Quinta Do Noval

One of the most reputed and evocative of names in all of Port, Quinta do Noval is perfectly situated on a steep hillside in the heart of the Douro Valley. The brand is probably best known for making the most famous of all Vintage Ports - Naçional. The variant arose in the midst of the scourge of European vineyards in the late 19th century, the phylloxera aphid. Noval managed to protect its best vineyard against the odds through intense fumigation and so avoided the practice of grafting its vines onto American rootstocks. Instead, Noval was able to do a rare thing: maintain its Portuguese stock. It was thus appropriately named ‘Naçional’.

Quinta do Noval is also notable among Port brands for creating a reputation for itself by declaring the 1931 vintage in a year when the world was in recession and few were in the mood to lay down vintage port. Furthermore, Noval was the first to introduce stencilled bottles and in 1958 it became the first house to introduce a Late Bottled Vintage.