BENTO AMARAL - from the IVDP

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Bjarne Mouridsen
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bjarne Mouridsen »

Dear Bento Amaral
In the report from 2012 it seems like nearly half (44 %) of the port samples appealed to the JCP, were rejected again. Is that a normal amount? Is there a difference between good years with a broader declaration like 2011 and other years, when it comes to rejections in general?
Regards from Denmark
Bjarne Mouridsen
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Roy Hersh
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Roy Hersh »

Bento,

Slightly off topic ...

Which wine magazines do you tend to read on a regular basis?

Also, as I have seen you judging wine at competitions in other regions in Portugal, beyond drinking Douro wines ... what are some other favorite Portuguese table wine regions for you?
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Garrafeira
Reply to: Eric Fune

I don’t notice an increase in Garrafeira wines. It’s almost exclusively used by Niepoort.
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Vineyard ratings
Reply to: Roy Hersh

There’s no update on vineyard ratings. You can find the actual criteria here: http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?idioma=1& ... odSeccao=4& or in a more detailed way here (but in Portuguese): http://www.ivdp.pt/pt/docs/legislacao/111.pdf

As to classify a vine as “A” (the highest classification) it needs to have 1200, if it has more, which is possible, it’s not classified higher
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Aguardentes (brandy used to fortify Port wine)
Reply to: Christian Gollnick


Yes we taste the aguardentes that are going to be used to make Port wine and Moscatel do Douro. We taste them diluted with water (4ºC) to 1:3.
Over the last years “aguardente” had an increase in price. To try to counteract this trend, a regulation has been approved to authorize the use of aguardentes of vitivinicole origin (previously only wine spirit was allowed). But, very important, the standards for sensorial and tasting approvals at IVDP are the same as before. There wasn’t a decrease in quality of the aguardente. I would say that probably in some of the previous years, the average quality of the samples of aguardente sent to approval was lower than from this year.

I think that the quality of aguardante has maintained over the years. Regarding some trends: 10 years ago, some of the most expensive aguardentes (used to special categories) had a component (not more than 8%-10%) of pot still distillation. Today I don’t find so frequently these aguardentes. Anyway, some producers use more expensive aguardentes for their top wines.

On the past 5-6 years we did two meetings between distillers, Port wine producers and IVDP tasting members in order to define benchmarks.
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Order of tasting Ports
Reply to: Christian Gollnick


White (from the driest style to the sweetest, if we know the sugar content), Reserve White, White. Ruby, Reserve Ruby, Tawny, Reserve Tawny, LBV’s (from the youngest to the oldest, even if personally I prefer the opposite), Vintage (on the same way), Tawnies with Indication of Age and Colheita mixed (from the youngest to the oldest)
Brandy – extra session
Approval of Vintage (between January and June on the 2nd year after the harvest) – special session with wines of this category. 6 maximum per session.
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Control of entry of grapes and wine in the Douro region
Reply to David Spriggs


During the harvest there are IVDP’s brigades on the region, on the borders and even outside the region near the border.
With this control and knowing that the Douro region has more than enough quantity of vines to produce the authorized wine, I don’t think this is an issue. Additionally, after the harvest, there’s a paperwork control to link the wine with the vineyard.
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Wines produced in Douro without Denomination of Origin (Port or Douro)
Reply to: Derek T


It’s forbidden to produce fortified wines in Douro without Denomination of Origin (D.O.). The legislation which forbids is: Decreto-lei nº 191/2002 from September, 13th.
You can find it here (sorry it’s in Portuguese, but the important point is the first): http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?codPag=48 ... codLei=105
It’s possible to produce still wine without D.O. in Douro but they can’t mention the origin or make a reference to the Douro region
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Typical tasting notes for Port wine
Reply to: Moses Botbol


You can find typical tasting notes here: http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?codPag=65 ... 2&idioma=1 and also here http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?codPag=64 ... 2&idioma=1
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Rejections by JCP
Reply to: Bjarne Mouridsen


Yes, you’re right, there’s 44% of rejections on the appeal tasting panel in 2012. Yes, it’s a usual number. Frequently even higher (around 50% or more).
There’s a tendency in having more rejections when approving “Vintage years”, like in 2009 (Vintage 2007). You can check on page 35: http://www.ivdp.pt/pt/docs/Relatorio%20 ... 202009.pdf
I think this happens because there’s more Producers interested in having a Vintage on a classical year, but in some cases, even their best wines don’t achieve the quality to be a Vintage Port.
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Magazines and favourite Portuguese wine regions (excluding Douro)
Reply to: Roy Hersh


The magazines that I read more frequently are:
Revista de Vinhos (Portugal), Wine (Portugal), Decanter (UK), Wine Enthusiast (USA), Wine Spectator (USA) and Wine Advocate (USA).

Favourite Portuguese wine regions (excluding Douro)
Dão (for its elegance, balance, the “Portuguese Burgundy”)
Bairrada (Baga wines from this region are almost a Portuguese Nebbiolo. I prefer them aged, obviously. They’re not easy wines)
Alvarinho’s from Vinho Verde – great white wines!
Alentejo (easy to enjoy wines, Portugal’s new world)
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Roy Hersh
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Roy Hersh »

Dear Bento,

This will be my last question(s) and it should be pretty straight forward:

a. How many producers have declared and had samples approved to make 2011 Vintage Ports? I realize that there are some shippers like Taylors that may have a Taylor 2011 and a Quinta de Vargellas Old Vines ... so if you could reply to total shippers and then total 2011 Vintage Ports approved, that would help us to understand those numbers separately.

b. Lastly, at this point how many total Port producers that have the ability to bottle and ship their own Ports, exist in the entire Douro region?


Thank you for your previous answers and helping me to understand the answers to these last two questions.
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
Paul Fountain
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Paul Fountain »

Bento,
How big is the problem of other regions from around the world still using the word Port on their labels and what role does the IDVP play in lobbying and/or policing wineries in those other parts of the world when occurances are found?
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Stewart T.
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Stewart T. »

A few last questions:

What is the Port that you have never tasted would you most like to try?

What would you say are the top one or two Ports that stick out in your memory for being extraordinary?
Stewart T. (Admin) [email protected]
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David Spriggs
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by David Spriggs »

Dear Bento,
I know the designations of red wines are regulated. Are the designations of still white wine regulated? For example, the Reserva designation? If not, do you see this coming in the future?
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Total number of Port and Douro wine Agents
Reply to: Roy Hersh

Figures from the statistical data available on IVDP’s site (data from 2010)
D.O. Douro: 548
D.O. Porto: 154 (where 78 are Producers)
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Port I’ve never tasted
Reply to Stewart T.

Noval Nacional 1931. In fact I’ve tasted but it wasn’t good. There was a doubt if it was a counterfaction…
From a previous post: “My top 5: it’s a difficult question. Some of them could be: Ferreira Vintage 1815; Constantino Vintage 1948 and the very old Tawnies that have been released on the past couple of years (Scion, Wiese & Krohn, Niepoort, Vallado, 5G)
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Regulation white D.O. Douro
Reply to: David Spriggs
There’s a regulation on white Douro, the same of red. You can find it here (in Portuguese, but I think the tables at the end are understandable): http://www.ivdp.pt/pt/docs/legislacao/361.pdf
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Use of Port from wines outside the Douro region
Reply to: Paul Fountain

The agreements do not fall within the jurisdiction of Portugal but of the European Union (anyway IVDP is working on them). The agreements are included in the free trade agreements, including intellectual property (which includes Geographical Indications).
The transitional period to Australia, South Africa and Chile are over. They can’t use Port anymore, (but they can still use Tawny, Vintage, Crusted and Ruby). These are the only countries that can export to the EU liquer wine labeled Vintage
The negotiations with China and Russia are running well.
Ukraine (Crimea included) is in a transitional period of 10 years which began in 2013.
USA: started this year a free trade agreement which includes protection of the IG’s. At this moment they can only export to countries where Port is not protected. Since 2006 NEW labels referring Port are not allowed.
Bento Amaral
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Re: BENTO AMARAL

Post by Bento Amaral »

Number of 2011 Vintage Port and Producers
Reply to: Roy Hersh


This is a harder question that it seems.
There are some Produces that send several samples to a Vintage and then, they choose only one (that has been approved) to make their Vintage
On another hand, there are Producers that have a Vintage approved and they sell it under more than one label.
Finally there are Producers that have a Vintage approved but they suspend it in IVDP (most commonly because they don’t want to sell it now or never…); so I think we should not make references to them.
From my tastings of labeled 2011 Vintage Port, I can count 66 brands from 37 Producers. So probably there are more.
One thing it’s sure: is one of the biggest declarations ever!
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