Interesting articles re future of Port

[nac]

Recent articles you may not have seen.

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2025/ ... ts-future/

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2025/ ... the-douro/

The second is very interesting. Paul Symington savages the Portuguese government and the IVDP.

[mcoulson]

No beating around the bush there then ....

[MigSU]

I've yet to fully read the articles (they're open in my browser, waiting for a good time to do so), but I must say that Paul Symington and his family aren't exactly your typical "Douro farmers" that he mentions in the article. Their interests aren't necessarily the same as my interests.

[JohnDavidFrance]

That second article is very damning of the government and agricultural institutes of Portugal, but I agree with the above, this is coming from someone who represents a monopoly on douro producers, the symingtons arn't typical farmers, they are business people who will fight a full war for a one cent difference on grape price. It would be interesting to know what the symington group pay douro farmers for excess grapes. However, no matter how you slice it, there is clearly a need for a reform to prevent the abandonment of vinyards in the douro.
The first article I find a little split on. I think port wine has found great traction recently through tourism, gastronomy, mixology as all suggested. Yes i believe premium ports are popular again thanks to new categories like 50 and 80 year old tawnies, but i get a sense that vintages by case have fallen simply because of the pricing. This obviously links in to the second article, but why would i go buy a case of 2023 to lay down for the next 20 years or more when i can go find a case of 1985 for roughly the same price? So it begs the question, are new vintages over priced...or are older vintages under priced?

[flash_uk]

why would i go buy a case of 2023 to lay down for the next 20 years or more when i can go find a case of 1985 for roughly the same price?

I suspect this pricing architecture has been true for many decades. What has perhaps changed is that there are far fewer country cellars, college cellars etc, buying port at all never mind at release. Those type of buyers didn't have quite such a focus on storage cost, as the cellar was there and was to be used for aging stuff.

[Glenn E.]

why would i go buy a case of 2023 to lay down for the next 20 years or more when i can go find a case of 1985 for roughly the same price?

That's been the problem for several decades. I think that Port producers have been trying to raise the en primeur price of Port since the dawn of time, but the fact that it needs to be aged for 20, 30, 40, or more years means they're constantly fighting a losing battle.

So it begs the question, are new vintages over priced...or are older vintages under priced?

Yes.

Personally, until such time as prices are stable after purchase rather than decreasing while the Port ages, I think the producers should stop continuously trying to raise them on release (albeit slowly). Why, indeed, would I ever buy Port on release if I could instead just let someone else store it for 30 years and wait to buy it then for the same price? Provenance, maybe, but that's not as big of a consideration as one might think given how sturdy Port is.

I think the real problem here is that far too many people still think of Port as only a dessert wine, which means they don't need very much of it. That tends to cap demand, which suppresses prices of well-aged Port.

The industry needs to do a better job of encouraging pairing Port with food! I drink it with dinner pretty regularly, and think it works great.

[MigSU]

I think the real problem here is that far too many people still think of Port as only a dessert wine, which means they don't need very much of it. That tends to cap demand, which suppresses prices of well-aged Port.

This is true. What is also true is that people spend less time at the table, unfortunately. Is not uncommon for me to spend an hour or two after the main course just eating cheeses and sipping Port. Usually with more people, but if it's just me (if my GF is away for work, for example), that's fine. Obviously it's not practical at lunch during the week, but weekday dinners, as well as weekends, are all fair game.

[Glenn E.]

I think the real problem here is that far too many people still think of Port as only a dessert wine, which means they don't need very much of it. That tends to cap demand, which suppresses prices of well-aged Port.

This is true. What is also true is that people spend less time at the table, unfortunately. Is not uncommon for me to spend an hour or two after the main course just eating cheeses and sipping Port. Usually with more people, but if it's just me (if my GF is away for work, for example), that's fine. Obviously it's not practical at lunch during the week, but weekday dinners, as well as weekends, are all fair game.

The cheese and Port course is my favorite part of the meal!

Sometimes, if I'm not terribly hungry, that's all that I have for dinner. Cheese and Port. And maybe some crackers or bread to serve as a cheese delivery device.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Maybe the solution is for less VP to be sold when first bottled with more of the production being matured in the producer’s cellars and held back for later release. There would be a cash flow hit for the producer, but they would then have more control over the future price of the mature wine.

We are seeing this to a small extent with the Symington’s library releases and family reserve releases. Maybe this is the start of a new business model?