Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta 2014 vintage. Mostrar todas as mensagens
Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta 2014 vintage. Mostrar todas as mensagens

quinta-feira, 20 de abril de 2017

The 2014 Vintage Port


    The subtitle of this publication could be "The news of the 2014 vintage Port or the positive side of the year 2014"...
     In fact, if the 2014 harvest reports reveal a less good, atypical and difficult year (see: the 2014 harvest report), how to explain that some producers have declared and produced vintage Port this year?
     Precisely because the Douro always escapes any general analisys attempt. One of the main characteristics of this region, sub regions and the wines produced here is the great variety of specificities that are determinant and quality conditioners of the wines, such as the location of the vineyard, the different altitudes and solar exposition of the land, the varied orography of the the river banks, the soil composition, the microclimates themselves, the characteristics and the the behaviour of the vineyards, the different vineyard parcels and the grape varieties planted and also the experience and knowledge of the wine maker and the decision on the moment of the harvest.

    With such a diversity, we can understand better that, even in apparently less good years, there are exceptions, there are producers who haven't felt or didn't suffer so much the effects of the climate instability and still manage to produce a wine with the high quality of a vintage Port.

     It was a year of non-classical vintages, that is to say a year of "Vintages de Quinta" or "Single Quinta Vintage Port" (SQVP), characterized by the lack of unanimity between the producers and the few Port vintages produced. There were important houses that did not produced vintage Port this year, such as Taylor's, Fonseca and Croft, the Sogevinus group (Kopke, Burmester, Calém and Barros), also there was no "Dow's Quinta Senhora da Ribeira" or "Quinta do Vesúvio" vintage, Niepoort and Andresen also passed this year, and to this date there are no news of a vintage Port from the Sogrape, another of the main groups of the sector (which represents the Port brands, Ferreira, Sandeman and Offley).

     The list of the (40) vintage Ports declared in 2014 is as follows:

  • Alumni UTAD Vintage Porto 2014 (UTAD, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro e João Brito e Cunha)
  • António Boal Vintage Port 2014 (Costa Boal Family Estates, Lda.)
  • Augustu's Porto Vintage 2014 (Quinta dos Corvos)
  • Barão de Vilar 2014 Vintage Port (Barão de Vilar, Vinhos, S.A.)
  • Bulas Port Vintage 2014 (Bulas Family Estates, Lda.)
  • Cadão Porto Vintage 2014 (Mateus & Sequeira Vinhos, S.A.)
  • Cockburn's Quinta dos Canais 2014 Vintage Port (Symington Family Estates, Vinhos, Lda)
  • Costa Boal Vintage Port 2014 (Costa Boal Family Estates, Lda.)
  • Churchill's Vintage Port 2014 (Churchill Graham, Lda.)
  • Cruz Porto Vintage 2014 (Gran Cruz Porto, Sociedade Comercial de Vinhos, Lda.)
  • Dalva 2014 Vintage Port (C. da Silva Vinhos, S.A.)
  • Dow's 2014 Quinta do Bonfim Vintage Port (Symington Family Estates, Vinhos, Lda.)
  • Eirados Porto Vintage 2014 (Sociedade Vitivinícola da Quinta da Santa Eufêmia, Lda.)
  • Graham's Quinta dos Malvedos 2014 Vintage Port (Symington Family Estates, Vinhos, Lda.)
  • Klassen Vintage Port 2014 (Sociedade Agrícola e Comercial dos Vinhos Messias, S.A.)
  • Pintas Porto Vintage 2014 (Wine & Soul, Lda.)
  • Quevedo Vintage Port 2014 (Vinhos Óscar Quevedo, Lda.)
  • Quinta de la Rosa Vintage 2014 (Quinta da Rosa, Vinhos, S.A.)
  • Quinta das Lamelas Vintage 2014 Porto (José António da Fonseca Augusto Guedes, Lda.)
  • Quinta das Tecedeiras 2014 Vintage Port (Quinta das Tecedeiras, Sociedade Vitivinícola, Unip., Lda.)
  • Quinta de Ventozelo Porto Vintage 2014 (Gran Cruz Porto, Sociedade Comercial de Vinhos, Lda.)
  • Quinta do Crasto Vintage 2014 Port (Quinta do Crasto, S.A.)
  • Quinta do Infantado Porto Vintage 2014 (Quinta do Infantado-Vinhos do Produtor, Lda.)
  • Quinta do Javali Vintage Port 2014 (Sociedade Agrícola Quinta do Javali, Lda.)
  • Quinta do Noval 2014 Vintage Port (Quinta do Noval Vinhos, S.A.)
  • Quinta do Passadouro Porto Vintage 2014 (Quinta do Passadouro, Sociedade Agrícola, Lda.)
  • Quinta do Pessegueiro Porto Vintage 2014 (Quinta do Pessegueiro, Sociedade e Comercial, Lda.)
  • Quinta do Vale Meão Vintage Port 2014 (F. Olazabal & Filhos, Lda.)
  • Quinta dos Corvos Vintage 2014 Porto (Quinta dos Corvos)
  • Quinta dos Muros Vintage Port 2014 (Sociedade Quinta do Portal, S.A.)
  • Quinta Santa Eufémia Vintage Port 2014 (Sociedade Vitivinícola Quinta Santa Eufémia, Lda.)
  • Quinta Seara D'Ordens Porto Vintage 2014 (Sociedade Agrícola Quinta Seara D'Ordens, Lda.)
  • Quinta Vale D. Maria 2014 Vintage Port (Lemos & Van Zeller, Lda.)
  • Ramos Pinto Quinta do Bom Retiro 2014 Vintage Port (Adriano Ramos Pinto, Vinhos, S.A.)
  • Rozès Vintage 2014 Porto (Rozès, S.A.)
  • S.J Vintage Port Single Quinta 2014 (Quinta de São José, João Brito e Cunha, Lda.)
  • Vallado Adelaide 2014 Vintage Port (Quinta do Vallado, Sociedade Agrícola, Lda.)
  • Vista Alegre Porto Vintage 2014 (Vallegre, Vinhos do Porto, S.A.)
  • VZ 2014 Vintage Port (Lemos & Van Zeller, Lda.)
  • Warre's 2014 Quinta da Cavadinha Vintage Port (Symington Family Estates, Vinhos, Lda.)



O Porto Vintage 2014

     O subtítulo desta publicação poderia ser "as notícias do Porto vintage 2014 ou o lado positivo de 2014"...
    Na realidade, se os relatórios de vindima revelam um anos menos bom, atípico e cheio de dificuldades (vêr: o relatório da vindima de 2014),como se explica que alguns produtores tenham declarado e produzido um vinho do Porto vintage neste ano?
   Precisamente porque o Douro escapa sempre a qualquer tentativa de generalização, porque uma das principais características desta região e sub-regiões é a grande variedade de especificidades que é necessário tomar em conta e que são determinantes e condicionantes da qualidade dos vinhos, como sejam, exemplificativamente, a localização das vinhas, as diferentes altitudes e exposições solares dos terrenos, a variada orografia das margens do rio, os solos, os microclimas próprios, a composição e as características e comportamento das vinhas, das diversas parcelas de vinhas e das castas plantadas e depois a experiência do viticultor e do enólogo e a decisão do momento da vindima.

     Com esta diversidade, podemos começar a perceber um pouco melhor que, mesmo em anos menos bons, existam excepções, existam produtores que não sentiram nem sofreram tanto os efeitos da instabilidade climatérica e conseguiram produzir um vinho com a alta qualidade para um Porto Vintage.

     Foi um ano de vintages não clássicos, de "Vintages de Quinta" ou "Single Quinta Vintage Port" (SQVP), caracterizado pela falta de unanimidade entre os produtores e por poucos vinhos do Porto vintage declarados. Houve casas importantes que não produziram vintage neste ano; a Taylor's, a Fonseca e a Croft, o grupo Sogevinus (Kopke, Burmester, Barros e Calém), também não se produziu o "Dows' Quinta Senhora da Ribeira", nem o vintage "Quinta do Vesúvio", a Niepoort e a Andresen também não produziram e até esta data não houve notícia de um vintage deste ano de outro grande grupo do sector, a Sogrape (Ferreira, Sandeman e Offley).

(Rev. 052022)

©Hugo Sousa Machado

        more information on Vintage Port declarations (links below):
mais informações sobre declarações Porto Vintage (nos seguintes links):

terça-feira, 11 de novembro de 2014

Douro: the 2014 harvest report

Quinta do Noval, in the Pinhão river valley (Upper Corgo sub-region)   © HSM archives 
     

       Completed the 2014 vintage in the Douro region, undoubtedly the main feature and the determining imprint which affected the entire 2013-2014 viticultural year, was the great climatic instability, which led to an atypical year.
     The weather remained unstable throughout the year until the beginning of summer and then, later also after the beginning of the harvest.
    This great instability reflected mainly in the high rainfall recorded throughout the year, with a very rainy winter, especially between December and February.
     In early July, it rained heavily, but the vines did not suffer any damage.

    Later came the mid-September rain, which lasted almost two weeks, extending until the beginning of October, that hit the region in full harvest, conditioning it (in this critical time, the rain has caused a reduction in the sugar concentration of the grapes and the probable alcohol content).
     Finally, on October 8, another rainstorm hits the region and all those that still harvested.

      We have yet to consider the fact that the temperature evolution throughout the yera was not constant; as an example, January was warmer and August cooler with lower temperatures than usual. As a result, the main Douro grape varieties evolve at very different rates; Tinta Roriz was the first to ripen, and the Touriga Franca, with good quality grapes, was the last (also with good quality were the Touriga National and Sousão grapevarieties).

      However we should emphasize that despite the atypical year and the conditions described, the grapes maturation monitoring and the control made in the vineyards, in most cases determined the beginning of the harvest in the first week of September (in 2014 the maturation took place earlier than in the previous year).

    In fact, to date, between the first and second week of September, the harvest looked promising and in many cases the grapes were in very good condition and perfect for good wines of Porto and Douro.

   There was also a drop in wine production across the region, reaching approximately 10% and in some producers this values were higher, such as Niepoort in Quinta de Nápoles (located on Cima Corgo sub-region), there was a 20% fall in wine production.

    We must note, however, that all these facts are general, precisely because the Douro region when analyzed in more detail, always possess a huge heterogeneity of situations, when relating the sub-regions or the geographic locations of the producing land or even the different quotas, which always escape a general analysis.
    In other words, surely the Lower Corgo sub-region, was hardest hit and most suffered the consequences of high rainfall than the Douro Superior sub-region (where rainfall records are very low). In fact, rainfall variations between different areas were large: Lower Corgo, hardest hit by the rain, had a very difficult harvest; in the Upper Corgo, there were some areas with an excellent vintage and others not so much. In the Upper Douro and in all the areas that were not affected by rain (all those who managed to harvest before the mid September rain), will produce very good quality wines.
   It may also be a good year for white wines, fresher wines, which benefited more from the climatic conditions of the  year.

     In conclusion, it was an unusual and very difficult year, far from being perfect, but we must consider that in such a diverse and rich region as the Douro, there will always be exceptional wines in those vineyards that have escaped the rain effects, and also those producers with properties located in different areas that have the possibility to choose the best grapes, and also all those who took advantage of manual harvest - choosing the best grapes begins in the vineyard - allowing immediate grape quality selection by grape pickers.
      
    In all likelihood 2014 will not be a classic vintage year.

©Hugo Sousa Machado