2005 Douro harvest report from the Symington's

[Roy Hersh]

The 2005 Vintage in the Douro.

While there are still grapes coming into the wineries, it is already clear that some very good wines have been made at the 2005 harvest in the Douro.

With only 6 millimetres of rain in June and none at all in July and August, the vines were showing signs of severe stress at the end of August. Last winter was extremely dry; to the extent that the measured rainfall at Quinta do Bomfim from November 2004 to end September 2005 was just 220.98 mm. The 15-year average on this estate for these 11 months is 584 mm, so the region has suffered a drop in rainfall of an astonishing 62%. Hence the plague of forest fires all over Portugal this last summer. The fire risk was not helped by the fact that nearly every town and village continued to send off endless fireworks during their ‘festas’.

It is not surprising therefore that there was very real concern about the forthcoming harvest as August drew to a close with no sign of any rain. We took the decision to start picking the younger vines very early, for example at Quinta do Vesuvio we started on the 30th August. The young vines, i.e. those that are less than 5 years old, have a poorly developed root system and therefore struggled to obtain enough moisture in such difficult conditions.

On the 6th September the weather changed and a steady rain fell for several hours. We measured 19.05 mm at Quinta do Bomfim. On the 9th a further 5.08 mm fell. The decision was taken to stop picking on several of our key estates in order to allow the much-needed rain to have its beneficial effect. The rain was followed by clear skies. Since then there has been absolutely perfect weather with cool nights and some heavy dew. The harvesting weather could not have been better.

The sugar graduations dipped for a few days after the rain before climbing steadily back to very satisfactory levels. The grapes filled out and the skins softened. The musts have very good deep purple-black colours and are giving very attractive aromas.

The yields are still to be fully analysed but it appears that in the Douro Superior they are only slightly down on the normal low weight of fruit per vine for the region. Roriz appears to be giving smaller yields, while the Barroca, Touriga Franca and the Nacional have resisted well. There is no doubt that the good flowering and fruit-set earlier this year has played a key role in maintaining yields despite the drought. There are plenty of bunches even if the berries themselves are small.

Our five ‘specialist’ wineries at Quinta dos Malvedos, Cavadinha, Senhora de Ribeira, Vesuvio and Quinta de Roriz (jointly owned with Joao van Zeller) all performed superbly well with their small productions. The two larger wineries at Bomfim and Sol have seen a lot of fruit delivered in first class condition.

In summary and with picking still taking place at our higher vineyards such as Quinta de Cavadinha, 2005 has proved once again the amazing ability of the vine to overcome very tough conditions. It was astonishing to see the small green berries fill out, turn dark red and ripen with such limited moisture in the soil. Nature was very kind to us with rain on the 6th and 9th, followed by a succession of beautiful sunny days.

We are confident that some very interesting and very good Ports and DOC wines will have been made in the Douro this year.

Pinhao, September 30th 2005.

[Al B.]

Roy,

Pure speculation, but do you think that the fact that picking at Vesuvio started before the rains will affect the quantity of top class port that Vesuvio will be producing from the 2005 vintage?

Alex

[Roy Hersh]

I am not sure where you are getting your picking date information re: Vesuvio?

Prior to the rain, the berries had to have very low ratios of juice to pulp and the low moisture levels would have stressed the vines to the point of extreme concentration. That may sound good, but this can lead to low natural acidity levels and at times, the need for acidulation. I would imagine that in the Douro Superior where Vesuvio is located, that the picking was not over before the rains came and therefore, they were probably able to blend different lots from various times of picking. Vesuvio is a very large property.

[Frederick Blais]

Only a small percentage of the grapes goes in the Vesuvio final blends for the VP. I doubt the 5 years old vines goes in.

My concern over the 2005 vintage is the phenolic ripeness. I'm not sure it was well obtain. Some producers that I have spoke with have concern over the stressed vines and very low yields of not so healthy grapes because of that.