Vintage countdown 2016

[uncle tom]

The determination to declare 2015 has been apparent from an indecently early date, and long before anyone had the faintest idea as to how 2016 might shape up. A similar thing happened with the 1963 vintage, as a look at the harvest reports for 1964 shows that it wasn't given a chance - the decision to declare '63 had already been made. My encounters with '64 have always revealed dark sound solid wines, and certainly no weakling of a vintage however.

Will 2016 be given a fair chance? I doubt it. Much as the trade always hypes up the good aspects of a vintage that is being declared, so, I suspect, the negatives of 2016 are likely to be given undue prominence to fit the narrative.

However, if 2016 proves to be a superb undeclared year then there is always the prospect of being able to buy great juice at a moderate price..

So far the reportage suggests that the vines were making rather too much shoot growth in the early part of the year, aided by ample water supplies. However there appears to have been virtually no rain since mid June, and none on the immediate horizon. There has also been some good heat with more in prospect, so barring upsets over the next eight weeks, there could well be some very high quality juice made this year.

The Atlantic got off to a strange start this year with a rare January hurricane. This gave rise to news stories at the end of June that storm activity was above average, but aside from hurricane Alex in January, there have been only four named tropical storms to date. The clouds emerging from the African continent are also currently well south of Cape Verde, where any storms arising from them tend to get lost in the Caribbean - so no cause for concern at this point..

[jdaw1]

I am not qualified to comment on or to predict the weather, so shall merely hope that it’s excellent.

But I urge the shippers not to be afraid of consecutive declarations. Château Lafite and its neighbours sell wine every year, and I mean every year, so the illustrious Port names could too. If y and y+1 are both good enough, definitely do declare both. And if your importers say “don’t”, fire them (so, importers, don’t say “don’t”).

[uncle tom]

The fire risk map for Portugal is currently looking as extreme as I can recall..

https://www.ipma.pt/en/ambiente/risco.i ... jsp?dia=dh

(Not that it has that much direct bearing on the vintage, but it's a useful indicator when trying to establish whether rain recorded at a reporting station is a localised shower, or a more general downpour..)

[Andy Velebil]

Fingers crossed there are no bad fires this year.


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[uncle tom]

Have had a communication from Dirk. As things stand, he anticipates that yields will be lower than forecast, and that for port there is the prospect of a good vintage this year.

What is also rather pleasing is that it is likely that there will be port grapes harvested on Sept 12th, when my niece has been booked in to give birth to twin boys by CS. So barring a surprise that sees them enter the world a little sooner than expected, I am making plans for a special Sept 12th bottling..

[jdaw1]

What is also rather pleasing is that it is likely that there will be port grapes harvested on Sept 12th, when my niece has been booked in to give birth to twin boys by CS. So barring a surprise that sees them enter the world a little sooner than expected, I am making plans for a special Sept 12th bottling..

Indeed. Birthday Port is rather prestigious.

[uncle tom]

The fire risk map is suggesting that many places have had a moderate amount of rain in the past few days, although the Vila Real reporting station does not seem to be one of them.

And the forecast going forward for the next few days is for continued hot weather.

However, we have a hurricane on the loose..

Gaston is a category 3 hurricane now sitting in the mid Atlantic, and is due to crash into the Azores late on Friday before reaching the Bay of Biscay on Monday. If the current forecast projection is correct, it looks set to make a mess of the Bordeaux vintage next week, but the tail end trajectory of these storms, and the rain mass that they leave behind after they cease being cyclonic can sometimes change dramatically.

A moderate amount of rain might be beneficial for the port harvest next week, given the long hot dry spell this summer; but a stormy drenching would be most unwelcome..

[DRT]

Screen Shot 2016-09-08 at 08.21.04.png (33.48 KiB) Viewed 6889 times

[uncle tom]

Harvest started at Malvedos yesterday (19th).

Here's a vintage report from the past:

"A wet winter followed by storms and low temperatures in May with the sun only showing itself at the end of the month. A fine and hot July, more leaf than usual on the vines prevented burning.

August was exceptionally hot, twice 45° C was recorded. Fortunately the month ended with cooler weather and a little rain fell, but the first week of September saw a return to fine hot weather.

Vintage started at Bomfim on 19th September in continued fine, hot weather, with the Rio Torto and other areas generally starting on the 26th. Unfortunately, rain interrupted the harvest for a few days at that point, but it did little harm to the grapes. By the 29th the weather had cleared and become much cooler and harvest continued until 2nd October when the weather broke completely with two days of torrential rains. After that fine weather returned and the harvest continued in ideal conditions.

The overall harvest was small but of very good quality."

Remarkably similar to this year's story (so far..)

- The year? 1966

[Andy Velebil]

Tom, do you know if 1966 had the mildew issues this year has seen?


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[jdaw1]

Worth reading: Malvedos 2016 Harvest: Day 1.

[uncle tom]

Tom, do you know if 1966 had the mildew issues this year has seen?

No, but given the May weather in '66, it's hard to see how they would have escaped that problem..

[jdaw1]

Malvedos Harvest: Day 2

[jdaw1]

The First Sousão Grapes Harvested This Vintage

[Alex Bridgeman]

Latest news from the port harvest is that it is late and slow. Where growers were able to spot mildew problems and treat, yields are normal. Where growers did not treat we heard stories that one such farmer lost 90% of his crop. Overall it seems yields in the region will be down about 30%.

Quality is interesting, and if we see 2-3 weeks of the dry and sunny weather with peak day temperatures in the high 20s and overnight lows close to 10C then this could be a vintage capable of producing great ports. The odd short period of rain would also help if temperatures and the wind stayed in place. Fermentations which are taking place at the moment are slow and not needing to have their temperature controlled which really helps with the extraction from the skins. We've seen raisins on the vines but have also seen bunches with really unevenly ripe grapes ranging from dark black to green in the same bunch. Luckily Port can forgive a certain amount of greenness.

In essence, the story of this vintage is the same as many - it could be great but we have to wait and see.

And my lack of comment on the Douro wine vintage is not meant to imply anything adverse about the vintage, just that I don't know enough about Douro wines to be able to comment meaningfully.

[jdaw1]

The Stone Terraces Vineyards Harvested

[DRT]

I have been in the Douro for the past seven days. The reports from producers are widely variable. Some are reporting very small yields due to the wet spring whilst others are optimistic due to the late warm and dry weather.

What seems certain is that quality and volume will be inconsistent.

I can't see this being a general declaration due to the variability, but some fabulous wines will surely be produced.

[jdaw1]

The Touriga Nacional Week: Malvedos and Tua

[jdaw1]

Excelent Touriga Franca Harvested at Malvedos.

[DRT]

2016 Harvest Report from Paul Symington.