2015 Port Harvest Tour 1 - Travelogue

[Eric Ifune]

Great pictures!
I've fond memories at Quinta do Tedo. I've a magnum of their 1997 VP I bought at their shop.

[Roy Hersh]

Excellent job Eric. Now I can finish the last day. Thanks for putting in the photos too!

Roy

[Roy Hersh]

The grand finale of Port Harvest Tour 1 began on Saturday with our visit to the legendary Quinta do Noval. We were hosted by Ana who has been with Noval since January. She is fun, funny, charismatic, attractive and extremely knowledgeable.

Our group had a very thorough tour of Noval, beginning with the lagar room and getting a chance to see how deeply colored the grapes were. We learned that in addition to the grapes grown at the quinta, Noval now only uses six other suppliers for grapes. This property has undergone significant replanting since AXA took over in 1993. During the past two decades, most of the entire property has been replanted, most to block planting. Of course the remaining old vine field blend and Nacional parcels have not been replanted.

We spent some time in the production areas and storage facilities as well. Then we went into the Nacional vineyard and everyone had the opportunity to taste the grapes still on the vines and we learned a lot about the history and truth about this special place in the Douro. Ana said it was only 2 hectares, which is the first time that I have heard it was actually less than 2.25 hectares, but she may be correct after all. Fact checking may be needed.

It was a stunning sunny afternoon and we were indoors for a broad tutored tasting to provide specifics of the varied categories of Port from Noval, including:

a. Noval Black – a fine Ruby Reserve that is a consistent winner.
b. 2009 LBV that was bottled after six years in wood in 2015. Aromatic and intense!
c. 2012 Vintage Port – briary, powerful and approachable with an ultra-dry finish.
d. 2013 Vintage Port – black, peppery, intensely and generously flavored. I prefer it to 2012.
e. 10 Year Old Tawny Port – a 2015 bottling, spot on and delicious for its genre.
f. 20 Year Old Tawny Port – much more profound than its younger brother!
g. 2000 Colheita (bottled 2014) Surprising depth of flavor, given its youth.

It was a very good start and got everyone in the mood for lunch which took place in Noval's traditional dining room. But first we had some petiscos and TawnyTonics outside, under the 200+ year old Cedar of Lebanon tree that is the focal point of the quinta.

Lunch included a couple of table wines:
2014 Cedro do Noval Branco – a blend of Viosinho and Gouveio that showed great minerality and paired well with our first course.
The 2011 Quinta do Noval Touriga Nacional was an excellent version of this rarely seen Douro red; balanced and age-worthy but absolutely approachable and delicious today.

With our dessert course we had the chance to drink two Ports, served blind.
* The 1995 Quinta do Noval Colheita - which was delivering much older flavors and secondary nuances … already. Quite impressive and loved by all, we were guessing in the 1970s, as this appeared to be considerably older, not just the aromatics and flavor profile.
Last but not least, our group had their introduction to Nacional. Almost everyone was new to this Port and had to guess what it was. This was slightly easier than the Colheita, as it looked its age, but still came as a surprise to most of us. The great vintage of Noval VP 1997 was guessed, but no one thought this was the 1997 Naciona, due to its weight and refined tanninsl. A very fine Port indeed. In retrospect, I wish we had this alongside the regular Noval 1997 bottling to show the distinct contrast. It had been decanted 2.5 hours earlier, but it really began to blossom between 3-4 hours and even then, it could have used several more hours in decanter. Nonetheless, never look a gift horse in the mouth. This was a truly special Port, blessed with waves of briary black and purple fruits. Well structured and balanced with a remarkable ease and elegance about it, yet plenty of years ahead. A truly decadent finish to the wine and our visit.

That night we spent our last supper together at O’Paparico. We often go there on our first night of the tour, but never on our last, so this was a nice change of pace. After lots of Vertice and appetizers, I stopped tracking the wines that followed so I could fully enjoy our last night together and not worry about taking specific tasting notes. As our host, owner Sergio Cambas was on hand, I discussed trying some new and unique Douro white and red wines with our dinner and am sure one of our guests will likely add their two cents with the names/vintages. Highly recommended!

Around 11 p.m. that night, Sergio’s wife brought in their 2 week old son and I had the privilege of holding him for a few minutes. It had been quite a long time since I’ve held a baby so this was a rare treat, but he was absolutely adorable and this was the happiest I've ever seen Sergio, who is loving being a dad.

We lingered late into the night and the first ever PHT1 group was a great success. I think we’ll see several of the guests back in the future as the group dynamic was fabulous and I know these friends will be keeping in touch with one another and had a great time and learned a ton. More new ambassadors for Porto and the Douro!

[Eric Menchen]

I think Ana said the Nacional parcel was actually just 1.8 hectares, and they regularly round up to 2. That is my recollection.

Great day, great trip!

[Andy Velebil]

Really love the 1995 Noval Colheita, a spectacular younger tawny for sure. Nice recap!

[Roy Hersh]

Thanks Andy!

[Roy Hersh]

Before I remove this from the top of the page at the end of the month, I wanted to give folks one last chance to peruse these pages.