Quinta do Noval declares 2012 vintage

Port house, Quinta do Noval, has made a late declaration of the 2012 vintage, nearly three months after the traditional date to do so.

The twenty-third of April is the traditional day for Port houses to declare the latest vintages but as Christian Seely, managing director of AXA Millesimes, noted on his blog, “Noval has, of course, often made eccentric declarations.”

He continued: “My approach to this is very simple: if we feel that we have a wine of the necessary quality, and with the style and character of a classic Quinta do Noval Vintage, we will declare it, even if this means declaring two years in a row (as we did in ‘07 and ’08, and indeed in ’03 and ’04,) and even if it means bottling only a very small amount of vintage Port.

“In the case of the 2012 just 1000 cases were produced but I am very happy with the result and am convinced that the 2012 will hold a worthy place in the line-up of great recent declarations such as 2011, 2008 and 2007.”

The vintage has not been widely declared by the major houses. The Fladgate Partnership for one has not declared a traditional vintage but instead will make a “vintage trio” from three of its quintas.

The 2004 vintage of the Nacional was launched last month as well. As the drinks business reported last year, Quinta do Noval announced it was releasing the “secret” vintage last year.

Seely said the wine has benefited from its 10 years in bottle and the wine is, “wonderful, though still intense and powerful, and astonishingly youthful.”