For The Love Of Port

It is March tomorrow and we know what that means? It is declaration time of year and I though it would be awesome if we did some grunt work this year to establish a list containing the houses that have declared a 2015 vintage port and also when the time comes where you can buy these lovely bottle en primeur so we can compare prices etc.

To kick things off I saw today on a large Danish Port Facebook group that a supermarket were offering cases with 6 bottles of 2015 vintage port from Quinta do Boeira at 22,5 USD per bottle. He also mentioned that they will only release 7000 bottles. So I take that as they have declared. A rather smart move for such a small and no VP know producer to enter the market first and let they thirsty horde spend their money early instead of waiting patiently for the larger houses to join in.

Also there is a large port faire on Saturday and the importer of Quinta do Javali has stated that we will be able to taste their 2015 vintage at the venue.

Please add in when news break of declarations from other houses.

Houses that have declared a 2015 Vintage Port

• Adriano Ramos Pinto - 7.000 - 8.000 bottles
  Alves de Sousa
  Amarela, Quinta da Casa
  Arnozelo, Burmester
  Barão de Vilar
  Boeira, Quinta do - 7000 bottles released
  Bomfim, Dow's Quinta do - later release
  Calém
  Cruz
  Cockburn, Bicentenary (1815 - 2015) - 42.000 bottles, 660 magnums, 99 double magnums, 50 imperials
  Dalva
  Duorum
  Gaivosa, Quinda da
  Grifo, Quinta do
  Gricha, Churchill's Quinta da
  Guimaraens, Fonseca
  Infantado, Quinta do
  Javali, Quinta do
  Malvedos, Graham's Quinta dos - later release
  Marrocas, Quinta da
  Niepoort
  Niepoort Bioma Vinha Velha
  Nova, Quinta
  Noval, Quinta do
  Palmer
  Passadouro, Quinta do
  Pégo, Quinta do
  Pintas
  Poças Junior
  Porto, Ferreira's Quinta do
  Roêda, Croft Quinta da
  Rosa, Quinta de la
  Rozès
  Romaneira, Quinta da
  S. Leonardo
  Santa Eufemia, Quinta
  São Luiz, Kopke, Quinta - 3000 bottles
  Savedra, Quinta de Tedo
  Seara d'Ordens
  Seixo, Sandeman Quinta do
  Senhora da Ribeira, Dow's Quinta da
  Stone Terrace, Graham's
  Tedo, Quinta de
  Vale Maria, Quinta de
  Vale Meão, Quinta do
  Vallado
  Van Zellers
  Vargellas, Taylor's Quinta de
  Vasques de Carvalho
  Ventozelo, Quinta do
  Vesuvio, Quinta do
  Vieira de Sousa

Updated with Vasques de Carvalho. Got confirmation from the Danish importer today.

Also there will be a cask sample of the 2015 Javali at the Roskilde faire on Saturday

Also got information that these 2 houses have declared as well. The VDS will also be present with a cask sample at the Danish port faire I mentioned earlier.

Poças Junior
Vieira de Sousa

Dirk Niepoort will be declaring his regular bottling and Bioma is a definite too.

Roy Hersh wrote:Dirk Niepoort will be declaring his regular bottling and Bioma is a definite too.

Very cool Roy. This is a good indicator that 2015 will be a general declaration. When was the last time Nipoort declared and all the other large VP houses did not?

I have added them to the list.

Quite a few times actually. Go check out the other thread on 2015 vs. 2016.

From a québécois point of view , we won't see 2015 or2016 before 2020 Is it too early to tell how the price VP will be affected if only one major player declares 2015

It is currently possible to buy 3 bottles of the VdS 2015 VP for 100 USD en primeur in Denmark

You can add Cockburn's, based on their Facebook post today. One can assume for their Bicentenary celebration.

I have not heard about any other SFT brands as of yet.

Andy Velebil wrote:You can add Cockburn's, based on their Facebook post today. One can assume for their Bicentenary celebration.

You beat me to it Andy. I'll add them.

Here is the link to Cockburn's statement regarding their 2015 Bicentenary VP.
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2017/ ... tage-port/

Andy Velebil wrote:I have not heard about any other SFT brands as of yet.

I am sure that Quinta do Vesuvio will be declared, but for the remainder of the brands we will have to wait.

Is 42.000 bottles really the result of a low yield year as they write in their statement? How many did they produce under Symington in 2011?

Thomas V wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote:I have not heard about any other SFT brands as of yet.

I am sure that Quinta do Vesuvio will be declared, but for the remainder of the brands we will have to wait.

Is 42.000 bottles really the result of a low yield year as they write in their statement? How many did they produce under Symington in 2011?

Per their website,

[2011] Production: 3,000 cases – 12/75cl

So 36,000 bottles. Or 500 cases more this vintage than compared to 2011.

https://www.thevintageportsite.com/spec ... ckburn%27s

Andy Velebil wrote:

Thomas V wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote:I have not heard about any other SFT brands as of yet.

I am sure that Quinta do Vesuvio will be declared, but for the remainder of the brands we will have to wait.

Is 42.000 bottles really the result of a low yield year as they write in their statement? How many did they produce under Symington in 2011?

Per their website,

[2011] Production: 3,000 cases – 12/75cl

So 36,000 bottles. Or 500 cases more this vintage than compared to 2011.

https://www.thevintageportsite.com/spec ... ckburn%27s

On the picture here it says 42.000 regular bottles or 3500 x 12 = 42.000

Dirk and I had a chat last night. He believe his 2015 Niepoort and Bioma are even better than his 2011. FWIW!

Roy Hersh wrote:Dirk and I had a chat last night. He believe his 2015 Niepoort and Bioma are even better than his 2011. FWIW!

Why does that not surprise me

I heard Quinta do Crasto will be declaring.

I was reading the Decanter.com article about the Cockburns declaration just before and the writer had noted 3,500 cases (6 x 750ml), which is at odds with the photo above. Perhaps they assumed six bottle cases rather than twelve bottle cases?

Mark Henderson wrote:I was reading the Decanter.com article about the Cockburns declaration just before and the writer had noted 3,500 cases (6 x 750ml), which is at odds with the photo above. Perhaps they assumed six bottle cases rather than twelve bottle cases?

Possible. A lot of Port companies have switched to 6-pack cases instead of the old 12 for VP's.

Mark Henderson wrote:I was reading the Decanter.com article about the Cockburns declaration just before and the writer had noted 3,500 cases (6 x 750ml), which is at odds with the photo above. Perhaps they assumed six bottle cases rather than twelve bottle cases?

If i calculate 3500*12 i come to 42.000 bottles. As shown in the picture.
As far as i know, when the port companies talk about cases (number wise), they mean 12 bottles even though they ship in 6.

Interesting..

A bicentenary VP for Cockburn but no word about any of the other SFE houses. It reminds me of 2009 when they did a special bicentenary Warre to recognise a notable military achievement in 1809, but did not declare any others (despite having some superb Graham juice that got bottled as Malvedos..) I'm guessing that April 23rd will see a bicentenary Fonseca declared - but will the other TFP brands declare? - the lack of build up and 'buzz' over a declaration has made a split or twin declaration look increasingly likely..

I'm expecting a Quevedo declaration for 2015 but will be unsurprised if Oscar elects to declare both 2015 & 2016. There will be a very small number of 900cL Salmanazars available - I'm having one..