Vineyard Rankings

[Roy Hersh]

Without using Google or your Port books (especially Derek), do you know what letters constitute the vineyard rankings for Port?

Of course it is based on specifics of terroir. But the rankings ... what letters, etc. and what do they mean to a Port or Douro wine producer/grower?

[Eric Menchen]

Letters, starting with A, to C? Or do they go past C? The determination is based on a point system with something like ten factors, from altitude to exposure to soil ... The ranking determines how much you can produce from the vineyard.

[Glenn E.]

I'm pretty sure they're rated A-F but that only A and B can be used for Port.

I'm also pretty sure that altitude, facing, steepness of the slopes, age of the vines, and density of the vines are all factors. Soil type and type of planting (meaning the type of terrace) might be? Not sure about those. Can't think of anything else off the top of my head. I want to say size of the vineyard (meaning hectares), but that just doesn't seem like it should matter.

[Michael Hann]

I don't think the making of Port is restricted to class A and B vineyards, but the higher ranked vineyards likely get more beneficio allocated to them. Maybe the lower ranked vineyards get a beneficio of zero and are thus logically eliminateed from making Port.

I think the location along the Douro -- Baixo Corgo, Cima Corgo, Duoro Superior -- has a role in the classification also. Please excuse any spelling errors. What about grape variety planted -- preferred grape varieties versus disparaged grape varieties?

[Roy Hersh]

Interesting. Anybody else?

[Anders]

The fields is rated from A-F

The angel to the sun
How many wines on one hectar
How many grapes you pick/harvest
How cloce to the Douro
Altitude
and somthing else

I think that you only can have A fields close to the Douro, and you must have an A field for making Vintage port

right ???

[Roy Hersh]

OK, two weeks is long enough for those that may have known the correct answer to come forward. It is now time to end the mystery.

The truth is, the authors of MANY books as well as MOST articles on this subject, are plain wrong. Richard Mayson's Port and the Douro and even Suckling's book from 1989 were incorrect when it came to the vineyard classifications. Back then (on pg. 32) JS wrote: "The production and prices are set according to the classification of the vineyard, which can range from A to F." In a broader interpretation this is accurate, if James had ONLY been talking about the beneficio and the resulting ability to produce Port, which arguably he was, but it still did not present the entire picture.

Port can only come from vineyards which are rated from A-F as is stated in his and many other books and all the articles you will ever read on this topic. However, the ratings of the vineyards (and try to find this in print!) actually range from A to I. So vineyards rated G-H-I are never allowed to make Port and these vineyards are nearly always in the Baixo Corgo, usually below Regua. The G-H-I ratings for vineyards is obviously a very little known fact and one that would make for a great trivia question, even for some in the Port trade.

The twelve physical attributes which are included in the Vineyard Classification, was first introduced in the 1940's by Alvaro Moreira da Fonseca. Points are given for each of these twelve characteristics of terroir and then added up. The higher the score, the better the letter rating for that vineyard. The top score that is possible is 1661 points and a minimum of 1200 points is required to be considered an A rated vineyard and each lower letter grade results from less points. In the past, the beneficio then came into play and is a MAXIMUM quota of production (for Port) based on the vineyard ratings and then allowing for the quantity of Port that can be produced per 1,000 vines, also measured in 550 liter "pipes".-- as per the Casa do Douro. Nowadays the CIRDD handles the beneficio cartões, which translates from Portuguese to permits or certificates as close as I can tell.

You can say you heard it here first.

[Rob C.]

In the past, the beneficio then came into play and is a MAXIMUM quota of production (for Port) based on the vineyard ratings and then allowing for the quantity of Port that can be produced per 1,000 vines

Is it true that the beneficio represents the maximum quota of production for Port?

I thought that it set the maximum quota of production for grape must.

Add the aguardente, and your volume of Port produced per 1000 vines increases by 20% or so...

[Rob C.]

In one of the "Questions for the Port Trade", i seem to recall that one or more of the people who replied made reference to "trading" in beneficio certificates.

Does this mean that someone with a "D" or "E" vineyard can sell his/her beneficio allocation to someone with an "A" vineyard, who can then produce more must from his/her "A" vines? Likewise would it also be possible for an owner of a "G-H-I" vineyard to buy beneficio certificates and produce Port from his/her vineyard?

Or is the "trading" referred to of the grapes themselves, accompanied by the certificate?

[Rob C.]

In one of the "Questions for the Port Trade", i seem to recall that one or more of the people who replied made reference to "trading" in beneficio certificates.

Does this mean that someone with a "D" or "E" vineyard can sell his/her beneficio allocation to someone with an "A" vineyard, who can then produce more must from his/her "A" vines? Likewise would it also be possible for an owner of a "G-H-I" vineyard to buy beneficio certificates and produce Port from his/her vineyard?

Or is the "trading" referred to of the grapes themselves, accompanied by the certificate?

Just seen that Jamie Goode asked this question on the Quevedo website in the comments to Oscar's piece on the Beneficio. Oscar's response was quite interesting...(scroll to bottom of thread)

[Roy Hersh]

Rob,

Taking your past 3 posts in order as A/B/C:

A. What I wrote is accurate unless there has been some modification of the regulations recently that I am not aware of. It is certainly possible, but what I wrote was the way it worked even recently.

[Roy Hersh]

B. Selling of certificates, or more aptly put, licenses, continues on today. However, the answer to both of your questions in this post, is "no".

[Roy Hersh]

C. Oscar's information is outstanding and the basis for it, in terms of the points that make up the rankings of the vineyards have been in many books. Where Oscar's brilliance is worth its weight in grapes, is in his answers to the questions of the readers. There's some really important info in there for sure. Oscar's blog is always a fascinating read.

For more on the same topic, one that is far more politically charged (which I don't really care to go into here ... please!) would be reading AQFTPT from issue #58. There are so many swirling topics there and great information that shows how diverse the opinions are of competing companies. I think it would be a boring place if everyone agreed though.

One thing is for sure, the incoming head of the IVDP, (named in one of my recent newsletters albeit not official even to this day) will need a very strong spine. There are many complex issues that are in desperate need of open discussions, rather than a dictatorial hand.

"A strong man make a weak people. Strong people don't need a strong man. (Zapata)

Now that I have just finished a challenging newsletter, I am energized to go back to some of these threads which I had either forgotten or ignored due to lack of time. Thanks for some really great questions Rob!