin talking about more varieties that have been a bit forgotten.
He says the Douro is a very interesting area to work in, even if there are some hiccups, like the current over-supply of Port wine, which will take a while to sort out.
So, recent vintages. 2024 set up to be a fantastic year. 23 and 24 had wet rainy winters, with a mild, rainy spring in 24 so production was above average. ‘It’s always a hot summer in the Douro,’ says Carlos, ‘and it went perfectly for us and generally in the Douro.’ Excluding two rainy spells in September during the harvest, they had a very pleasing harvest in all categories of wines. ‘It was a good viticultural year in the Douro and we managed to make some very good wines. We make quite a few: we make 35 different wines.’
They did a substantial replanting at Noval in the 1990s, putting in the most famous varieties block by block. ‘Some of our earlier red wines were focused on those varietal plantings,’ says Christian. But they still have quite a lot of mixed vineyards with old vines that they weren’t using for the red wines. One of the many things they started when Carlos took over in 2020 was using the field blends in the Reserva. Famed winemaking consultant Eric Boissenot who works at Pichon started working at Noval for a couple of days a year and he was enthused by the potential of the old field blend vineyards. ‘This gives our Reserva wines more depth and complexity,’ says Christian.
One relatively recent acquisition was Quinta do Passadouro, which they purchased in 2019 and have been making the wines since then. So we tasted some of these wines too.
Quinta do Passadouro Branco 2024 Douro, Portugal
13% alcohol. 30% Viosinho, 20% Códega de Larinho, 20% Gouveio, 15% Rabigato, 15% Aristo, 30% in oak, of which two-thirds is new. This represents the style of the Passadouro brand, but this is made from bought-in grapes as Passadouro is just red varieties. They want to make a wine that’s different from the Noval whites. There’s 20% of Codega which is a fragrant variety, and Rabigato and Arinto for the natural acidity that they bring: they are useful varieties in a hot region. Crisp, aromatic, bright and floral with a slight grapey edge. The palate is bright, crisp and fruit-driven with lovely focus. Good natural acidity here: lean, mineral but with flavour. 93/100
Cedro do Noval Reserva Branco 2024 Douro, Portugal
13.5% alcohol. 55% Viosinho, 45% Gouveio. 65% stainless steel, 20% new oak, 15% used oak. This is a new wine at Noval, just the second vintage. They were looking for a wine to fill the gap between the Cedro and the Reserva Branco. They stumbled across these grapes from the Alijó plateau (at altitude, soils schist but with 5-10% granite). This is expressive and bright with some floral characters as well as bright lemon and mandarin fruit with good acidity. There’s some depth on the palate and it handles its oak really well, adding a bit of spicy detail but not interfering with the aromas. Such lovely fruit expression here. 94/100
Quinta do Noval Reserva Branco 2024 Douro, Portugal
13% alcohol. 65% Viosinho, 35% Gouveio, French oak, 55% new, aged for 6 months. This was made for the first time in 2021. 100% estate fruit from the highest blocks, around 450 m. S/SW exposition, so a hotter area, but there’s some wind that helps keep things fresh. Powerful, rich and intense with some toasty, spicy oak in the mix adding some mealy notes, and then rich pear and peach fruit. Tastes quite expensive and luxurious, but the oak could do with settling a bit. I reckon this will age very nicely over a decade, when it will merit a higher score. 93/100
2022 was an exceptionally dry year. They’d learned from 2020 and so started harvesting quite early. In August they were making whites, reds and Ports. It turned out to be the correct choice: they had no shrivelling of the Touriga Francesa. The sorting of the grapes resulted in just 0.5% being sorted out, which is very low.
Cedro do Noval Tinto 2022 IGP Duriense, Portugal
13.5% alcohol. 37% Touriga Nacional, 25% Syrah, 25% Touriga Franca, 8% Tinto Cão, 5% Tinta Roriz. Small oak, 11 months, 15% new. Very fresh and aromatic with well structured and beautifully floral, expressive black cherry and blackberry fruit with just a touch of spicy oak. Really lovely, and quite structured, offering a lot of pleasure. There’s a lovely olive and black fruit character from the Touriga Nacional. This really over-delivers. 94/100
Quinta do Noval Touriga Nacional 2022 Douro, Portugal
13.5% alcohol. Small French oak, 11 months, 20% new. This is bright and vivid with some juicy red fruits and then a touch of black cherry. It’s floral and there’s a savoury, spicy edge with some wood evident. Juicy and refreshing, and quite light with good acidity, but the wood really sticks out and cramps the style of the fruit. I don’t think this really works, although I like the freshness. 90/100
Quinta do Noval Touriga Nacional 2020 Douro, Portugal
Supple and fresh with lovely black cherry and blackcurrant fruit with nice texture and good structure. Has concentration and focus and the oak is well integrated. 94/100
Quinta do Noval Reserva Tinto 2022 Douro, Portugal
14% alcohol. 42% Touriga Nacional, 32% Touriga Franca, 26% field blend. 50% new oak. This is bold, rich and complex with blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, as well as some tarry, spicy oak character adding support, and a bit of structure. Stylish and refined with some freshness as well as the bold, rich fruit. Has some tannin. This is unfurled and should age very nicely, in a polished, refined, fine-dining style. Give this time. 94/100
Quinta do Noval Reserva Tinto 2018 Douro, Portugal
This is developing really well with sweet blackcurrant fruit and some black cherry. Supple fruit but also good concentration, with some freshness and some floral detail. 94/100
Quinta do Passodouro Terroir Series Vinhas do Passadouro 2021
14.5% alcohol. This is a field blend of more than 20 different varieties, around 100 years old, 92% new oak. Taut, dense, vivid black cherry and blackcurrant fruit supported by plenty of spicy, tarry oak. Woody and a bit awkward now but there’s a lot going on and this should age in interesting ways. Quite tannic, with structure from the oak as well as the grapes. This might deserve a higher score with time. 92/100
Quinta do Noval Terroir Series Vinhas da Marka 2019 Douro, Portugal
This was the first in the terroir series from Noval. This vineyard comes from the right bank of the Douro and is neighbour to Quinta do Crasto. It’s a field blend of 30+ varieties planted in 1930, or perhaps earlier, at 145 m. This is fresh, elegant and pure, and beautifully expressive. Supple red cherry fruit and some well integrated oak, this is made in a super-elegant style. Nice precision. 96/100
2023 Vintage Ports
2023 wasn’t a general declaration but this doesn’t mean this was a bad year. Noval try to make a Vintage-quality Port every year. They had a warm, wet winter in 2022/23, and then a warm growing season followed. There were some problems in the region that were localised: severe thunderstorms in May and June that hit some, but Noval were spared. In the past 24 years, 2023 was the third in terms of rainfall, which created difficulties. The difficult part was navigating the rain during harvest period in September. Normally they stop when it rains and wait it out, and select where the good grapes are. This is what they did in 2023, and towards the end of the harvest they had some sunny spells and could make some really nice wines from various parcels on the estate. This is a year where decision making during the harvest was important, making it quite a stressful experience.
Quinta do Passadouro Vintage Port 2023
19.5% alcohol, 87 g/l residual sugar. Aged in 2500 litre old vats for 18 months. Vale de Mendiz style. Sweetly aromatic and open with sweet black cherry and berry notes with some apple character and fine spices, with some cinnamon, mint and white pepper. The palate is open with some red fruit character as well as black, and sweet, smooth, quite luxurious ripe character. There’s some tannin here but it’s hidden well by the sweet, luxurious fruit. Very fine and expressive. 94/100
Quinta do Noval Vintage Port 2023
19.5% alcohol, 92 g/l residual sugar. Made from 12 different wines from different parcels. 2280 cases of 12 released. This is powerful and dense, but still quite pretty, with lovely floral black cherry and red berry fruit with a touch of blackcurrant. Some spicy detail, with lovely flesh and real purity to the fruit. Sweet, pure and inviting with good structure sitting under the fruit. 95/100
Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port 2023
19.5% alcohol, 99 g/l residual sugar. Harvested on 20th September in one pass. 140 cases made. Intense, dark and brooding with spice-laden black cherry and blackcurrant fruit on the nose. The palate is beautifully complex and dense with a wonderfully exotic spicy character and dense red and black fruits. It’s grippy and firm with grainy tannins that add beautiful support to the exotic, spicy, layered fruit. This is really good. 96/100
Other Ports
Quinta do Noval Vintage Port 2007
Floral, exotic and nicely pure, with supple sweet cherry and plum fruit. Amazingly harmonious and elegant with sweet floral fruit and mellow structure. In a perfect place right now. 97/100
Quinta do Noval Vintage Port 2000
This is finely spiced with lovely black fruits, showing amazing texture and depth. It’s beginning to mellow out, but still has lots of primary fruit. 95/100
Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port 2000
This is concentrated and dense , and fresh. There’s a minty edge to spicy black cherry and blackcurrant fruit. Fresh, minty, spicy and dense. Amazing depth and complexity. 96/100
Quinta do Noval Colheita 1995
Lovely texture to this spice-laden old Colheita with detailed notes of raisins and dried fruit. Has floral finesse and some elegance: very fine. 96/100
Quinta do Noval Colheita 2007
Warm, spicy and complex with nice depth and some bold, raisiny, spicy fruit, and hints of pepper and mint. Stylish and complex, with sweetness and intensity. 95/100
Quinta do Noval 20 Year Old Tawny
Warm and spicy with nice intensity. Some old wood notes and a hint of raisin. Rich and bold, yet elegant at the same time with dried fruits, nuts and spicy detail. 95/100
