2003 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port

Oporto, Portugal

2003 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port is truly a wine gem for the ages! If you're interested in putting a few bottles of vintage Port in your cellar for a few years and then looking forward to a huge reward years from now, there's no better wine to choose than the 2003 Quinta do Noval. Quinta do Noval lies in the Douro Valley in northern Portugal, with steep hillside vineyards along the river valley. This famous winery has produced great Port wines since 1715. The 2003 vintage is one of the best in history for Port. Wine Spectator rated the overall vintage 98 points, topped by only 3 other vintages in the past century--1927, 1948 and 1994. The Quinta do Noval 2003 received superlative ratings from all of the world's leading wine critics: Parker 94, Tanzer 94 and Wine Spectator 96. The wine is young, best after another 5-10 years, but will age beautifully for another 40 years or more to reward handsomely those with the patience to wait!

Quinta do Noval Vintage Port is produced exclusively from selected plots at the Quinta, and only declared in exceptional years. Touriga Nacional, Tinta Cao, Touriga Francesca, Tinta Roriz and Sousao are the grape varieties, all trodden by foot in the lagares at Quinta do Noval. The wine is aged around 20 months in old oak barrels of 640 liters or larger. Intensely powerful and concentrated, this port is perfectly adapted to age in bottle, and has the capacity to mature gracefully over decades. Steve Tanzer offers a fine description of the 2003 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port: "Saturated deep ruby. Sweet aromas of black cherry, cassis, licorice, molasses, minerals, toffee and violet. Dense, sweet and pliant, with outstanding precision and depth of flavor. Like the Silval, this boasts a seductively creamy texture. The explosive, mounting finish offers a fine dusting of ripe, suave tannins and great breadth." We couldn't say it any better!

Enjoy the 2003 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port over the next 40 years as the perfect ending to a great dinner or to celebrate a very special moment in your life.