Jancis Robinson on 2007 VPs

[Roy Hersh]

I have enjoyed the several times I've tasted wines with Jancis and we are in touch on occasion by email, so although normally I'd never post an article in its entirety (instead of a link) ... I am sure I'll hear from her directly if she has any issue with this. I do find some of her "take" on what's going on in the Douro in contrast with my own beliefs and empirical evidence ... but I love her anyway. She is one of the great voices in all of wine journalism and has a phenomenal palate. She also "gets" and likes Vintage Port!



The port trade’s calling card

By Jancis Robinson

Published: May 30 2009 03:20 | Last updated: May 30 2009 03:20

Last week’s London tasting of the newly released crop of vintage ports, the 2007s, was held in a sort of transitional passageway at the Foreign Press Association in Carlton House Terrace. The skylight certainly helped us distinguish between the different shades of purple in these 42 samples, but I couldn’t help seeing a parallel between the room and the transitional nature of the Douro Valley which had yielded them all.

Less than 10 years ago this was the most obviously backward of the world’s classic wine regions, with grapes still trodden by the feet of locals whose lives seemed to have more in common with the third world than Europe. Planting of vineyards in neat rows and terraces of a single vine variety is still relatively recent, and mechanisation in the vineyards and cellars even more so.

This century has seen a transformation, however. Realising that they could no longer depend on local labour, the major producers have installed computer-operated alternatives to the human foot for the all-important extraction of colour from the grapes. Those producers used to be called shippers, because that was mainly what they did: buying in grapes from local growers, turning them into wine up the valley, shipping it down to Oporto, maturing it in lodges by the river in the Oporto suburb Vila Nova de Gaia, and then shipping it around the world. But today the shippers have become growers.

The five big port groups, including the Symington family (who produce Dow’s, Graham’s, Warre’s most famously) and the Taylor Fladgate Partnership (Croft, Fonesca, Taylor’s etc) control about 80 per cent of the port market between them and have recently added a good 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of prime vineyards to their holdings, as well as upgrading their wineries and all-important storage facilities in the challenging Douro Valley, with its harsh winters and summers. This means that they no longer buy nearly as much from local growers who are now increasingly dependent on the local co-ops and their relatively paltry prices. Life is becoming tougher and tougher for the legion of smallholders in the Douro.

But there are other important structural changes that impact much more directly on us wine consumers. Table wines, labelled Douro rather than port, have become a fully established, and highly profitable, product of the wild Douro valley. Producers whose table wines have already established a reputation, such as Quinta do Vale Dona Maria and Quinta do Crasto, are already able to sell their top table wines at the same price as their vintage ports (even if their vineyards tend to be better suited to the former than the latter). This makes it all the more extraordinary that the Taylor Fladgate Partnership continues its policy of eschewing serious table wine production. They argue that for the moment they wish to remain focused on port, but they must be aware of the extent to which port prices have lagged behind those of other fine wines.

It seems most unfair that vintage port does not perform better in the saleroom, for the quality is better than it has ever been. At the bottom end of the port market however, the shippers have brought much of this on themselves by engaging in a price war via the large retailers.

They like to point to increased volumes sold in the UK as a sign of buoyancy in the port market, but this has to be countered by observations such as the one made at last week’s tasting by a member of the wine committee at the nearby Oxford & Cambridge Club, that the club’s current holdings of vintage port will last the members 40 years at their current rate of consumption. Oxbridge colleges report the same sort of slowdown in demand. Vintage port is the port trade’s calling card, the essence of the Douro trapped in a bottle. Its appearance every three or four years reminds us all that port exists and should encourage us to pull some corks – certainly on the basis of the quality and sheer sophistication of the best 2007s shown last week.

Bill Warre, of the port family, popped in to the port tasting after lunch at Boodle’s (where, presumably, he does his best to keep their stocks well below 40 years’ worth). He has tasted every port vintage at this early stage since the 1948s, and even he was hard pressed to find any vintage remotely like the 2007. Rather like the 2008 bordeaux, no one realised at the end of August that good quality wine would eventually result. This was an unusually long, cool, steady growing season, without extremes of heat or drought. In fact, the rains were unusually generous, and the temperatures moderate enough to preclude the sort of shutdown that can stop photosynthesis and ripening in very hot weather. Sugars came from proper ripening of the grapes rather than desiccation, so there were few raisiny characters in the wines. Nights in particular were usefully cool and these ports are all remarkably fresh – one or two even have a strange note of greenness. The harvest was two weeks later than usual, and the grapes spent longer than usual in lagares, the Douro’s distinctive shallow fermentation vats. Touriga Franca grapes in particular benefited from the long season, while Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo) especially benefited from yields shrunk by a poor fruit set and both sorts of mildew.

I was amazed by how many of these vintage ports confronted us – even though the style comprises a mere 1 per cent of all port production. Presumably because wine is now so fashionable in Portugal, and there are so many able winemakers in the Douro, there are many more individuals who want a shot at producing this classic wine, port at its most expensive.

Expect to pay more than £200 for six bottles in bond for the top names, much less for most of the ports produced on single quintas (individual wine farms), many of them associated with one of the famous producers. Perfect for 2007 babies.

Favourite 2007 vintage ports
Taylor’s
Graham’s
Dow’s
Fonseca
Quinta do Noval
Warre’s 2007
Niepoort 2007
Taylor’s, Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha
Smith Woodhouse
Niepoort, Pisca
Quinta do Vesuvio
Quinta do Vesuvio, Capela
Niepoort, Broadbent
Quarles Harris
Quinta do Vale Meão

Tasting notes on all wines at purple pages of http://www.jancisrobinson.com
More columns at http://www.ft.com/robinson

[Edward Nemergut]

What a fantastic article. That you for sharing...

[Eric Menchen]

And interesting and worthwhile read. Thank you as well Roy, and thanks to Jancis.

Less than 10 years ago this was the most obviously backward of the world’s classic wine regions, with grapes still trodden by the feet of locals whose lives seemed to have more in common with the third world than Europe. Planting of vineyards in neat rows and terraces of a single vine variety is still relatively recent, and mechanisation in the vineyards and cellars even more so.

Backward? Perhaps, but Jancis makes this sound like such a negative, and I'm not so sure that is the case. Certainly the industry needed and will continue to need to change, but there is a lot to be said for some of this backwardness. How many of the producers point out that their VP is in fact still foot trodden? For them it is a selling point. If it weren't for the economics, I wonder if they would choose human power for non-VP Port. While there may be other advantages to the machines besides saving money, the machine producers try to point out how their particular machine is closer to human foot action than the competition.

Life is becoming tougher and tougher for the legion of smallholders in the Douro.

Hmmmm ... Roy, I'm guessing this might be a statement that you find in contrast with your beliefs, no?

Favourite 2007 vintage ports ... Quarles Harris

Interesting that that one made the cut. I wonder if we'll see any of it on this side of the pond.

[Andy Velebil]

yes I was very intrigued by her comments on foot treading. Especially since many producers have gone back to foot treading for their top Ports.

But i must admit I got a weird vibe reading this article and it left me scratching my head. I'm not sure where she had been, was going to, and where she wanted to end up at in that article.

I was amazed by how many of these vintage ports confronted us – even though the style comprises a mere 1 per cent of all port production. Presumably because wine is now so fashionable in Portugal, and there are so many able winemakers in the Douro, there are many more individuals who want a shot at producing this classic wine, port at its most expensive.

So has she not been to the Douro in a long time? Any seasoned wine writer like herself should know how much has changed in the Douro in the past 10+ years. So to be surprised by the number of VP's left me scratching my head.

Fashionable huh? Lets see, it's one of the oldest demarcated wine regions in the world. I'm sure it's safe to say wine has been fashionable in Portugal for quite some time now. Sure it may have periods of ups and downs, but the country and region have been at it for far longer than most.

The last statement I bolded above really left me shaking my head and :wall: Far more of the smaller producers are focusing on dry wines as that is where it's easier to make money and with far less regulations. Not to mention most of these producers have been making wine and Port for a long time. But under the old regulations could not bottled it and sell it themselves, now they can. And with a world wide market that will support the logistics of a smaller producer easier these days, it is just a product of a little thing called technology.

[Tom Archer]

I agree with Andy - the article lacks direction. I sense that it was rather hastily penned.

Note also that her list of favourites includes some followed by '2007' - and some not - hints that she's re-worked an old text..

Tom

[Roy Hersh]

Tom,

Nice to see you. It has been awhile.



Eric M. wrote:

Jancis Robinson wrote:
Life is becoming tougher and tougher for the legion of smallholders in the Douro.

Hmmmm ... Roy, I'm guessing this might be a statement that you find in contrast with your beliefs, no?

Yes, clearly that is the case, the sharp contrast that is.

Actually, some of the "smallholders" (that term irks me ... almost like sharecroppers; although I'm sure that is not Jancis' derivation) in reality make up 90% of the Douro growers, who possess less than 10 hectares apiece. Many are doing better today as small producers than they were as mere grape growers/sellers. Just yesterday I had yet another solid Douro wine that has never left Portugal before: 2007 Negreiros Tinto DOC Douro wine. They used to sell the majority of their grapes to the Symington's for Port. They still sell some but keep enough now to pay for them to explore and this producer (who owns nearly 10 ha) has also made 13,000 bottles of the aforementioned red wine. This can be the difference between success (finally) and continuing to have no choice but to produce grapes to sell to larger companies or large cooperatives.

Although it sounds like I am mirroring what Jancis said, au contraire. Today their are options, whereas in the past ... there were none besides picking up and leaving to find other opportunities. Consolidation and natural progression have brought about great changes to a very traditional region. They have both created great opportunities and an atmosphere of "survival of the fittest." Risk taking has never been so prevalent as what we've witnessed during this past decade in the Douro. In addition to the Port and wine trade, there is the fledgling tourism business which is becoming a cottage industry with dozens of small SQ's opening B&B's and restaurants and even mid-size hotel properties are sprouting up in what was a barren grape producing region as recently as the mid-1990s.