Portugal, Port

After a sometimes decadent history, and the ravages of phylloxera, Quinta do Noval was bought by Port shipper António José da Silva in 1894, and his family owned and developed Noval for nearly the next 100 years. In the 1920's they introduced that ubiquitous piece of Port marketing - the stencilled bottle - and, with the 1954 vintage, the far more useful concept of Late Bottled Vintage Port. In 1925, they planted the iconic and, astoundingly, ungrafted Nacional vineyard, the 1931 of which is regarded as one of finest Ports ever produced. The mantle of running this great estate was passed, in 1993, to AXA Millésimes who own, among others, Châteaux Pichon Longueville and Suduiraut, and Christian Seely was put in charge of the renaissance of this great vineyard.