For The Love Of Port

Taylor: Vargellas, Terra Feita and Vargellas VV
Fonseca: Guimaraens and Panascal

So, SQ VPs from Delaforce and Croft as well? No news yet from the Symington's, but I'm guessing SQ as well...

Was to be expected of course. I don't mind at all. These SQ's will probably offer very good value for money! 8)

Ronny, I agree. No surprise after the 2000 and 2003 declarations.

It is very simple. The British Port shippers are very traditional and most will never take part in a split-declaration. The Portuguese, Dutch, French and German Port producers are far less likely to care.

Come on folks, with 2003 declared and talk of 2005 being very very good, was ANYBODY really surprised that we'd see (predominantly) SQVPs and 2nd labels?

I remember saying that would be the case, about six months ago.

despite my various ramblings previously about the poor value for money you seem to get these days when buying new declarations I am now thinking it might be fun to buy some SQVP 2004

Can someone in the UK please let me know a good source of buying these en primeur. I would be looking to buy ASAP to get the lowest possible price so don't want to use my usual source (FRW) as I still haven't seen my 2003's!

Derek

Yes- I'm still waiting for some '03's too!

The Sym's may hang on to some of their SQVP's for release in ten years time - they've done this before.

At this point, I don't have big buying plans for the '04's, as the '05's are looking promising - I'll probably buy a half dozen each of Roriz and Vesuvio (assuming they both declare) - if the reviews are OK, and the price isn't silly - the auction price for Vesuvio from intermediate years is averaging around £15/bottle, so I won't be rushing to pay much more than that.

Tom

Don't the Symingtons usually wait until June for their declaration?

Derek,

It's too late. I have been in touch with EVERY major retailer that offers Port en primeur in the UK. I have put you on the "blacklist" and nobody will sell you any of the 2004s. I just wanted to make sure that you kept true to your many rantings about buying ONLY older bottlings and not buying into the over-priced new releases.


Tom,

It simply amazes me that you don't have all the 2003s yet. I know that the UK receives their allocations much later than we do in the USA, but it seems odd that it should take 7 months longer to receive yours from retailers there. Weird.

Roy,

Obviously I am only interested in buying 2004's for research purposes.

Perhaps if I buy some from a US merchant I have more chance of seeing them before they're 10 years old than if I try to buy them in the UK. I have a theory that UK merchants are simply trying to prevent young VP from being opened too soon

Derek

Spoken like a true "Decanter Magazine" disciple!

"All of those Yanks drink their Vintage Ports way too young."

I think that was written after one of those exciting 5 day cricket matches.

In an exchange with Rupert Symington yesterday, I asked about the Symington Family Estates' intent to declare 2004. He wrote:

"2004 Vintage was declared by all our houses, Graham, Dow, Warre, Smith Woodhouse, Gould Campbell, Quarles Harris. It was also bottled and shipped by Quinta do Vesuvio where I hesitate to use the word declared for the reasons you know."

I wrote back for clarification to see if these were the "classic" VPs or SQVPs that were declared. But, on the face of it, it looks like he may have been refering to the "classic" VPs. If so, I will be very pleasantly surprised and will have to get busy doing a 2004 review. We'll know in 24 hours or so.

To break with tradition in such a casual manner, and, at this early stage, very much in the past tense - does not ring true.

Was he thinking 2003?

Tom

I'd be really impressed with Symington declaring 2004. I really do believe this is a vintage that have great quality wines that deserve to be declared classic VP. Compared to 2003, 2004 had the same heat wave but less whater was available, so much care had to be put in the vineyard and with harvest team. At the end, great quality could be produce.

Frederick,

I know of two producers (in addition to C. Seely) who were REALLY excited about their 2004s, so we'll see. Here was Suckling's report in Jan. of 2005 about the 2004 growing season and harvest in the Douro. Clearly he is less optimistic than some folks. It is interesting to look back on his comment about the 2003s with hindsight:


2004
REGION: Portugal/Port
GRADE: B+
Port producers who gambled on a late harvest appeared to have made very good to exceptional wines in 2004, following an extremely variable growing season. The weather was sunny and warm for most of September and early October, correcting the effects of a wet, cool August and enabling many vineyard owners to pick their grapes at near-perfect maturity.

"The 2004 harvest could have been a total wipe-out, with some early rain causing dilution, and some rot starting to appear," said Rupert Symington, a director of the Symington family Port group, which includes such well-known names as Graham, Warre and Dow. "Luckily it dried and warmed up completely, and we made some really good wines."

"It was an extraordinary year, with low yields and very high concentrations of sugar," said Christian Seely, who oversees Quinta do Noval and the newly acquired Quinta da Romaneira. "Fermentations were slow and not always easy, but there were some lagares of seriously high quality and with a distinctive character of the year. We'll see how they evolve, but certainly there were some exceptional wines."

Still, the biggest talk from the Douro Valley concerns the 2003 vintage, even though an official declaration won't come until spring. Many producers are already saying 2003 could top the legendary 1994 or even 1963 vintages.

--James Suckling

Roy Hersh wrote:Spoken like a true "Decanter Magazine" disciple!

"All of those Yanks drink their Vintage Ports way too young."

I think that was written after one of those exciting 5 day cricket matches.

I recall that Roy went to his first football match on his last visit; we're going to have to take him to cricket on his next one obviously. Last year some of my sceptical American friends were forced to sit through the whole 7 hours of day 4 of the Edgbaston test and they were converted by the end. Can't promise that excitement every day of the five though!

As a patriotic Scotsman I have to declare absolute allegiance to my English neighbours on the subject of Yanks drinking too much young VP but, when it comes to cricket, I’m very much with Roy – how can anything that is supposed to be exciting last 5 days :? – the obvious exception being any other nation making England follow-on and collapse on Day 2

Derek

I recall that Roy went to his first football match on his last visit; we're going to have to take him to cricket on his next one obviously.

Stuart - Derek,

Come on fellows, please, I beg you, anything but cricket. I'd rather sit through a purple hair women's tourney of croquette than cricket. Actually, I'd rather eat a live cricket than have to sit and watch a match!


All joking aside, in an exchange with Cristiano van Zeller he mentioned that he is going to pass on declaring 2004 and will declare 2005 for Q d V d Maria.

The intrigue continues.

Pardon my lack of Port lingo and house names, but can I get a translation?

"Taylor: Vargellas, Terra Feita and Vargellas VV"
"Fonseca: Guimaraens and Panascal"

What does the word before the : stand for? The vineyard?
What do the words after the : stand for? The region?

"SQ VPs from Delaforce and Croft"
What does SQ stand for?

Thanks for putting up with my ignorance,
John

John,

Taylor and Fonseca are the names of 2 of the most famous port producers.

SQ means Single Quinta - the rough English translation of Quinta is farm. So Single Quinta Vintage Port is produced from the grapes taken from 1 farm or vineyard. Vargellas, Panascal etc are the names of Quinta's owned by Taylor and Fonseca respectively.

Most port producers produce what is known as Classic Vintage Port from a blend of grapes from different Quinta's in exceptionally good years, usually 2 to 3 times per decade. When they do this it is labelled with simply the producers name and the year of the Vintage - eg Taylor's 1963 or Fonseca 1977. In lesser quality years they would name their wines after the specific Quinta's from which the grapes were taken.

Hope this helps.

Derek

John,

Not to worry, it gets a little confusing sometimes.

The word before the colon is the brand, or port maker (though, in the world of port, the word "shipper" is usually used instead of "brand"). The word after the colon is the quinta. SQ is an abbreviation for Single Quinta.

Which really explains nothing. :) So here's a little more detail, product of my obsession with Single Quinta Ports some years back.

Taylor, Fonseca, Croft, Delaforce, also Graham, Warre, Dow, and many others, are names of port Shippers or producers. Think of it as the brand name. In years where a shipper declares, they produce the Vintage Port we all know and love with nice simple name: Taylor 2003 Vintage Port, for example.

"Quinta" can be thought of as another word for vineyard, or grape-growing property. In declared vintage years, the vintage port is typically made from a blend of grapes from more than one property, or quinta.

In years when a shipper does not declare, many of them opt to make wines in the same style as a Vintage Port, but using only grapes from a single property, or quinta. These get called Single Quinta Vintage Ports. Or SQ VP on this board.

Some people think that these wines display more terroir, or geographically specific characterisitcs, because all the grapes come from a single vineyard. I happen to be among those people, but then I also still candle my port, so I'm a bit of an anachronism.

Certain Quintas provide the core, as it were, for certain Vintage Ports in declared years. For instance, Quinta dos Malvedos is in the Graham Vintage Port, Quinta do Bomfim is Dow, Quinta de Vargellas is Taylor, etc. It is these Quintas which tend to get the most attention as Single Quinta VP in the non-declared years.

In addition, to clarify the quote you were looking at, Taylor bottles wine from the older vines at Quinta de Vargellas as a separate Single Quinta which it calls Vinha Velha.

So, back to the original translation:

"Taylor: Vargellas, Terra Feita and Vargellas VV" means the shipper Taylor will be bottling three distinct Single Quinta Ports from its vineyards at Quinta de Vargellas, Quinta da Terra Feita, and from the old vines at Vargellas, Vinha Velha.

"Fonseca: Guimaraens and Panascal" means the shipper Fonseca Guimaraens will be bottling Single Quinta VP from Quinta do Panascal. Guimaraens, just to complicate things, is not a quinta, but is the name of the family that runs Fonseca. Fonseca Guimaraens is what they call their second-label -- I leave it to wiser heads to tell you if it is made from the grapes of a single quinta.

I hope that helps rather than confuses further. I found learning about (and of course drinking) Single Quinta VP to be a great way to learn about VP in general, and I highly recommend you try some.