RICHARD MAYSON VISITS FTLOP

[Roy Hersh]

Today is Richard's last day and I would like to thank him for an amazing week of Q&A without "playing it safe" and providing us with some extraordinary answers to some very difficult and controversial questions.

I hope that on occasion Richard will come back to visit to add his or provide us with insight to a specific issue. It has been great fun and extremely educational, to say the very least.

For the participants, I hope you have enjoyed Richard's candor and see what is to become an integral part of our interactivity here. I thank you all for the questions you've posed, but more so, for extracting the knowledge that Richard Mayson possesses on Port wine and Douro wine too. I wish we had gotten him to talk a little about Madeira as I know how much he knows about that topic as well.

So, please speak now or forever hold your peace or piece as it may be. This will be your last chance, at least for now.

Thank you Richard, you have raised the bar way high for future Guest Corner, honored guests ... and I hope that you have enjoyed your visit with us and that the questions exhibited a bit of the collective Port wisdom we share here.

Best regards to you and the family.

Cheers!

Roy

[Richard Mayson]

Today is Richard's last day and I would like to thank him for an amazing week of Q&A without "playing it safe" and providing us with some extraordinary answers to some very difficult and controversial questions.

I hope that on occasion Richard will come back to visit to add his or provide us with insight to a specific issue. It has been great fun and extremely educational, to say the very least.

For the participants, I hope you have enjoyed Richard's candor and see what is to become an integral part of our interactivity here. I thank you all for the questions you've posed, but more so, for extracting the knowledge that Richard Mayson possesses on Port wine and Douro wine too. I wish we had gotten him to talk a little about Madeira as I know how much he knows about that topic as well.

So, please speak now or forever hold your peace or piece as it may be. This will be your last chance, at least for now.

Thank you Richard, you have raised the bar way high for future Guest Corner, honored guests ... and I hope that you have enjoyed your visit with us and that the questions exhibited a bit of the collective Port wisdom we share here.

Best regards to you and the family.

Cheers!

Roy

Dear Roy,

I have much enjoyed this week as the first guest on your forum. I look forward to seeing who follows in my foootsteps and hope that you will invite me back as a guest again before long.

Thank you to everyone for your questions / comments. It was good to receive such challenging questions. I will continue checking in to the forum over the next couple of days incase there is anymore feedback. (I thought my views on global warming might provoke a few comments!) If anyone would like to contact me directly you can do so on http://www.richardmayson.com. I don't have a forum on my website but I will respond directly if you get in touch by email.

Finally thank you Roy for this opportunity to air my views - I have loved every moment of it.

With Best Wishes to you Roy and your family and all on FTLOP

Richard

[Adrian Bridge]

Richard,

As a follow-up to my previous question - do you foresee a growth in the number of Single Vineyard wines in the marketplace (in particular those aimed at the top end of the pricing spectrum). Of course Noval's Nacional has set the benchmark, but Taylor's Vinha Velha has established a foot hold and I was interested in your views on the possibility of other large shippers following suit.

Marc

I saw that Richard suggested that this question was better answered from the trade so I will have a go. At Quinta de Vargellas we have a substantial amount of old vines - the productions off them is about 3,000 cases. One section, where the vines produce only about 25 grams of grapes per vine (the property average is 80 grams) we had decided to replant. However, in retasting it in 1995 we decied to make a special collectors wine which we called Vargellas Vinha Velha. We made only about 260 cases. Therefore it had no impact on the blend of Vargellas 1995 that we made (about 5,000 cases). These wines are of interest to collectors but are not that easy to distribute as getting the global allocatiosn right is difficult. For example, we did not sell any on release in the USA as it was too difficult to decide which customers should have them - hence the mixed vintage pack we released later. I do expect that we may see more of these special bottlings from owners of top Douro properties and to large extent you have seen this with the increased number of single quinta shippers. Distribution will remain the key so the extent that you can actualy buy some of these vintages will be limited.

Hope this helps.

Adrian Bridge

[Marc J.]

Adrian,

Thank you for giving further insight & perspective into the topic of Single Vineyard wines and the place that they may occupy in the marketplace. I must say that it never occurred to me that the allocation/distribution of a small production wine such as Vinha Velha would play such a large role. It seemed to me that in recent years there has been movement towards more premium Single Vineyard wines and now I think I have a better understanding of some of the constraining factors that might influence further growth in this area. Thanks!

Marc Jackson