The Portuguese word colheita means ‘harvest’. A Colheita Port must be from a single year and aged for at least seven years in wood before bottling. In practice, many are aged for considerably longer (as is the case at Noval), so they can vary greatly in style. A Noval Colheita is made only in exceptional years when certain parcels of wine with excellent aging potential are set aside to be aged in cascos (old casks with a capacity of 640 litres). When Noval feels the wine is ready—usually after 12-15 years—a portion is bottled for release. The rest of the stocks continue to age in barrel for bottlings of Tawnies in the future. The stunning 2005 vintage was bottled in 2022.