2012 Declarations

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Axel P
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by Axel P »

Joao Nicolau was very happy with his 2012 harvest. I believe we can expect a Ramos Pinto VP 2012. I will research on this.

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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by jdaw1 »

Axel P wrote:Joao Nicolau was very happy with his 2012 harvest. I believe we can expect a Ramos Pinto VP 2012. I will research on this.
RamosPinto.pt shows 2011 and 2009.
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by RPA »

2012 Quinta do Noval can be added to this...
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AW77
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by AW77 »

Noval declared the 2012 last week. 1000 cases were made. More:
http://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2014/07/ ... 12-vintage
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uncle tom
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by uncle tom »

Noval declared the 2012 last week. 1000 cases were made
But are they actually marketing them?

I've yet to see the 2008 Noval offered at anything approaching a reasonable price..
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

If anyone would like any of the 2012 Noval, please let me know by PM.

I received a copy of the press release recently:
Quinta do Noval wrote:QUINTA DO NOVAL DECLARES THE 2012 VINTAGE


This week, the distinguished and iconic Port producer Quinta do Noval has announced the declaration of its classic 2012 Vintage – one of the very few Port houses to do so.

Managing Director Christian Seely explains: “Quinta do Noval has always marched to the beat of its own drum. Our approach is very clear: when we are convinced that we have a wine of sufficient quality to merit a declaration as Quinta do Noval, we do so. 2012 is an outstanding example of this”.

“We are a small port producer that always concentrates on quality rather than quantity”, Christian Seely continues. “With vines and terroir like this we do not always have to run with the crowd. We have an independence, and reputation that allows us to be somewhat idiosyncratic - if the wine is right”.

“In 2012, thanks to plenty of essential rain through the spring, and then an extremely dry summer we were able to produce a very small quantity of truly exceptional Port that we considered worthy of a Vintage declaration. Following strict selection of lots in the tasting room, we made just 1000 cases of our Quinta do Noval 2012 Vintage Port”.

Throughout the upper Douro, a wet spring and summer drought conditions that year reduced grape production overall. However, the mild temperatures through the year enabled the vines to reach excellent maturity. At Noval - where harvesting started one week later than normal - the grapes that were picked, and then trodden by foot, were small but perfectly formed with outstanding flavour and freshness in the musts.

The result is a Vintage Port which, according to wine-making director Antonio Agrellos: “is a classic example of the Quinta do Noval style and a worthy addition to the recent Quinta do Noval declarations such as 2011, 2008 and 2007”.

Quinta do Noval 2012 Vintage Port is now being bottled and shipped to customers around the world. Gonzalez Byass, Quinta do Noval’s UK agents, will have a small quantity on allocation, and are currently offering it for sale. Phone number: 01707 274790.

For more information, please contact Marie-Louise Schÿler, Director of Communication, AXA Millésimes +33 618674541, mlschyler@axamillesimes.com or Fiona Campbell, PR for UK, on 01225782095 or fionaccampbell@btopenworld.com


http://www.quintadonoval.com
The Technical Release wrote:A UNIQUE VINEYARD TERROIR
Quinta do Noval Vintage Port is characterised by its purity of fruit and a fine and delicate quality that is typical of the wines of the property in general but which finds its most remarkable and enduring expression in the Vintage Ports.
Equilibrium, harmony, finesse and elegance characterise our great Vintage Ports, which are declared only in great years (3 or 4 years in a decade) and only when the wines come up to Noval’s exacting standards. Even then, the wines selected for the Quinta do Noval Vintage Port blend represent only a small proportion of our total production.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 2012 VINTAGE
The year 2012 was characterized by an extremely dry and cold winter, followed by a very wet spring and a dry summer. These spring rains were crucial because they supplied the water necessary for the development of the vines. Yields were naturally low, but this fact coupled with the mild temperatures of spring and summer, allowed the vines to achieve an excellent maturation of the grapes.
The harvest started a week later than normal. Although 2012 was a drought year, the grapes were in very good condition, with small but perfect berries that produced flavourful musts, full of freshness and good acidity.
António Agrellos, Technical Director - June 2014
DECLARATION
Quinta do Noval has always had a slightly eccentric approach to Vintage Declarations, and indeed the house to a great extent made its name with its declaration of the great 31 Vintage.
When we are convinced that we have a wine that merits declaration as a Quinta do Noval Vintage Port we do so. 2012 is an outstanding example.
WHERE THE GRAPES COME FROM
All the grapes come from the Quinta do Noval vineyard.
GRAPE VARIETIES
Touriga Nacional 70%; Touriga Franca 25 %; Tinto Cão 5 %.
VINIFICATION
The grapes were trodden by foot and fermented in the traditional lagares of the Quinta, with temperature control at 28º, where a disciplined and intense treading is fundamental for a good final result.
MATURING
It is matured for 18 months in wooden barrels.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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djewesbury
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by djewesbury »

I really shouldn't. Are you free to publish prices or are these by PM only?
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idj123
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by idj123 »

The Noval is likely to be £270 for a case of 6 IB (so more than the 2011). They are also releasing a NN 2004 at around £330 per bottle IB.
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uncle tom
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by uncle tom »

The Noval is likely to be £270 for a case of 6 IB (so more than the 2011)
It could be worse, but what reason do we have to believe that it's better than the 2011?
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by DRT »

Uncorked wrote:
Screen Shot 2014-07-31 at 00.42.34.png
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The price differential between the Symington and TFP wines is staggering.

I ordered some of each of the TPF offerings, all of which scored 90+ in AHB's vintage review.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
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uncle tom
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by uncle tom »

The price differential between the Symington and TFP wines is staggering
+1
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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djewesbury
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by djewesbury »

uncle tom wrote:
The price differential between the Symington and TFP wines is staggering
+1
And not the way round that you might have expected. Funny old game isn't it.
I have already foresworn any more 'new' port. Is this expected to be drinkable any time soon?
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by djewesbury »

Actually by the time someone answers that post I'll have clicked the buttons that say 'buy one of each'. I like the idea of 24 halves.
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by DRT »

It's SQVP so not a long term proposition. In 10 years time these will be lovely. Buy.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
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djewesbury
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by djewesbury »

I'm buying, and I'm putting an order in for one of our brethren also.
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PopulusTremula
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by PopulusTremula »

DRT wrote:It's SQVP so not a long term proposition. In 10 years time these will be lovely. Buy.
This from a man who appears to have an endless supply of GM65 and, more importantly, who is also very gratiously sharing this most excellent juice with other forumites?

Perhaps Derek has only one bottle of GM65 and, like the pig Särimner in Nordic mythology, magically this is refilled after each draining, provided the bottle, cork and capsule are saved?
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by DRT »

PopulusTremula wrote:a man who appears to have an endless supply of GM65
If only that was true :roll:
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
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djewesbury
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by djewesbury »

PopulusTremula wrote:
DRT wrote:It's SQVP so not a long term proposition. In 10 years time these will be lovely. Buy.
This from a man who appears to have an endless supply of GM65 and, more importantly, who is also very gratiously sharing this most excellent juice with other forumites?

Perhaps Derek has only one bottle of GM65 and, like the pig Särimner in Nordic mythology, magically this is refilled after each draining, provided the bottle, cork and capsule are saved?
GM65 is not, though, an SQVP, if I remember rightly. In fact, it's more of a 'second port', like Guimaraens. So I suppose the original terminological inexactitude was Derek's, in including FG as an SQVP, this solecism then being compounded and perpetuated by Magnus in his post quoted above.
Do 'second ports' last the same amount of time as SQVPs, or are they shorter or longer lived?
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DRT
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by DRT »

And Daniel follows with another error.

Fonseca Guimaraens is not a "second port", it is the same blend as the classic Fonseca from declared years. The second brand is used in years when the primary brand is not.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
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djewesbury
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by djewesbury »

DRT wrote:And Daniel follows with another error.

Fonseca Guimaraens is not a "second port", it is the same blend as the classic Fonseca from declared years. The second brand is used in years when the primary brand is not.
Of course. I knew this and was testing you. So, as the same blend as classic Fonseca from declared years, this is even more definitely not an SQVP; so you're even wronger. Anyway, given that the press guff says that the wines were all excellent but the quantities very small, would you not expect this FG12 to go on and on, and then go on a bit more? Rather than be drinking in 10 years?

EDIT:
www.fonseca.pt wrote:When Guimaraens Vintage Ports were first released in the 1930's they were made in the same years as the classic Fonseca Vintage Ports but blended from slightly less powerful components, much like the second wines of the Bordeaux châteaux.
Today Guimaraens Vintage Ports are made in years when the wines are more supple and early maturing and Fonseca in vintages producing bigger, more long lasting Ports.
Guimaraens Vintage Ports nevertheless share the origins, heritage and complex fruity style of the classic Fonseca vintages and are drawn from the produce of the same three estates. They differ only in that they are more approachable, ready to drink earlier and more accessibly priced.
So they were originally 'second ports', in the 1930s; that must be what I was remembering. I forgot a lot over the years, you know.
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DRT
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by DRT »

djewesbury wrote:would you not expect this FG12 to go on and on, and then go on a bit more? Rather than be drinking in 10 years?
What I meant was that these Ports are from a good but not great vintage and that they are of the sort that under normal circumstances would have been kept in the cellars in VNG for around 10 years and then punted out to Tesco for immediate drinking. And they will be lovely.

Will they go on longer? Of course they will, but that doesn't means they won't be lovely at 10 years old.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
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djewesbury
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by djewesbury »

What are normal circumstances? Why are these not they?
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by DRT »

British shippers' traditional approach to the market for non-declared years is to age the wines in VNG and then release them when ready to drink. The Fladgate Partnership appear to have moved away from that approach, at least for this vintage. Perhaps the finances involved in tying up stock for 10 years is an influencing factor.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
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DRT
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by DRT »

By way of example, where are 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012?
Screen Shot 2014-07-31 at 12.21.00.png
Screen Shot 2014-07-31 at 12.21.00.png (47.64 KiB) Viewed 7210 times
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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djewesbury
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Re: 2012 Declarations

Post by djewesbury »

DRT wrote:By way of example, where are 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012?
Screen Shot 2014-07-31 at 12.21.00.png
Yes yes, in VNG. I know.
Anyway, any thoughts on the price differential between TFP and SFE?
Is this, overall, good news for us, or are we just paying extra by having to store the stuff for a decade (about the price of the port by the time it's ready)?
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