Traditional v robotic foot treading
Traditional foot treading of Port grapes at Quinta de Noval.
(Image credit: Pulsive)

Quinta do Noval says it is sticking to its policy of declaring small parcels from recent Douro vintages and will put 12,000 bottles of 2014 Port on the market.

Quinta do Noval said this week that it is declaring a small portion of its Port 2014 harvest.

It will be enough to put 1,000, 12-bottle cases on the market, said the house. A spokesperson said that one bottle would cost around £60 ($80), including VAT, in the UK.

Quinta do Noval 2014, vintage port

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Quinta do Noval also released its 250 cases of Nacional vintage port from 2001. This would cost around £600 ($800) per bottle in the UK.

The estate has a reputation for treading its own path in the Douro.

And the latest move follows Noval’s declaration of small quantities of the 2012 and 2013 Port harvests.

The last widely declared Port vintage was 2011, considered by some to be the best year in living memory.

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Declaring a Port vintage is often a careful balancing act between quality and commercial reasoning. Houses don’t want to flood the market, for example.

Quinta do Noval MD Christian Seely said this week, ‘The fundamental principle for us is that if we have a wine that we believe is of the quality and personality required to be bottled as a Quinta do Noval Vintage, then we should bottle it and declare it.’

It does not matter ‘whether or not we declared a vintage the year before, and even if the quantity of wine involved is very small’, he added.

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Chris Mercer
Chris Mercer

Chris Mercer is a Bristol-based freelance editor and journalist who spent nearly four years as digital editor of Decanter.com, having previously been Decanter’s news editor across online and print.

He has written about, and reported on, the wine and food sectors for more than 10 years for both consumer and trade media.

Chris first became interested in the wine world while living in Languedoc-Roussillon after completing a journalism Masters in the UK. These days, his love of wine commonly tests his budgeting skills.

Beyond wine, Chris also has an MSc in food policy and has a particular interest in sustainability issues. He has also been a food judge at the UK’s Great Taste Awards.