Single Quinta Vintage Port (SQVP) is a title given to Port wines produced from a single vineyard (quinta) and from in a single vintage.
This is regarded by many as the most exciting category of port wine, since it offers winemakers the opportunity to explore a more terroir-driven approach to fortified winemaking. An emerging style, SQVP has flourished since 1986 when transportation restrictions were raised and smaller estates started to enter the market.
SQVP wines are typically produced in years when the vintage is not 'declared', i.e. considered of insufficient quality to produce vintage port. In declared vintages, the vast majority of quintas devote all of their fruit to normal (multi-vineyard) vintage ports, leaving none for single quinta wines. The most famous exception to this rule is Quinta do Noval Nacional, a Port made from pre-phylloxera vines. This wine is so highly esteemed that it transcends vintage declarations.
As is standard for vintage Port production, SQVP wines typically spend between two to three years in barrel and are bottled without filtration (and require decanting before being served, as with all vintage Ports).
Many Single Quinta Vintage Ports are not released by the producers (or shippers/distributors) for several years after vintage.
