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This thread is to hold details of the 2021 Vintage Port declarations that we become aware of.

Churchill Quinta da Gricha (2,940 bottles and 150 magnums)
DR from Agri-Roncao
Pintas from Wine and Soul
Quevedo - tasted at the BFT
Quinta da Boeira
Quinta da Romaneira
Quinta das Sequeirinhas

Quinta do Noval

• Quinta do Noval
• Quinta do Noval Nacional
• Quinto do Passadouro

Quinta do Vale Meao
Quinta dos Muros
Quinta dos Poços
Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (125 cases)

Sogevinus

• Burmester Quinto do Arnozelo
• Kopke Quinta de Sao Luiz

Symington Family Estates

• Cockburn Quinta dos Canais (late release)
• Dow Quinta do Bomfim
• Dow Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira (late release)
• Graham Quinta dos Malvedos (late release)
• Graham Stone Terraces (4,800 bottles and 280 tregnums)
• Warre Quinta da Cavadinha (late release)

Links to other vintages:
2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005

From memory 2021 was quite a good year up until the harvest which was rather tricky. It started very early in late August but then the temperature dropped in September and there was quite a lot of rain. The impression was not of a classic vintage but for those producers who managed to pick the right grapes at the right time around the rain could produce something very interesting. Perhaps a year for some odd-ball declarations, in addition to the “declare everything” crowd?

Graham's have posted on Twitter that they have declared a 2021 Stone Terraces, as predicted by Alex. They say they will bottle 4,800 75cl bottles and 280 tappit hens (225cl).

JacobH wrote: ↑07:40 Thu 20 Apr 2023Graham's have posted on Twitter that they have declared a 2021 Stone Terraces, as predicted by Alex. They say they will bottle 4,800 75cl bottles and 280 tappit hens (225cl).

Tregnums, surely.

jdaw1 wrote: ↑18:11 Fri 21 Apr 2023

JacobH wrote: ↑07:40 Thu 20 Apr 2023Graham's have posted on Twitter that they have declared a 2021 Stone Terraces, as predicted by Alex. They say they will bottle 4,800 75cl bottles and 280 tappit hens (225cl).

Tregnums, surely.

Yes, they are the "normal" shaped bottles like they used in 2016 and 2017.

JacobH wrote:Graham's have posted on Twitter that they have declared a 2021 Stone Terraces, as predicted by Alex. They say they will bottle 4,800 75cl bottles and 280 tappit hens (225cl).

I was intrigued to see that they've only declared the Stone Terraces but no mention of a regular Graham VP. It'll be interesting to see if there's some SQVP offerings instead. I'm keeping my fingers for something interesting to purchase for my nephew who is (just) a '21 baby.

rich_n wrote: ↑21:55 Fri 21 Apr 2023

JacobH wrote:Graham's have posted on Twitter that they have declared a 2021 Stone Terraces, as predicted by Alex. They say they will bottle 4,800 75cl bottles and 280 tappit hens (225cl).

I was intrigued to see that they've only declared the Stone Terraces but no mention of a regular Graham VP. It'll be interesting to see if there's some SQVP offerings instead. I'm keeping my fingers for something interesting to purchase for my nephew who is (just) a '21 baby.

Rune posted on Portvin.nu on Facebook and said that there will be five SQVPs. I'm not sure where he got his information, but he's pretty interconnected with the Scandinavian Port Wine community so he probably got it from an importer there. Rune is also the source of the $525 price that we've seen, though there some chance that's a typo or currency conversion error since he said "UDS" as the currency on a Danish page.

Anyway, the SQVPs are:

Cockburn's Quinta dos Canais
Dow's Quinta do Bomfim
Dow's Quinta da Senora da Ribeira
Graham's Quinta dos Malvedos
Warre's Quinta da Cavadinha

There will be no Quinta do Vesuvio (again) because they have not yet re-started in-person foot treading due to the pandemic.

Below from the Symington's website - interesting that it will be the Bonfim that is released this year not Senhora da Ribeira.

We felt that the best expression of the year came from our five principal estates (Malvedos, Bomfim, Senhora da Ribeira, Cavadinha, Canais) which we will bottle as Quinta Vintage Port – and we have decided to release a small quantity of Bomfim in 2023.

Source https://www.symington.com/post/symingto ... ces-2021-v

Sogevinus announced Kopke Quinta de S. Luiz and Burmester Quinta do Arnozelo.


https://harpers.co.uk/news/fullstory.ph ... ce_92.html

On their Facebookpage, Wine & Soul announced the declaration of Pintas Vintage Port '21.

Given the Fladgate Partnership’s record of announcing vintage decisions on 23rd April, has anyone seen anything? Should we take silence to mean an absence of a declaration?

Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑13:59 Thu 27 Apr 2023 Given the Fladgate Partnership’s record of announcing vintage decisions on 23rd April, has anyone seen anything? Should we take silence to mean an absence of a declaration?

I’ve had it confirmed that there are no declarations from the Fladgate Partnership for the 2021 vintage.

Alex Bridgeman wrote:

Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑13:59 Thu 27 Apr 2023 Given the Fladgate Partnership’s record of announcing vintage decisions on 23rd April, has anyone seen anything? Should we take silence to mean an absence of a declaration?

I’ve had it confirmed that there are no declarations from the Fladgate Partnership for the 2021 vintage.

Any suggestions of SQVPs or nothing yet on that front? I assume there would be several.

The implication of the answer I received is that there will be no SQVPs from TFP for the 2021 vintage.

Demand for tawny Port is growing rapidly - that juice has to come from somewhere!

That surely can't be right from a winemaking point of view? You don't not declare a SQVP because you need the wines for tawny? Or perhaps the SQVP quality stuff is going into the LBV blends to free up wine for the tawnies?

Incidentally, looking back on recent years, are TFP declaring SQVPs a little less often in secondary years than in the past? I'm slightly surprised about some of the recent years they skipped like 2015 and now 2021.

Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑20:06 Thu 27 Apr 2023 The implication of the answer I received is that there will be no SQVPs from TFP for the 2021 vintage.

Demand for tawny Port is growing rapidly - that juice has to come from somewhere!

Woah. That's a big deal. No Roeda, no FG, no Vargellas? Crazy.

Alex Bridgeman wrote:The implication of the answer I received is that there will be no SQVPs from TFP for the 2021 vintage.

Demand for tawny Port is growing rapidly - that juice has to come from somewhere!

Interesting, I have to say that's something of a surprise to hear!

JacobH wrote: ↑20:20 Thu 27 Apr 2023 That surely can't be right from a winemaking point of view? You don't not declare a SQVP because you need the wines for tawny? Or perhaps the SQVP quality stuff is going into the LBV blends to free up wine for the tawnies?

On re-reading this, the impression might have been given that I was arguing with AHB which was no my intention. It was just surprise! The questions were meant genuinely rather than rhetorically. Apologies for any misunderstanding caused.

JacobH wrote: ↑08:22 Mon 01 May 2023

JacobH wrote: ↑20:20 Thu 27 Apr 2023 That surely can't be right from a winemaking point of view? You don't not declare a SQVP because you need the wines for tawny? Or perhaps the SQVP quality stuff is going into the LBV blends to free up wine for the tawnies?

On re-reading this, the impression might have been given that I was arguing with AHB which was no my intention. It was just surprise! The questions were meant genuinely rather than rhetorically. Apologies for any misunderstanding caused.

I certainly didn’t take it that way. I thought “Hmm. Good point. Maybe that is the way it would work.” But the result would be the same. No juice being used for SQVP so more available for other products which would include going in to the first years of the tawny system.

Noval have declared Quinta do Noval, Nacional and Passadouro.

Graham's Stone Terraces 2021 - C&B offer pricing - £650 per 3 bottles ib & £735 per 1 tregnum ib.

Also confirmed that no regular VP for 2021.

nac wrote: ↑11:24 Mon 22 May 2023 Graham's Stone Terraces 2021 - C&B offer pricing - £650 per 3 bottles ib & £735 per 1 tregnum ib.

Also confirmed that no regular VP for 2021.

It’s very nice. Drinking well already!

Quinta da Gricha added to the first post.

First pricing for the 2021 Noval that I have seen, from BBR:

Noval 2021: £390/6 IB
Nacional 2021: £900/1 IB

Quinta da Romaneira declared a 2021 Vintage Port according to Revista de Vinhos.

A Dutch retailer offers Quinta do Vale Meao Vintage Port 2021, so I guess Quinto do Vale Meão declared!!

So did Churchill Gricha

I am late on parade with my annual vintage rankings this year because I'm struggling to make sense of this vintage.

On the one hand we have a very small list of declared VPs, this is one of the rare years when the biggest names are offering neither their declared blends nor an SQVP - but on the other hand we have declarations by two titans. I'm also fighting somewhat blind as I've not had the opportunity to sample any of those that have been declared this year.

Is the absence of SQVPs a direct reflection of the quality of this vintage, or does it reflect a contracting market and an excess of stock from past years?

I'm seeing SQVPs less often in the supermarkets I frequent, and when they do appear they are often on a promotional deal.

I suspect that there will be a fair number of independent producers who bottle a 2021 vintage but haven’t yet announced it or offered them for sale.

It’s worth visiting - or at least keeping an eye on - Axel’s Port Exhibition in a couple of weeks to see which producers show a 2021 VP or SQVP.

I don’t know what the relatively small number of declared vintage wines means. Could it mean that stocks are being held back to support the volumes of Tawny sales which are anticipated in 10-50 years time?

Quinta das Sequeirinhas added to the list of known declarations.

Has anyone seen anything not on the list?

Roy is doing his usual review of the 2021 vintage starting next week (IIRC) with the plan being to release his notes in the FTLOP newsletter by the end of the year. I've seen a too-distant-to-see-details picture and it looks like there are lots of bottles. Granted the picture was both 2020 and 2021, but it looked like 40-50 bottles in total. So we're likely to be able to add to the list once he publishes.

Quinta dos Poços added to the list of known declarations after a message from them.