For The Love Of Port

Dominic, In one of your earlier replies to Paul's question about what effect the 2011 vintage had on boosting growth and interest in port wine, you said, "while the overall market is slipping in total volume the premium end is slowly growing. There is still a huge amount of work to be done!&qu...

Dom, It's tremendous to have you join us and for you to be willing to answer all of our questions. It shows how powerful the internet can be when used properly. Symington Family Estates has a good internet presence and far better than many producers. I see regular facebook posts from Graham and Coc...

Dear Dominic Thanks for joining us at The Vintage Port Clubs 1994 tasting in Denmark recently. You shortly mentioned it in one of your answers. There is a lot of discussion about mixed vineyards and field blend. Several winemakers has pointed out that they prefer field blends and with the addition ...

Hey Dominic - Thanks so much for joining us as a Guest Forum Host! I think we all have a lot of great Port-related memories, but off the top of your head, what sticks out for you as your your most memorable Port-related moment? Stewart Thanks Stewart. There are many! Possibly one of the most import...

Dear Dominic, I have a more general question which I have given some thought but somehow never asked a Port producer. In Douro you use aguardente with 77% alcohol content. In Madeira the aguardente used holds 96%. Madeira benefits from vinic alcohol with a higher alcohol content as the amount neede...

Hi Dominic, I've enjoyed reading your responses. I have a few questions from the business side of things: 1) I am curious about the strategy of having numerous port houses under one umbrella. I realize that initially, a house can be improved by much needed capital infusions and proven management sa...

Hello Dominic, I'm curious about the shift in branding (for lack of a better term) away from "Colheita" and towards "Single Harvest Tawny". Was this in response to confusion in the market? Was this choice to appeal to a broader market base, including consumers who are not regula...

Dominic, The Cockburn's house seems to be ticking along nicely under SFE Stewardship. What sort of the changes did you need to make from operational, wine making and viticultural perspectives to the Cockburn's brand and infrastructure after your acquisition? Would you consider other acquisitions sh...

Graham's Stone Terraces and Vesuvio Capela are both relatively recent additions to what some of us refer to as the "super cuvee" category of Vintage Ports. They seem to sell very well, along with Vargellas Vinha Velha and Noval Nacional. It is a category (for lack of a better word) that i...

Jamie, my view of Vintage Port is that is goes through 3 distinct phases; Very young vintage port with primary flavours, in the first year or so one can almost consider them to be "wine" rather than Port! Here we have bright fresh flavours. This is followed by the secondary phase where the...

Hello Julian, what would I do differently? Not much, spend more time with my family perhaps. In reality I've thoroughly enjoyed the work and the challenge but I would love to spoend more time in the Douro and the vieyards. Moses, I can't answer for other shippers but I assume they are looking after ...

Hi Eric, Stock management with such long lead times is one of the critical tasks for any port shipper. Sometimes we almost feel like we're crystal ball gazing! As you can imagine, it’s not very easy to project trends and fashions in 30 or 40 years’ time. In the past there were various sources of age...

Hello Derek, I think the advancement in viticultural and oenological knowledge is nothing short of revolutionary. With all due respect to my fathers and previous generations, the knowledge that we have today, both in the vineyard and in the winery has been a huge help. There are lots of discussions ...

Hi Bradley That's an excellent question - how do you introduce as yet not port loving friends to Port? I would probably limit the introduction to 2 ports, a really good LBV/Reserve Ruby such as Graham's Six Grapes (I know there are others out there as well!!!) and a 10 Year Tawny. I probably wouldn'...

Hello Moses, No, I don't think you'll see an aged White Port from us. There are some amazing wines out there and I was given a delicious example by one of my friends just last week but we won't be realeasing any. Altano White in the US. For the time being we don't have sufficent production to enter ...

Hello Rune, great to see you at Malvedos and also at that amazing 1994 tasting, quite an event. We clearly see a rise in demand for old tawny's although the LBV & Reserve Ruby category continues to be extremly strong and is, in overall terms, significatly larger in terms of world sales. To state...

Hi Glen,
I'm not sure if it's a question of any new categories of Port, we already have quite a few which the consumer finds quite confusing.
It's important to have some form of control and structure but this can also sometimes stifle creativity and inovation.

Hello Derek ... As you well know, I'm in favour of anything that may bring people to Port, be it Rosé/Pink, White or Vintage et al, assuming that they enjoy it and will eventually try other styles and hopefully find some others that they also enjoy whichever it may be. The launch of Rosé was very cr...

Hi Fred, this is something that, as far as I understand, every shipping is doing all the time. Periodically they may look a bit deeper and tweek their blends, this is what we did.

Bradley, the 2014 has many simalarities to the 2007 in that we had a realitvely cool (for the Douro) summer. In this way we had very delicate & mature tannins & beautiful balance. The wines made in the early part of the vintage are exceptional. The rain really did spoil what could have been ...