Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port 2021

Nacional is Quinta do Noval's Vintage Port from a single 2.5-hectare parcel of ungrafted vines beside the cellars, and the rarest of the great ports.

The Nacional plot sits within the Noval estate in the Douro's Cima Corgo and is planted on its own roots, having never been grafted onto American rootstock after phylloxera. That, rather than the grape Touriga Nacional, is where the name comes from: the vines are in direct contact with the soil of the nation. The parcel carries a range of the best port varieties, with Touriga Nacional accounting for only about 30%, alongside Touriga Franca, roughly 20% Tinto Cao from sixty-year-old vines, Tinta Roriz and some Sousao, at an average vine age of around fifty years. Yields are minuscule, near 15 hectolitres per hectare, and the tight bunches of small, deeply coloured grapes give a port of extraordinary concentration that still manages refinement. It is declared only in the years the house judges appropriate, and very little is released.

This needs decades in the cellar and a careful decant off its sediment when the time comes. Serve at 16-18°C with Stilton, walnuts or dark chocolate.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.