For The Love Of Port

Posted: **Fri Sep 11, 2009 9:39 am**

Thanks Oscar.

Posted: **Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:09 pm**

Looks like Graham's Quinta dos Malvedos will begin picking their grapes on Sept 15th.

There also was another fire that broke out west of Pinhao.

**info from the Quinta dos Malvedos blog http://malvedos.wordpress.com/ A blog worth checking out.

Posted: **Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:14 pm**

Fonseca's Quinta do Panascal has started picking yesterday, Sept 10th.

Posted: **Sat Sep 12, 2009 1:45 am**

For selfish reasons, I am hoping there will still be grapes on the vines by the time we get to the Douro in early October. Afterall, there's nothing like some fun in the lagares doing some foot treading.

Posted: **Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:29 am**

Roy Hersh wrote:For selfish reasons, I am hoping there will still be grapes on the vines by the time we get to the Douro in early October. Afterall, there's nothing like some fun in the lagares doing some foot treading.

I'm bringing some tape and frozen grapes just in case

Posted: **Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:34 am**

A couple of updates from the Symingtons.

September 10, 2009
Another hot day in the Douro. Just 284 mm of rain so far this year measured at our Quinta, compared to 405 mm as average. Some are saying that this is like 2005, but that is simply not true, 2005 was far drier, only 144 mm to end August. But nevertheless the weather has made our vines struggle. Yields are clearly down dramatically in the Douro Superior where the drought and heat has been worst. It is likely that the Cima Corgo and the higher vineyards will be better off this year and in fact could be very good, but everywhere yields will be down. At my own vineyard, about 450 meters high near Provesende, the grapes are full, healthy and look fine and actually need more time to ripen. The concentration for Port is likely to be very good. Where we have started picking (not at Malvedos until next Tuesday) we have been busy cooling down the must in the tanks and in the lagares. Temperatures of the grapes coming into our wineries are high. This is going to be one of those years where cooling is absolutely essential (if you have invested in it!). In the old days my father and grandfather would have simply had to run the lagares off early without much work or colour extraction, simply to keep the temperatures down. Thank goodness for modern cooling in years like this. – Paul

September 12, 2009
As a result of a hot August and a generally dry year, there have been a lot of comparisons with 2005 floating around in casual conversation. What happened then was that a lack of water during the winter and spring followed by a very hot summer caused severe water stress in the vines, causing them to lose the older leaves on the shoots (roughly the basal third). This had two negative effects: it vastly reduced the amount of photosynthesis possible, meaning that the phenolic ripeness of the grapes was very sluggish, and it also left the bunches exposed to the sun. Conclusion: green fruit dehydrated and started to shrivel without ever really ripening. This was particularly bad on the western and south western side of the vines.

But this year is by no means as climatically extreme as 2005. In fact, both 2005 and 2006 were considerably hotter than 2009 for the corresponding month, and indeed had been for every month from April onwards. Furthermore, in 2005 the total precipitation for the agricultural year had not even reached 200 mm by the start of September – we have already had double that this year. - Miles Edlmann

*posted with permission from the Malvedos blog here

Posted: **Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:31 pm**

It is interesting to see the distinctions being made between this year and 2005; a year that has some very obvious similarities; although of course, no two years will ever be perfectly alike.

The implication, at this stage, that 2009 might prove to be a better year than 2005 is heartening, especially as it is not hard to find those who believe that 2005 was a declarable year.

I very much hope that if wines of quality are made this year, the producers will not allow the proximity of the 2007 declaration to deter them from calling a declaration..

Tom

Posted: **Sun Sep 13, 2009 9:03 pm**

uncle tom wrote:I very much hope that if wines of quality are made this year, the producers will not allow the proximity of the 2007 declaration to deter them from calling a declaration..

And break with tradition???

With 2000, 2003, and 2007 all being generally declared, and 2005 being arguably good enough, I doubt that 2009 will result in a general declaration unless it is truly outstanding. But who knows what will happen in the next 20 months?

Posted: **Mon Sep 14, 2009 7:59 am**

And what were the rumors on 2008? Before 2007 was declared I had heard that 2008 wasn't that bad either, and there were a few suggestions of a split declaration. Now 2007 has been declared. Will we see some 2008 along the lines of 2005?

Posted: **Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:49 am**

There is some new posts in the Malvedos blog that are worth checking out. Information about the weather and the silicon pads in their robotic lagars.
The Symington's are going a great job of keeping it updated regularly, sometimes twice in one day.

http://malvedos.wordpress.com/

Also check out Oscar's blog http://quevedoportwine.com/
He has a new video posted about harvesting white grapes for Port and still wines.
The question remains...will Quevedo put some aside to make an aged white Colheita? I do hope so, purely for selfish reasons since I love aged Colheita Branco's.

Posted: **Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:27 am**

And break with tradition???

Whilst in the last 120 years, there has only been one general declaration following an unsplit declaration two years prior, (1975:1977 - in the aftermath of the revolution); I do not think that it is a particularly worthy aspect of the port making tradition to deny the second year following a fair chance of declaration.

Those who adhere to the traditional 'thrice a decade' routine are also in danger of leaving the independant quintas with an open goal, should a declarable year be passed over, only to be followed by a string of weak vintages.

That of course happened when 1987 was not declared, but at the time, the threat from the independants was very much smaller than it is today.

The Symingtons openly acknowledge that it was a mistake to have not declared 1987; which implies that they would not rule out a 2009 declaration, if the quality is there, and if those made next year are not better.

Tom

Posted: **Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:07 am**

Actually I was referring to the fact that there has never (to my knowledge) been a general declaration in a year ending with '9'.

Posted: **Mon Sep 14, 2009 11:03 am**

Actually I was referring to the fact that there has never (to my knowledge) been a general declaration in a year ending with '9'.

It's an oddity that so many years ending in an '0' have been declared - 8 in the last 120 years - while there are no vintages ending in a '9'.

Even if you go back two centuries, there are no significant '9' vintages.

However, having dragged out as much information as I can find about the years ending in a '9', there is no compelling evidence that any of them were better than the following declared '0'

1929 is a bit of an intrigue - it may well have been declarable; but being two years after the great '27 vintage, and with the Great Depression in full swing and...

..hang on.. - is history repeating itself??

Tom

Posted: **Mon Sep 14, 2009 7:13 pm**

I'm just reading between the lines, but based on a handful of producers I've heard from personally, through blogs, and here on

, it seems like this is going to be a smaller harvest where the better grapes are coming from higher elevation sections of the vineyard. Not only due to the weather and grape conditions, but a significantly reduced Benificio will also have its effect. Based on that I'd say this will probably be more of a Single Quinta vintage and not an overall generally declared year. Of course time will tell if I'm right or wrong, it's still early in the harvest.

Posted: **Mon Sep 14, 2009 7:19 pm**

Tom,
I agree with what you have said there. I don't want to start a controversy, but one could argue that the whole idea of the declaration is a bit old. Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the entire world "declare" almost every year. I do appreciate that having not too many declared vintages is a admirable goal - it's confusing. If the year is good enough and it qualifies as VP, then it certainly should be declared. I think many/most consumers are confused by vintage port and SQVP and any other port that has a date on it (such as LBV).

As for 1987, as you noted it's a special year. I'm still on the look out for some 1987's.
-Dave-

Posted: **Mon Sep 14, 2009 7:30 pm**

uncle tom wrote: That of course happened when 1987 was not declared, but at the time, the threat from the independants was very much smaller than it is today.

The Symingtons openly acknowledge that it was a mistake to have not declared 1987; which implies that they would not rule out a 2009 declaration, if the quality is there, and if those made next year are not better.

Tom

Yes, I've had many very nice 1987 SQVP's that easily should have been a "full fledged" VP. It's a shame that so many of them are so hard to find at the moment.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:39 am**

Unless you visit the Douro, this is as close to it as you can get. Oscar has set up a live web cam in their vineyard. Not exactly a formula one race going on, but for the very first time you can now watch things live
http://quevedoportwine.com/harvest-2009vindima-2009/

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:22 am**

Andy Velebil wrote:The question remains...will Quevedo put some aside to make an aged white Colheita? I do hope so, purely for selfish reasons since I love aged Colheita Branco's.

Your suggestion is inspiring us and we are considering to make a White Colheita 2009! Really, my sister laughed when I told her!

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2009 4:13 pm**

oscarquevedo wrote:
Andy Velebil wrote:The question remains...will Quevedo put some aside to make an aged white Colheita? I do hope so, purely for selfish reasons since I love aged Colheita Branco's.
Your suggestion is inspiring us and we are considering to make a White Colheita 2009! Really, my sister laughed when I told her!

I think you should! I, too, love aged white Colheitas and I'm always looking for more.

Of course I have no idea how the economics work on something like that, so the most important thing is for you to do what's right for your company. I'd much rather still have you around making Port in 10 years than have a 10y old Quevedo White Port. But if it would be possible to have both, that would be perfect!

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:00 pm**

oscarquevedo wrote:
Andy Velebil wrote:The question remains...will Quevedo put some aside to make an aged white Colheita? I do hope so, purely for selfish reasons since I love aged Colheita Branco's.
Your suggestion is inspiring us and we are considering to make a White Colheita 2009! Really, my sister laughed when I told her!

Just show her this thread so she can get a really good laugh at all of us

Seriously, I think this is an emerging category that will continue to slowly grow in the future. Just look at how many producers are now making a 10 year old white tawny Port. It is only time before they have enough aged stocks to release an aged white colheita. Granted, it will never be a category of Port that is huge. But it definitely has it's place and now is the time to start setting some aside for later. That's my

For The Love Of Port

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