Roy told me that this forum is a great place to get answers from experienced port enthusiasts. Since Roy is rarely wrong, I have come in search of wisdom.
Actually, I am wrong often ... when relying on my less than great memory. At one time it was unbelievably sharp and I could tell you the exact wines I had at a dinner, even two years prior. Now, I can't remember what I had for breakfast
so I can only imagine the fireworks if my wife read that quote ... she'd be flying back to NYC and hunting Chris down, going door-to-door checking out every Doty she could find. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.
Hi Chris and
![[welcome.gif]](./images/smilies/welcome.gif "Welcome")
to
. Shocking to see you in here with the rest of us Port-nerds.
Let me do some 'splainin' to ya the difference.
Quinta do Noval has been around since 1715. For many years their Nacional bottles incorrectly stated on their labels: "Produced from Pre-Phylloxera Vines" (e.g. the 1963/1966/1967 and even as recently as 1994 ... so after the purchase of Noval by AXA insurance company where Christian Seely is now in charge of Noval (and all AXA wine holdings) but also stated as: "Produced from Pre-Phylloxera Grapes" as on the 1970 Nacional label.
Years ago, I brought this up to the previous owner of Noval Cristiano van Zeller, the man whose family owned it for well over a century -- and later, to Christian Seely shortly after we first made contact. Both of those statements were incorrect and absolutely factually inaccurate. I had done exhaustive study on the Nacional vineyard and was able to prove why this was wrong. I believe that the label was changed with the 1996 Nacional and this is a very little known fact, and the reason why I wanted you to come over here, because I am willing to put in the time explaining this in greater detail HERE but not over on Squires, although you know I have about 13,000 posts there over the years ... the vast majority on Port, Douro and Madeira wines as you know. Nonetheless, and for the record, let me be clear that my pointing out the label issue and explaining my rationale ... had NOTHING to do with the eventual label changes that finally took place. I was just glad that after decades of incorrect info on the labels, they were finally changed and made right.
Now back to some good old fashioned fact checking and answering your question.
Cristiano VZ's ancestor was A.J. da Silva and he owned the property since the early part of the 19th century (1813?) and before that Rebello Valente owned it and before that ... the good old Marques de Pombal's empire. Long after Pombal though, Phylloxera came to the Douro in the final third of the 19th century and Noval was nearly destroyed, along with many other properties. The Nacional vineyard was actually replanted (from my research) in 1925. The vines chosen were not pre-phylloxera, but are better known today as "ungrafted" (grafting onto American rootstock was done to deter the reoccurence of the root louse). Sadly, company records were destroyed in the Noval Lodge fire in Gaia in 1981, so it is now hard to prove this except from old books that I've poured over 15-25 years ago, when I still had a sharp mind and memory for all things Port. Anyway, the infamous 1931 Quinta do Noval Nacional bottling, the most expensive Port ever sold, was made with SIX YEAR OLD VINES. This disproves so many claims that in order to have great Ports, you need old vine vineyards. Obviously not the case and the 1931 is the greatest living example of this and one I've lectured on. Therefore, with a certainty I can state that the labels were wrong on those Nacional bottles as mentioned. Now we're getting close to your answer.
In 1963, Cristiano's uncle Fernando who returned to the family business at the request of his grandfather, ran the Quinta (and later was the cause of the Quinta being sold to AXA). Fernando's brother Luiz was the viticulturist and tried a new fertilizer in 1963 which did not destroy the crops, but did cause them to greatly overproduce and the grapes although plentiful, lacked any serious concentration. The 1963 Noval has matured way too early due to this faux pas and I've never been a fan of that pleasant almost tawny-like Port. I have heard friends mention having "great bottles" but I've NEVER been a party to one that has shown better than average at best. It is believed that the Nacional vineyard did not receive the fertilizer treatment that year, ergo its greatness, like many other Quintas' vineyards during that amazing year. There are "rumors" that can not be proved today ... that the Nacional vineyard did receive the fertilizer treatment the following year and supposedly, that is why the 1964 Nacional was also dilute and lacked the depth it showed in 1962, 1963, 1966, 1967 and 1970 ... for just a few examples during that great stretch of vintages.
At no point in Christian Seely's blog did he allude to the 1963 vintage, or the regular bottling of Noval being different because of the terroir or natural differences which occur in that small parcel, which he mentioned specifically regarding the difference with 2007's.
As an aside, it was in Andy V.'s birth year, 1973, that the name changed from A.J. Da Silva to Quinta do Noval on not only the company masthead but on all subsequent labels, as noted on 1974 Quinta do Noval Colheita labels. However, Nacional labels were called Quinta do Noval Nacional going way back decades and even some earlier bottlings of Noval (I have regular bottles of Noval 1931 and 1945 to prove that to naysayers who used to challenge me on this point, long before I dreamed of FTLOP).
I hope this once and for all explains why there is such a difference in the 1963s, not because of the segregated six and a quarter acre vineyard named Nacional. That said, Christian's remarks about the 2007 are very believable. He and I discussed this long before his blog post and the quality of the juice was in question for quite awhile and although "waiting on the decision" and hoping to see certain organoleptic changes going to take place by leaving the wine sit longer, with the outside chance of a late declaration (within the parameters of the IVDP regulations, of course) ... but those hoped for metamorphic changed never did materialize in the juice itself. I kept close to that story as I had been requesting samples all along, of the 2007 Nacional and was given very specific answers upon request. That, as they say ... is the rest of the story.
![[cheers.gif]](./images/smilies/cheers.gif "Toast"){kind=small}
![[bye2.gif]](./images/smilies/bye2.gif "See Ya"){kind=small}