I've just read the Op/Ed. Very interesting. It looks like we had very similar thoughts - and even thought about similar independent producers as examples!Roy Hersh wrote:Is it safe to assume you've read the Op/Ed in newsletter #94, right before the 2015 Vintage Port Report?
Feel free to discuss that here, (the Op/Ed) ideas, regardless of for or against.
I guess I really don't mind whether we see full declarations more frequently or not. Graham and Sandeman used to declare pretty much every year in the late 1800 and early 1900s. Noval has started doing that again.
As a consumer, I love producers who maintain quality by varying volume but who declare vintage port whenever they have the right quality. It creates more competition and offers the opportunity for independent producers to grab loyal customers through marketing or tourism opportunities and for those loyal customers to buy every year. I have complete verticals of Vesuvio going back to 1989 and of Noval going back to 1994. Although I am trying not to buy newly released vintage port any more, I am buying these to keep my verticals going. If I had visited Oscar before I visited Noval, I might well have had a complete Quevedo vertical instead of a complete Noval vertical.
I believe the importance of a general declaration is no longer relevant for us who read and post on these forums. We know the producers, we know the product and we know what we like. But I suspect we buy and consume a tiny proportion of the production of vintage port which comes out of the Douro in good years. The majority of buyers are probably heavily influenced by the storm of publicity which accompanies a declaration that is made in full by both TFP and SFE. That's the occasion when the "part time" buyer is influenced into putting their discretionary money into port rather than Bordeaux or Burgundy, because of all the noise associated with that specific vintage.
I hope there's a knock-on effect from the publicity of a "General Declaration". Hopefully the smaller producers who make a good product in those years also see an increased demand. Some of them really deserve it. I still remember how surprised I was when I peeled the wrappers off some blind tasting samples when I was tasting the 2011 vintage ports to find one of the best ports from the vintage (in my opinion) was the Quinta do Sagrado VP. I really hope that they sold well, as they deserved to on the merits of what they produced.
The fragmentation of the market does risk causing confusion in the eyes of the casual port buyer. They won't necessarily look beyond the known and comfortable names or the "general declarations". It will take a more educated buyer to learn a bit more in depth about the region and the producers before someone like Oscar would find it easier to sell a great wine from an un-declared vintage like his 2008 (which I thought was better than the Noval VP that year).
I think about my wife as an example. 30 years ago she knew about Taylor and maybe Graham as port producers, she bought me the occasional bottle if there was a declared year. Now she's met Oscar, Dirk and some of the Symingtons and is loyal to their brands. She buys me their ports if she can find them, and delights in contrarian buying from non-general declaration years - but she must be unusual in the greater world of port buyers.
) not to find the Murças VP '15 in Roy's review in Newsletter 94. Do you have any idea why not?
)