2006 port crop destroyed???

[Alex R]

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?secti ... id=4277449

[Andy Velebil]

WOW That is horrible news.

[David Spriggs]

That's quite shocking! I hope it turns out better than it looks right now.

-Dave-

[Tom Archer]

The towns mentioned are in the north of the Cima Corgo, a little way away from the most famous quintas. The nearest notable quintas are Passadouro, Terra Feita and Cavadinha.

What we need to know was whether Pinhao was affected, which lies approximately five miles south of the area described.

Tom

[Roy Hersh]

Yes, it was 30 minutes of strong rain, hailstorms, droughts, after which some areas had up to 90% of the vineyards damaged.

I have emails to friends in Portugal to find out more specifics. So very sad.

I will be in the Douro for a few days this time next week, but am sure we'll have lots more information before then.

[Derek T.]

Has this ever happened before?

[Roy Hersh]

Do you mean besides the Phylloxera that killed the Port industry for nearly a decade?

Yes, there has been drought and intense rain that wiped out harvests before. You only need to look back to 2002.

[Tom Archer]

2002 was ruined by heavy rain at harvest time. 2000 was badly affected by adverse weather in May, but the result was a small but excellent crop.

Here's hoping!

Tom

[Derek T.]

I suppose what I should have asked was - is this kind of "devastation" common in the history of the Douro or is this an exceptionally bad year?

To simplify the question - which of the following do you think had the most similar outcome to that now expected from 2006?

(a) Phylloxera
(b) 1993
(c) 2000

Derek

[Roy Hersh]

d. The bloodless coup d'etat of 1974.

[Derek T.]

Good one Roy - not often the UK & US sense of humour meets in the middle 8)

[Alex K.]

If it was anyting like the hailstorm that we had last week then I'm not surprised it caused so much damage. Hailstones an inch across and masses of them. Trees were losing all of their leaves and it made a racket like you wouldn't believe - scary as hell. I hope nobody was hurt in the Duoro because these things certainly would have done. It was hours before the cats came out from under the bed.

[Tom Archer]

Hail tends to be a localised and very short lived phenomenon - it kicks off sporadically when certain meterological conditions come together.

In a mountainous landscape like the Douro valley, it would be very surprising if the damage was uniform - more likely that some quintas have been very badly affected while others have escaped unscathed.

Further reports awaited with interest!

Tom

[David Spriggs]

It was hours before the cats came out from under the bed.

I had to laugh about this one!

-Dave-

[Ronald Wortel]

The damage seems to be bad, but not as bad as initially feared. See here.

[Tom Archer]

The only quinta mentioned by name is Cavadinha. Taylor acknowledged losses, but didn't say where, however their Terra Feita is just a mile from Cavadinha on the other side of the Pinhao river.

Obviously very serious for the small independant farmers who are worst affected, but not enough to scupper the vintage as a whole. A small crop is often a superior one, so the possibility of 2006 outshining 2005 may not be diminished.

If 2005 is declared next year, the lineup of 2006 SQVP's may be missing one or two of the regular names.

Tom

[Andy Velebil]

I read an article that said the devisation is not as wide-spread as originally thought...a good thing! Looking forward to your next report.

[Roy Hersh]

I have met with a few producers who have given me their reports, some first hand and some second. Pinhao was hit but it was property by property and many escaped devastation. Vale Donna Maria was almost totally wiped out and others too, but many were spared ... especially at low elevations. I am off to the Douro in ten minutes.

[Roy Hersh]

It was amazing to see the damage first hand. Hail penetrated leaves, now brown along the edge and holes within. Berries obviously are now in trouble without the cover of the all important leaves that keep them protected from directly sunlight.

2006 was already a problematic vintage with a very wet spring and also higher than normal temperatures that have caused problems. The past few years of extreme heat have also wreaked havoc and even before the hail storm, posed definitive issues that would result on a low yielding harvest.

I spent some time with Adrian Bridge and David Guimaraens yesterday and discussed this further, but instead of verbatim remarks, I will type a report that Adrian handed me:

Between 10 and 11 pm in the evening of Wednesday, June 14th, a severe thunder storm resulted in heavy hail showers over part of the central area of the Douro Valley where many of the top quality Port vineyards are located.

Around 80 mm of precipitation in the form of hailstones averaging 1 cm in diameter fell over a well defined aea which included many vineyards in the Pinhâo and Rio Torto valleys. Outside this narrow band there was heavy rainfall but no hail damage.

Some press reports immediately following the storm speculated that around 80% of the potential production of the region may have been lost as a result of the storm. These reports have over-estimated the extent of the damage. The footprint of the hailstorm represents only a small proportion of the Douro Valley vineyard area and our current estimate is that hail damage will have accounted for a loss of approximately 10-20%
of the total crop across the region.

In view of the current hot, humid and still weather conditions, there is clearly potential for further loss as a result of disease spread from damaged bunches. Prior to the storm, The Fladgate Partnership technical advisory team had already issued advice to our grape suppliers to carry out preventive treatment against mildew and oidium (powdery mildew) and these measures had already been taken on our own vineyards, so our own risk of disease damage is minimal.

Given that only part of the grape production of the Douro Valley is used for port, it is unlikely that overall port volumes will be reduced by the damage. However, to the extent that the hail damage affected some of the highest quality growing area, the sorm will have had a disproportionately sever impact on the production of premium ports and may result an increase in the cost of high grade grapes at the forthcoming harvest. Firms such as TFP (Fladgate) which specialize in premium ports and hold extensive reserves of aged wine are relatively well protected from these increases. In terms of the impact on The Fladgate Partnershipºs own properties, the initial estimate is that approximately 750 thousand vines out of a group total of 1.3 million suffered some hail damage. The expectation is that this will result in a crop reduction on the group´s estates not exceeding 40%.

All the Fladgate Partnership properties affected by the storm are located in the Pinhão area. These are the quintas of Terra Feita, Junco, Cruzeiro (Note: Adrian mentioned to me that this property was particularly devastated), and Roêda. Quinta da Corte in the Pinhão Valley, a property on long term contract to the group, also suffered damage.

Two other Pinhão Valley estates, Casa Nova and Santo Antonio, were not affected.

Quinta de Vargellas, including the São Xisto vineyard, and Quinta do Panascal in the Tavora Valley were both outside the affected area and suffered no damage at all.

The situation with regard to our grape suppliers is currently being assessed in detail by our technical team. The first indications are that, as occurred with our own properties, those estates located with the hailstorm damage area have been badly affected by those outside it have all their fruit intact and suffered no vine damage.

Adrian Bridge, Managing Director of The Fladgate Partnership commented: "Although the storm damage is a temporary set back and a disappointment to our vineyard team who work hard to maintain our estates to a standard which is benchmak for the port industry, this will not affect the ability of each of our Port houses to continue supplying the market with wines of the highest quality."

[Andrew N.]

we are at quinta da covada which borders roeda and bonfim,we had quite a bit of damage to the lower parts of our vineyard,but the higher reaches were not affected.i was there last week and the grapes were changing coulor but quite a few bunches had dead/shriveled grapes within the bunches.if rain comes we could get lots of problems with disease.