Portuguese Notes June 2014

After AXA Millesimes purchased Quinta do Noval in a run down state 1993 they replanted around half the vineyard. Under the previous owners Noval had been experimenting with Douro reds over a number of years (I recall tasting the fruits of a joint venture between Cristiano van Zellar and Domingos Soares Franco of  José Maria da Fonseca in the early 1990s). Christian Seely, managing Noval for AXA, finally 'went live' with a red wine from the 2004 vintage.