For The Love Of Port

Lets say that 2015 had good quality and volume is quite large and 2016 had even better quality but far less volume. What would the different houses do?

Given that the production volumes of declared vintages are, by and large, far smaller than they used to be, the overall quantity of the harvest is not likely to drive the decision making process.

Declare 2015 because it was good enough and you can sell it sooner. You can still declare 2016 depending on how 2017 looks. Maybe you SQVP it.

Maybe you SQVP it

There's a huge revenue difference between declared years and SQ ones..

Tom Archer wrote:There's a huge revenue difference between declared years and SQ ones..

I would expect so. Here VP is $70, there is hype and a lot purchased. SQVP is $40, and maybe with slow sales shows up $20-30/bottle.

But if you did VP in 2015 and 2017, a SQVP in between might not be so bad?

A TV interview with Charles Symington who explains about the prospects of the 2016 vintage.

https://www.facebook.com/grahams.port.w ... 740024078/

Also a blog post about how the harvest is proceeding at Malvedos.

https://blog.grahams-port.com/2016/09/2 ... t-day-2-2/

Had a chat with a Port producer today, he was not that enthusiast so far. It is a race against time for him. Maturity are still not there, black rot is about to knock on the door.

Days are still hot for September, that is sure, nights are cool.

Another very hot day for late September, above 30 celcius in most of the Douro. It is looking similar for the next few days.

The last grapes are arriving at Quinta de Napoles, harvest will be completed this week. Nowadays we only have a few boxes of white grapes for Port.

I'll try to go visit some other wineries if time permits and get more feedbacks on the Port side.

For wines, it will be a challenging year. September was so hot, acidities drop real quick, sugar got stuck as many vines shut down due to intense weather. This is causing unbalance in maturity. Many are still waiting to pick.

Fantastic weather is still around, above average temperature, sunny days, some cool nights. Yesterday was national holiday in Portugal and I was able to travel and go visit some wineries and get their impressions for the Port side.

Of the 3 producers, one was very happy, one was talking about how uneven and difficult it was for him this year but was able to get some good things and the other has not fully started the harvest yet as most of the tannins of his grapes are too green for him to make Port out of it yet.

Going to visit a top producer tonight, I'll get more info.

Some believe this harvest was not all that late, looking back at historical records of picking dates for the start and end of vindima. Many contrary views to that opinion, with crazy late picking. Two weeks is a big deal when it comes to when you begin picking. Although I did not get to the Baixo Corgo, I visited nearly 2 dozen properties in both the Cima Corgo and Douro Superior, with a lot of time spent way up river this year.

Outside of a couple of rainy days during harvest in 2015, this year has been far more problematic / challenging ... depending on who you want to listen to. Phenolic ripeness was not easy to achieve in 2016, and earlier picking for white then red table wines may be a better bet than Port. Sure, there will be some SQVP produced from 2016, maybe even a few will declare a true VP here and there, but at least through the end of Sept. nothing I tasted from lagare, vines and saw coming off triage tables gave me the belief that this year could compare to the quality achieved in 2015. I'm no expert at that, but certainly have seen enough harvests and hundreds of properties during this time of year, to get a sense of when things are decent, good, great or a weak year.

Roy Hersh wrote:Some believe this harvest was not all that late, looking back at historical records of picking dates for the start and end of vindima. Many contrary views to that opinion, with crazy late picking. Two weeks is a big deal when it comes to when you begin picking. Although I did not get to the Baixo Corgo, I visited nearly 2 dozen properties in both the Cima Corgo and Douro Superior, with a lot of time spent way up river this year.

Outside of a couple of rainy days during harvest in 2015, this year has been far more problematic / challenging ... depending on who you want to listen to. Phenolic ripeness was not easy to achieve in 2016, and earlier picking for white then red table wines may be a better bet than Port. Sure, there will be some SQVP produced from 2016, maybe even a few will declare a true VP here and there, but at least through the end of Sept. nothing I tasted from lagare, vines and saw coming off triage tables gave me the belief that this year could compare to the quality achieved in 2015. I'm no expert at that, but certainly have seen enough harvests and hundreds of properties during this time of year, to get a sense of when things are decent, good, great or a weak year.

I've been told by a few people this year is very much like 1966 was and reading some harvest notes from back then there are some striking similarities (wet winter, hot summer, light rain early Sept, and backwards grapes going into harvest). So I wouldn't write it off just yet. If the weather holds and things keep ripening as they currently are it could very well turn out quite good.

As I mentioned earlier, the biggest issue so far this vintage was the mildew issues that came up earlier in the year. That is what has really hurt some people early on.

Visited a very good producer last night. They started the Port harvest last Friday only, dry wines are done already. They said that for them so far the mildew has not been a problem like for other producers, so is the yield reduction, for them there is not big differences this year. They are happy with the quality, but the biggest part of the harvest is yet to come. Their biggest challenge is still the ripening for them.

For me the biggest challenge I've seen for quality is the ripening, it does seem very uneven.

For me the biggest challenge I've seen for quality is the ripening, it does seem very uneven.

IIRC That observation was made of the 1931 vintage..

Tom, that is likely just one of the reasons, along with the amount of 1927s on shelves and warehouses throughout the UK, not to mention the global financial bust of 1929 ... that there were so few declarations of Vintage Ports for 1931.

Frederick,

Agreed. While there is still plenty of hang time left for grapes destined for Port wine, will the phenolics ever really be balanced? There is a lot of mixed opinions on that answer.

So for those that are hopeful that 2016 may become something special, I think the answer will be determind within the next two to three weeks.

Who here can say they were in the Douro when a Port grape harvest ran through at least the middle-latter part of October?

The only year that comes to my mind is 2013 and I was there until the 28th of October in Douro, 2 weeks or rain and cold weather delayed for some to pick up to November. Of course it is not as problematic as in 2013. But this is simply to reinforce my idea that 2016 is so uneven in the Douro. As every year some producer are able to make amazing things, but for now to think of a general declaration, it is a far fetch.

But you know, every year on this forum we have the same discussions, there is always someone somewhere trying to believe that there is a magic happening in each harvest and that each harvest have something in common with glorious years from the past :) When I'll have time, I'll read back some of those topics for fun :)

One thing to keep in mind also, and that would probably be worth an article, growing season might be similar, but winemaking/aging for Vintage Port nowadays has NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING to do with what was done 70+ years ago. So all comparaisons are dropping there in reference for 31 for example.

Roy Hersh wrote:Frederick,

Agreed. While there is still plenty of hang time left for grapes destined for Port wine, will the phenolics ever really be balanced? There is a lot of mixed opinions on that answer.

So for those that are hopeful that 2016 may become something special, I think the answer will be determind within the next two to three weeks.

Who here can say they were in the Douro when a Port grape harvest ran through at least the middle-latter part of October?

I think the phenolics can get there if the weather holds. This is one of those harvests that really seem to favor those who spent the money early on and were not afraid to let the fruit hang longer than average. Of course, the latter being if weather holds. One bad day going forward would not be good.

And I do agree somewhat with Fred. It's hard to compare today's wine making with what went on 40+ years ago as a lot has changed. But growing grapes is still farming and that doesn't change all that much. You either have fruit that is ready when picked or you don't. And while newer technology exists that allows you make some corrective adjustments to the musts and finished wines now days, you can't make strawberries out of lemons. The latter has never changed.

Today was a very hot day! Probably flirting with 30 Celsius in some valleys.

I'll try to write something about the changes in the Douro over the last decades, but viticulture has change a lot also. Yes we still grow grapes and still make wines but terraces have been replaced by patamares, old mix vineyards have been replaced by block plantings of less than 30 years... can't expect the same result... better or worse, but not the same for sure.

I was told it rained pretty good in some parts around the Douro today. That is probably not a good thing at this point if one hasn't picked their best grapes yet.

Andy Velebil wrote:I was told it rained pretty good in some parts around the Douro today. That is probably not a good thing at this point if one hasn't picked their best grapes yet.

Yep, Oscar posted a picture on Facebook and it looks... well, like Seattle.

There are several producers who are done picking their grapes now. A few have seemingly had their end of harvest parties. Those pics looked to be in sunny weather.