Description
Quinta do Noval, established in 1715, is one of the only Port houses to be located in the heart of the Douro Valley of Portugal. It is perhaps best known for its Nacional Vintage Ports, the 1963 is considered by many critics to be the greatest Port ever made.
Quinta do Noval is also one of the only houses that is named after its most famed vineyard, in this case the Quinta do Noval. The majority of the vineyards at the quinta are planted with the noble varieties of the Douro: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Cao. These grapes do well on the mix of schist and clay soil types found here.
There was a large scale replanting of the vineyards in 1994, and each plot was planted with a variety that best suited that soil, altitude and exposition. Historically, the vineyards had been planted in blended plots; however this practice is dying out in the Douro, as the plantings become more specific to individual terroir. In the heart of the Quinta do Noval vineyard is a small plot of ungrafted vines that were lucky enough to avoid the devastation of phylloxera in the 19th Century. These grapes are used in the Nacional wines.
