In pictures: Quinta do Noval

Earlier this month db paid a flying visit to Quinta do Noval in the Douro to find out what makes this historic Port house tick and to meet its maker, Christian Seely, who took over the running of the Quinta in the 90s and turned its fortunes around.

Quinta do Noval has undergone a spectacular transformation in the past two decades. Having been on of the region’s most coveted houses throughout the 1920s onward, it hit a dark patch in the 1970s, and was left run down and in disrepair. Since it was bought by French insurance company AXA Millesimes in 1993, with Christian Seely at the helm, this once beleaguered Port house has gone from strength to strength, with its vineyards undergoing a massive replanting mission and the historic Quinta and winery being completely rebuilt.

Christian Seely, managing director of AXA Millesimes, which owns Quinta do Noval in the Douro

“We replanted 100 hectares in the 1990s. It looked terrifying at the time,” recalled Seely. “To see all those vines dug up was quite scary and it took eight years. Now we are in a very sweet spot because all that replanting of the vineyards means that we have a lot of the noble varieties all coming into their most productive period in terms of quality, and that’s going to last for another 30 years.”

Today Quinta do Noval, based in the Pinhão Valley of the Douro, is among the top Port houses in the Douro, but also one of the smallest, covering 145 hectares. It is known for its vintage Ports, but perhaps more so its Nacional – a vintage Port made only from a select 1.6ha ungrafted vineyard within the Quinta comprised of a blend of around 30 varieties, including Touriga Nacional.

Every good trip to the Douro starts with a visit to Vila Nova de Gaia, where traditionally barrels of Port arrived by boats (Rabellos) to mature in warehouses where it was cooler than the stifling valley, and wines could benefit from a slower, more extended ageing period. Today, this journey is made largely by road. However the historic boats remain, a sign of the past.

Noval’s port-side bar in Vila nova de Gaia

Most recently, Noval declared a 2015 vintage, choosing to follow the quality of its own wines rather than the direction of the regional declarations in general, declaring even it it means doing so for several years in a row.

“Noval follows its own path in its approach to Vintage Port,” said Seely. “If we believe that we have wines of the quality and personality to join the ranks of the Quinta do Noval Ports of previous years, we will bottle it and declare it, even if this means declaring several years in a row, and even if it means, as is often the case, bottling only a few hundred cases of Quinta do Noval Vintage Port, representing a tiny percentage of the total production of the Quinta, in some years less than 3% of our production.”

Noval also produces an increasing range of still wines, with production split with Port around 75% to 25% to Port, under its Cedro do Noval and Quinta do Noval label. Named after the famous old Cedar tree in the courtyard of the Quinta, Cedro do Noval is a blend of traditional Port grapes complemented by Syrah. A white DOC Cedro do Noval has now joined its ranks,

 made from a blend of Malvasia and Gouveio. Quinta do Noval meanwhile is a red wine made from a blend of the Douro’s five flagship varieties. 

A highlight of the trip – a taste of Quinta do Noval’s 1964 Colheita. Seely believes the Colheita category is ripe for a boom, calling it the “wine of the future”, and has revealed he is now laying down a far greater quantity of Colheitas than in the past, even hinting that he might one day make a Colheita from the estate’s famed Nacional vineyard.

“The problem is they are not as economically interesting as vintage port. We make a vintage port and two years later we can sell it. With Colheita you make the wine and keep it for 15 years. So making the thing and keeping it for 12-15 years is an expensive business,” explains Seely. “At the moment and even more so it sells for a lower price than vintage Port, so making vintage Port makes financial sense. I wanted to make Colheita Port because I love them. If vintage Port is the great expression of the valley, I think Colheita is the other great Port wine of the Douro valley. Not only great, but sometimes greater in some cases. It’s possible to prefer Colheita to Vintage. I wanted to make them for the thing itself. But I also believe that Colheita Ports will become more and more in demand that’s already happening.”

Explaining why he expects demand for Colheita to rise, Seely points toward modern lifestyles.

“They are practical for the people that might be drinking it in the future,” he said. “Vintage Port wines were developed for another time. The traditional consumer who might buy a case and lay it down in their cellar and keep them for decades, which is great. But most modern consumers in New York, London, Shanghai are probably living in apartments and the idea of laying down a wine for 20 years isn’t practical. We age Colheitas for you. We age them here and they are ready to drink. I really think that Colheita I hope will be a very major contributor to the future prosperity of the Douro Valley.”

A cork tree sits proudly on the Noval estate, with bark stripped for use in the cork industry roughly every nine years.

Quinta do Noval’s traditional lagares, washed and ready for next year’s harvest. All of Noval’s Ports are made through foot-treading, however of its still wines, only Syrah is made in crushed in the traditional way. “There are still some people that are making red wines in lagares, but the thing about lagares is that they are a wonderful way of achieving intense extraction of the grapes in a short space of time, which is perfect for making Port wines,” explained Seely. “If you are not carefully making red wines in lagares you can end up with wines that have so much tannin. We taste and say these are going to be wonderful in 10 years and by that time it might be too late. The only red wines we make in lagares is Syrah, which works really well in lagares.”

Quinta do Noval’s barrel room

After an hour trek up the vineyards of Noval, this was our reward.

This year, temperatures reached 42°C in June and it remained hot throughout the summer, cooling only slightly, into the autumn. For the second year in the row, there was little rain in the winter. Combined, this resulted in one of the earliest harvests on record in the Douro, which was completed at Quinta do Noval in late September. A few grapes however remained on the vine when db visited in early October.

Then it was onto Quinta da Romanaeira, Seely’s private project co-owned with a Brazilian investor. Seely bought the estate in 2004 with the intention of exploring the Douro’s still red wine potential. At Romaneira, 75% of production is still, with the remainder Port, while at Quinta do Noval that balance is reversed. Describing the emergence of Douro red wines as an “enormous shot in the arm for the Douro”, Seely explained that it wouldn’t have been possible to establish Quinta da Romaneira as a Port house, but that the growth of still wines was helping producers independent from the big Port houses to thrive.

“The Douro red wines have brought an energy into the Douro,” he said.  Independent producers that might not necessarily link with the big producers and I think that been positive for the Douro Valley.”

Currently, Seely produces 13 still wines at Romaneira, including a 100% Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca, with plans to make single varietal Tinto Cao under his Quinta da Romaneira label. This is in addition to a range of international varieties, including Petit Verdot and Syrah. 

Seely has trialled Cabernet Sauvignon, Mouvedre, Petit Verdot and Syrah in the Douro, both at Noval and at Quinta da Romaneira, highlighting Petit Verdot as the grape with the most promise. Seely began working with the variety at Romaneira in 2004, producing the first single varietal Petit Verdot with the 2011 vintage, and has since expanded his plantings of Petit Verdot to 1.5 hectares at Romaneira, and planted a smaller amount at Noval.

“I have always liked Petit Verdot but it has never worked in a blend at Pichon [Baron, in Bordeaux], explains Seely. “You can see that it is a great grape variety, but that it probably needs more sun, which in the Douro we have lots of. We planted it at Romaneira and it was a bit disappointing for the first few years. It likes sun but also water. So we irrigated one hectare of Petit Verdot and it turned into something extraordinary.”

Seely also produces a white wine, Quinta da Romaneira Reserve White DOC, made from a blend of Malvasia and Gouveio.

One of two properties located on the Quinta da Romaneira estate, located on the banks of the River Douro.

Back at Quinta do Noval, there was time to take in the estate’s new infinity pool, complete this summer, offering a spectacular spot for a dip with stunning views across the Douro…..

….as the sun set over Quinta do Noval.