For The Love Of Port

I was on contact with George Sandeman last week and again today and we were discussing the QUESTION FOR THE PORT TRADE and other topics. He mentioned that winemaker Luis Sottomayor is about to launch a historic wine TOMORROW, the 2000 Barca Velha. As you know in the past the fruit came from Quinta Vale Meao for many years before they starting to make their own Douro reds from the same grapes. Now Sogrape which owns Ferreira ergo Barca Velha uses the old vines from Quinta da Leda instead, although it is questionable whether the fruit will be as incredible as Meao's which had begun providing the grapes as early as 1952. Just think of the patience, no less the carrying costs involved of holding back a DOC Douro red wine release eight years to be sure it is ready upon release. Enormous investment in time/Euros/space ... so I am expecting a big splash with this wine!

Oh great, I'll do some pressure on local impoter as they missed the amazing 99!

95(was it 91?) was the last Barca Velha to include grapes from Vale Meao and had only 5% of its volume. Vale Meao was part of the backbone but Barca Velha has never been a single quinta wine, neither it is today.

The answer is yes, having tasted a couple of times the 95 and 99 so far I'm confident that these 2 release definitively have what it needs to age beautifuly. I served the 99 beside the 2001 Vale Meao blind at a dinner with experimented wine tasting friends and all prefered far above the 99 Barca Velha!

I do applaude them for doing this. That is a very large investment to cellar dry wine for that long. I do hope to get my hands on a bottle to try. i have really like the older Douro dry wines I've had and think the better ones, and even some lower priced ones, age very nicely.

For those fairly new to Douro wines, Barca Velha was the very first "cult" wine in Portugal, the most expensive and most highly sought after non-fortified Portuguese wine. It was either the second or third Douro red table wine to be exported. This evening I spoke with the USA importer for Barca Velha and their allocation is miniscule, even compared to the enormous quantity that was shipped of the legendary 1991 BV, which was one of the most famous non-Ports ever produced in the country's history. Expect it to be very difficult to find in the USA and count yourself lucky if you are able to procure more than one bottle!

Those going on this year's harvest tour will have the opportunity to try this and other vintages of Barca Velha!

Roy Hersh wrote:(...) legendary 1991 BV, which was one of the most famous non-Ports ever produced in the country's history (...)

If I only knew!
This means I now have a reason to drink the four bottles I have.
Patience can be a virtue at times, as is family that doesn't want to drink yet another bottle of Portuguese wine

Good timing... I just got the Reserva 94 tonight. Tasted 2 years ago a couple of time, I thought it was going downhill. Well tonight, after one hour only the wine was starting to be interesting, very interesting! I tasted the 91 2 times and was never impressed as much as the 99 or 95, but maybe it was not in a good mood those day or we did not give him the time,like we learn it from the 94 tonight!

Roy Hersh wrote:
Those going on this year's harvest tour will have the opportunity to try this and other vintages of Barca Velha!

YES :!: I've wanted to try these wines for some time. Its going to be a fun time on the Harvest Trip....I've already got my plane ticket in pocket....can't wait for the fun to begin. and most importantly, meeting fellow members of this board for the first time.

Patrick,

Start drinking those '91s soon. They are on the decline at this point and fully mature. I had two full cases in OWC for a song ($29 per) ... you should see what they sell for in Portugal!

Anyway, I have enjoyed them but the past few bottles were really starting to change and drink more like old Burgs that seemed tired. These were purchased from the local distributor on close out in 2001. I have kept one last bottle ... why, I don't really know.

Has anybody had the 2000 BV lately ... or I should say ... since we tried it during the Harvest Tour?

Never seen it released here in the states yet

Same here, I don't know why but it used to be so popular in Quebec, nothing since 1995 has arrived on our shelves for this wine. It depress me

Barca Velha was the very first Douro wine I tried. Back in the early 1980s, Barca Velha used to be offered for sale by the UK based independant wine merchant Oddbins. I was lucky enough to buy some 1970s and 1980s Barca Valha for prices ranging from about £12 per bottle up to an eye-watering £25 per bottle. The last vintage I bought was the 1987 and I have none left now. Barca Velha is not easy to find in the UK but I still have a soft spot for it and when I come across a bottle for a sensible price then I will buy it and drink it.

But it is rare to find any in the UK these days.