Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/23459
STEVEN SPURRIER’S LETTER FROM LONDON A Weekend at Quinta do Noval C PHOTO: DECANTER hristian Seely, Managing Director of AXA-Millésimes and based in Bordeaux to manage their three main properties there—Pichon-Longueville in Pauillac, Petit-Village in Pomerol and Suduiraut in Sauternes—gives me the impression that his heart remains at Quinta do Noval, the historic estate in the Douro that he managed for ten years following the AXA purchase from the Van Zeller family in 1995. Certainly the weekend that my wife and I spent there in late November, under skies so blue that the pre-lunch aperitif outside was a given (although it snowed the day after we left), could not have been more heart-warmingly generously arranged. The plan was to kill two of the Noval pigs, who had had a reprieve last year as nothing could be organised, so had grown in their third year to an impressive 300 kilos each, watch the preparation for what Chef Fergus Henderson of London’s famous St. John restaurant describes as “nose to tail eating,” savour a few delicacies and drink a little port. Christian had also asked Ch’ng Poh Tiong, China’s Mr. Wine and Food—who had proposed to bring his own cooks, since on a previous visit he had stated that to properly prepare a pig, you needed 3,000 years of history—who promised to bring chefs up to the task. As it was, Poh Tiong’s chefs were not available, so Christian invited the two brothers from Au Bonheur du Palais, Bordeaux’s best Asian restaurant, along with their young lady sommelier. Also staying was Daniel Llose, overall head winemaker at all the Jean-Michel Cazes and AXA estates, who had driven up with several dozen bottles of wine to make a break from the Douro reds. We arrived on Friday for an aperitif before lunch of whites and some young reds from Quinta do Romaneira—a splendidly ram- bling estate next door to Noval that Christian and a bunch of investors had saved from extinction in the early 2000s—and ending on a fabulous Colheita 1995, a vintage tawny style made only by the most meticulous 22 / the tasting panel / january–february 201 1 Portuguese producers. Dinners were for 18 or so, the Bordelais pig-preparers on one table, the guests on another, joined by the two Chinese brothers bringing the food, the wines for the first night being a cascade of northern Rhônes, the best being Chapoutier’s Ermitage 1999. Then a Noval 1967, a beautifully light vintage of almost taffeta texture, led into a Colheita 1968, the colour of a 20-year-old tawny, truly great and one of the very best wines of my life. A pre-lunch tasting the following day of the Noval and Romaneira red wines showed what progress had been made since the first release in 2005. Both the Quinta do Noval (40% Tinta Nacional, 40% Tinta Franca, 20% Tinta Cao) and the R de Romaneira (a blend of old vines) showed superbly for drinking during the next decade. A very late lunch began with an avalanche of Daniel Llose’s wines from the Languedoc and ended with the Noval 40-Year-Old Tawny, a wine of terrific internal vigour and sweetness. All of us took a much-needed nap, before being welcomed at 10 p.m. with an aperitif of Michel Juillot 2005 Corton-Charlemagne, which put us in the mood for a light con- sommé and rice, accompanied by four 1998 Médocs, which Christian and I placed in the following order: Léoville-Poyferré, Pichon- Longueville, Cos d’Estournel and de Pez. Since it was Saturday night, four ports were served: a lovely young and spicy 20 Year Old Tawny, a solidly good Noval 1994, a fascinat- ingly vibrant Noval Nacional 1963 (just two hectares of un-grafted vines, only made in exceptional years) and finally an incredibly concentrated Colheita 1937, so strong that I couldn’t finish the glass, my wife having retired to bed a few bottles earlier. A tasting of young ports on Sunday morning led to Cristal 2000 as an aperitif on the terrace, then Calon-Ségur, Pichon- Longueville and Lagrange, also 2000, with boudin noir and duck, and finally a compari- son of Noval 1966 (I preferred the 1967) and Noval Nacional 1966, a great wine to end an unforgettable weekend.