The product of a climactically challenging year, the 2016 Vintage shows all the characteristics of a wine that could reach great age, whilst also providing drinking pleasure at any time in its maturation cycle.

The wine is a deep dark ruby with violet undertones, and the nose offers lush plum, grape and blueberry aromas supported by rich spice notes, a lovely combination of freshness and intensity. On the palate dense, powerful fruit and rich tannins are well balanced, robust and compact, just what you want for a classic Vintage Port.

At this point it seems every year is an “atypical” year for weather in the Douro, and 2016 gave us challenges different from 2015’s atypical pattern. The winter months were warmer than usual and January and February wetter by far than the historical averages. The spring months (March – May) were cooler than normal but also extremely rainy. Then came a hot dry summer, and a perfect warm and dry harvest period which began mid-late September, after a welcome light rainfall that gave the grapes that last bit of freshness before harvest.

The 2016 Vintage Port blend rather unusually includes grapes from Quinta das Mós. With over a kilometer of river frontage, this low, north-facing quinta is usually our driest and first to harvest, but it seems 2016’s unusual weather patterns suited it well and the grapes matured to Vintage greatness.

Wine geeks like rituals. We care about which glasses to use, which way to pass the bottle, decanting time or serving temperatures. We take these “necessary” steps to fully enjoy a bottle of wine on any occasion. Another ritual that you may also care about is how to open the bottle and which cork screw to use. For very old bottles which might have a wet cork that may not come out in a single piece, port tongs can make the whole difference.

How to use Port tongs? Instead of pulling out the cork, we directly remove the top of the neck. The video above will show you how to do it but basically, the tongs are heated (I prefer to use ember rather than the stove), then clamp the tongs around the neck of the bottle right above the line of the bottom of cork for 30 seconds and then put a cold wet towel (I sunk the towel in an ice bucket) around the neck in the same place. If the tongs were really hot this temperature change will cause the glass to break. Voilà, you made it. Time to decant the wine and enjoy it with your company. If you didn’t make it, try again and make sure the port tongs are red-hot before clamping them to the bottle!

Cheers,

Oscar

And then you realize this is not a dream and you are quite awake. And you smile again.

Oscar

As you may know, the IVDP controls and approves all the Port Wine on the market. Every time we want to bottle a new batch of Port, being Rose, Tawny or anything else, we have to submit samples and wait for the IVDP to blind taste these samples and perform laboratory analysis. If all is okay, then we are allowed to bottle the blend we have submitted.

Well, for Vintage Port, the IVDP applies additional controls, as this is not less than the most important Port category. Between January and June of the second year after the harvest, producers can submit samples of their Vintage Ports blends. The IVDP will then blind taste and do chemical analysis. If the tasting profile matches the high standards for Vintage Port and if all is okay on the laboratory, IVDP will approve the batch for bottling. But it does not end here. Before the bottling, the producer has to inform the IVDP about the day(s) of bottling. Knowing that, the IVDP controllers will come to the winery and will count the number of bottles, in all formats, that were bottled and will collect 5 samples of the batch the producer is bottling. With these samples, IVDP will check if the Port the producer submitted for approval is the same as the Port the producer bottled. Also, knowing the exact number of bottles, will only allow sales of this stock, meaning, no miracles of multiplication! Then, a last simpler step need to be taken, which is to approve the label and back label with all the mandatory information. But, in this case, there is no difference for other styles of Port.

From the first moment we submit the samples, in February 26th, until the moment we have Vintage Port ready for shipping it can easily pass 3 or 4 months. The image you see on the screen is a copy of the first page of the laboratory analysis of our 2011 Vintage Port, approved in March 11th, 2013. Full version here of the document here. This is As curiosity, all the inventory we bottled of 2011 Vintage Port is:

• 529 of 375ml bottles
• 3,016 of 750ml bottles
• 48 of 1.5L bottles
• 60 of 6L bottles

Let us know your comments, if you have some.

Oscar

Related articles

• It’s a great year to sail into a vintage port
• Bung, Bung, Bung, Bung: Mr. Sandeman, Send Me A Port
• Vintage Port deserves more marketing

View over Pinhão village

During these last months we have seen many Port producers declaring the production of Vintage Port from the 2011 harvest. This means that there will be a big percentage of Port producers releasing 2011 Vintage Port. That being said, we can say that the harvest of 2011 was very generous for Port producers, making it possible to produce outstanding Port, across different villages and terroirs, almost all over the Douro, or at least, in the Cima-Corgo and Douro Superior areas.

However, there is no official organism with the duty or power to announce a certain year as a Declared Vintage. This absence of official declaration includes the Port and Douro Wines Institute – IVDP. I would say that a General Declaration is a kind of common sense term among Port Wine enthusiasts that agree that a certain year is of an outstanding quality considering the also the number of producers that released Vintage. Or, in the words of Glenn Elliott who posted on For the Love of Port forum in 2008, “My guess (and it is 100% just a guess) is that no such “rules” exist. I suspect that the concept of a “generally declared” vintage is a rule of thumb, not an actual defined term, so it means whatever the most people think it means.

Maybe you are now wondering which Port producers declared 2011 Vintage Port. Here are the names below, which I got from the The Port Forum – check the link for updates and comments from Port enthusiasts on this forum. This is not a final list as IVDP approves Vintage between February and July.

Let’s be clear, this isn’t your average Port Wine. This wine is something that will make you weep, it’s so good. We’re talking so insanely good that it will be the elixir to woo your girlfriend into marriage, get that new job, convince your husband that a trip to Hawaii is a fabulous idea this year. It’ll turn a bad day good, or a good day into a freaking amazing day! Did we mention we love this wine?!

Why did we declare the 2011 a vintage harvest? Simple! The grapes presented such color and concentration that many things needed to go wrong for this not to result in a Vintage year. The weather and growing conditions were fantastic, allowing the vines – when properly cared for – to create rich, intense and fresh berries, that once crushed would release loads of color, tannins and flavors that are the key to structure of an age worth Port.

But what we think makes 2011 different from other years  – and why you should put 2011 Vintage Port on the list – is the way it looked after the second winter. Cold temperatures like those we face in the Douro, with the thermometer going as low as -5º C, help in the clarification of Port. During this time, tannins change and colors tend to get less dark and intense. What surprised us regarding this particular vintage was the youth and stamina that the 2011 Vintage Port presented at the time of bottling. These 18 months are critical to see how Port is going to age, and the 2011 looks amazing. We have plenty of hope that this is going to be a Port to age for many years.

More valuable information about the winter and weather conditions can be found at the 2011 Harvest Report of Symington’s The Vintage Port site.

Don’t leave all your comments on Facebook, please drop some here. They will remain for longer.

Oscar

2010 Vintage Port tasting by Wine Passion Magazine

In February 2013 Wine Passion Magazine carried through a tasting of 2010 Vintage Port. Active Port lovers know that in 2010 Port producers harvested good grapes and made nice Port. But this was not an outstanding vintage, as 2007 or more recently 2011 were. Despite that, we had 3.000 liters made with grapes from our main vineyards, Quinta Vale d’Agodinho, which we believe it’s quite good. This batch pretty much respects what a good harvest in Vale d’Agodinho has: fresh, well ripened fruit without being jammy, some spiciness and a bit of mineral notes, mostly obtained from the grapes in the area facing north. Tannins are compact without being harsh. This is how my sister Claudia defines the Ports we make there. And we think 2010 has all that. Thus, we decided to bottle 3.000 bottles of a Single Quinta Vintage Port as we thought would be a shame to blend with something else and leave our friends without the chance to taste it.

Going back to Wine Passion Magazine, it happens that, for them, the 2010 Vintage that stands out the most is our Quevedo – Quinta Vale d’Agodinho. Great news for us certainly! We are always happy when we see people liking and enjoying our Ports. But, as important as journalists’ opinion, is what you all think about our Ports, and, in this case, about the 2010 Single Quinta Vintage. Let us know. Send your tasting notes and help us to complete this text with “users'” opinions. I’ll post it right below.

Cheers,

Oscar

Related articles

• Salon “Off” along the Rio Douro: Simplesmente…Vinho
• How Portugal reached your glass
• Just a drop: A port wine tasting in Porto

On the consumption side, there is an interesting tradition that I couldn’t explain until a few months ago. This tradition invokes the Bishop of Norwich when you want to have more Port. So imagine you having dinner in a long table, your Port glass empty and the Port decanter stuck near someone that is falling asleep. Instead of asking for the decanter or for more Port, you would go for a more subtle and polite way, asking that person “Do you know the Bishop of Norwich?” And hopefully he will say “No”, and then you will say “Awfully nice fellow but never passes the Port”. Smart way to avoid offending people and to get the Port moving

Do you know where that tradition is coming from?It dates back to the XIX century, to the Bishop Henry Bathurst. We had the current Bishop of Norwich in person explaining it to us in the video above, recorded in July 2012 at the time of the Olympic Port Wine tasting for the celebration of the 2012 London Olympics.

Do you know other traditions related with Port? Share with us!

Oscar

• 1948 Martinez;
• 1952 Niepoort Colheita;
• 1956 Niepoort Experimental;
• 1960 Croft;
• 1964 Graham Malvedos;
• 1968 Fonseca Guimaraens;
• 1972 Offley Boa Vista;
• 1976 Taylor Quinta de Vargellas;
• 1980 Dow;
• 1984 Warre Quinta da Cavadinha;
• 1988 Quinta de la Rosa;
• 1992 Burmester;
• 1996 Quinta do Vesuvio;
• 2000 Delaforce;
• 2004 Cockburn Quinta dos Canais;
• 2008 Quevedo Quinta Vale D’Agodinho;

Not every single Port showed great. Would be hard as some of  the years in which the Olympic Games were celebrated were very rough for Port production, like 1956, 1972 or 1988. And this is where the funniest part begins. Inspired or not by my sister Claudia’s birth year, my favorite Port of the night was a 1976 Quinta de Vargellas. I really have to find another bottle  for her to try, maybe for her birthday next August 31st! When a Port was poured, Tom Archer made a short presentation of the weather and harvest conditions and also of the Portuguese performance in the Olympics, in that specific year. Great idea Tom, valuable information. Here is a video with the view of 2008 year. But the best part of the night was when The Bishop of Norwich (the one and only!) explained the story which nowadays we still use when someone does not pass the Port decanter. A video to be posted soon! More photos of the tasting here.

Oscar

For the first time in Quevedo’s history, we bottled double-magnums (3L) and imperials (6L) of a Vintage Port. The chosen Port Wine for this exclusive limited edition (20 units each) was our 2008 Quinta Vale d’Agodinho Vintage Port as this is also the first Single Quinta Vintage Port we release. All the process has been hand-made: bottled and corked by my university friends when they came for the harvest in the second week-end of October; labeled two days ago just in time for the first export of 4 units; and, of course, handcrafted waxing.

Apart from the size of the bottles, there is something cool that I would like to show you. It’s about the back-label, as it’s very unusual. Last September 27th, when Julian Wiseman visited our winery, together with other Port fellows, he suggested me to put a kind of contract in the back-label. Take a look and let me know what you think! What does this contract make you feel? Does it change anything in your wish of having one of these bottles?

Thank you to Julian for your idea and for writing the text. Also take a look at what Julian wrote on his website about the “contract” and please read the “Enforceability” text!

Oscar