For The Love Of Port

The part of the UK I live in is suffering its driest summer for 20 years - luckily this follows on from the wettest winter for 30 years so all the aquifers started the year full to the brim.

But this did leave me wondering how the season is going in the Douro so far. Does anyone have any news they could share on weather, vine development or anything?

While the rest of the world is in a heat wave, Los Angeles is having the coldest summer on record. I shouldn't complain, as I'm sure soon we'll be 100+ and I'll be begging for this cold weather again.

As for the Douro, I've heard it's been up and down, between cool days and really hot days. A bigger problem though is with all that rain over the winter saturating the ground, when it gets hot it also has become very humid and the risk of odium is very high this year. Hopefully some producers will chime in and give us some front-line info.

Hi Andy, yes you're right the conditions have been quite tricky! We had a ton of rain all winter which was exactly what we needed after 3 exceptionally dry years. The vines have reacted really very well but this has in its own way created some problems. Generally they vines are in perfect condition, ground water reserves are replenshed but the weather has continued a little unceratain with alternating hot weather and rain showers or thunderstorms which as you know creates perfect conditions for oidium & mildew. In these conditions canopy & foliage management is essential. Although spraying might be thought the easiest solution the conditions haven't been ideal beacuse in reality it is only effective for about 12 to 15 days and this year we seem to have some rain or a thunderstorm every fortnight ... so we have to start again!
Due to the wet winter the vegetative growth and shoots on the vine has been huge so we have had to undertake alot of removal of tendrils. This has a two fold result, focusing the growth effort of the vine into the fruit. This is normal practice at this time of year. This year this has also served as a way of opening up the lower canopy area of the vine to get more air circulation and some direct sunlight which in reality is probaly the simplest and best way to avoid the buildup of damp conditions and therefore avoid mildew or oidium attacks.
As we approach the end of July we'll have to see if the weather stabalises a bit and the real maturation of the fruit begins ... fingers crossed.
I'm off to Bomfim for my annual holidays at the end of next week and will give an up-date at some stage from where it all happens!
Dom

Thanks for the update, I suspect it might be quite an interesting UK vintage, especially red clones, if there is such a thing. Hopefully the port vintage is sublime :) For one I enjoy the trials and tribulations of making great port and wine.

Dom,
Thanks for the update, I hope the weather settles and things stay on track for a great vintage. We look forward to hearing how things are when you arrive there next week.

a quick up-date on the conditions at Bomfim in Pinhão.
The weather has been extremely hot, 33º-35ºC. consitently every day for the last 10 days with night-time temperatures not dropping significantly below about 25ºC. In the last couple of days a thick haze has settled over the region as a result of a spate of forest fires, a real pity to see so much of the forest burning. Thankfully the vineyards tend to escape from the fires therefore no real damage.
The vines have suffered a bit from the concentrated heat with quite a significant amount of 1st. generation leaves drying exposing the bunches to direct sun and I've noticed some sunburn and drying of the bunches but nothing too excessive and certainly not like last year!
Having said this, it is still fairly limited and generally the bunches and the vines are in pretty good condition, but as to be expected the grapes are still quite tart on tasting.
A day or two of rain now would be perfect, a gentle watering for the vines and would also serve to take the heat out of the ground and allow for the last straight into the vintage in perfect conditions ... lets wait and see!
Dom Symington

ps; had lunch at DOC on Monday and bumped into Dirk Niepoort with some guests, we spent the entire lunch swapping bottles ... great fun!

Hi Dominic,

Thanks for the report and we'll be doing a rain dance for you in hopes of some cooling precipitation. Hopefully along with the great concentration the nights will begin cooling off a little more to provide for better natural acidity. Looking forward to coming back at the latter stages of this year's harvest. It sounds like if things continue on course as is, it might start a little bit early. But with some rain, that could all change rather dramatically. IIRC, last year it seemed like there would be a later harvest as it was quite cool for a spell and then got intensely hot and moved up the ripening and due to the phenolics, picking was moved up by a week or two from expectations just a month earlier. It always amazes me how the important months of July and August can be literally wiped out by what takes place even in late August and early-mid September. The angst and excitement of grape growers must be quite a thing to experience viscerally as they do.

We really appreciate your update!

Good to see Dominique has already shared with you the bad news . The good news is that, after for lower temperatures and rain, temperatures are starting to drop, specially overnight. When I arrived to the winery this morning at 8.45 temperature was 18º, which compares with a 26º-28º few days ago.

Also the smoke of the fires is already cleaning up. Actually, these two last days we were surrounded by fires: Tabuaço, Vila Real, Serra da Estrela. It has been a big drama for many populations and forests.

In terms of grapes maturity, as usual, we made the first control in Quinta Vale d'Agodinho, Ferradosa, on August 10th. Results show some delay in the maturity, as expected, due to the very cold Winter, which led to late bud break and late flowering. If maturity continues at this rate, this will be the latest harvest in the last 3 years.

Dom and Ocsar,

Thank you both for letting us know from the front-lines how the growing conditions are going. All of us die-hard Port lovers have a serious stake in how things turn out....drinking it We'll pray the weather stays favorable in the coming weeks before harvest.

I'd love to see a later harvest this year!

Our is starting to give some fruits. Good job Andy! Temperatures are cooling off, specially overnight. Now we just have to wait for a little bit of rain until the end of the month. That would be excellent for the quality.

Something that is puzzling me is the big disparity in terms of maturity of different berries within the same bunch. Some are still green while others already mature. Doesn't know how long it will take for the late berries to catch up with the early, but they don't have that much time...

There is of course a website where a 'Douro Insider' posts an excellent monthly report not only giving exhaustive details of climatic developments but also providing explanations of ongoing viticultural operations. With any luck July's should be online within a few days. Are we allowed to mention this, Roy?
Regards,
Miles.

Miles,

I'd be crazy to say no. I hope to catch you up in the Douro again when I'm over in Oct.

Thanks Roy,
The latest report (July) is now online at:
http://www.thevintageportsite.com/vinta ... .aspx?pg=7
There are links to previous months on the left, and previous years elsewhere on the site.
After an exceedingly hot first two weeks of August temperatures have dropped a little over the last couple of days which is something of a relief. Maturation studies are underway and so far everything looks about average in terms of ripeness. Sugar levels are about what would be expected or perhaps a fraction lower for this stage but the quality of the grapes is unquestionable. Phenolically things are looking good already. It may be that the heat is just what we needed to tighten up the fruit after such a wet winter.
Looking forward to catching up during the harvest.
Regards,
Miles.

Below find a note by my cousin Charles on the current situation in the Douro

"Since the last report in July no rain has been registered in the Douro, temperatures have been normal for this time of year. Veraison was around a week later than usual and therefore maturations at this point are behind average dates. The condition of the grapes is sound and at our properties yields generally look to be above average although not excessively. Overall for the region an above average size vintage is clearly the case, how much above average will largely depend on whether it rains between now and the vintage.
The vineyards are generally in good condition showing no significant signs of hydric stress. Maturations at this point are mostly between 9 and 10 baume, barroca in some cases reaching 11, this is slightly lower than average at this stage. Touriga Nacional is at the lowest baumes for this stage since (our) records began. At this point the Nacional is nearly 2 baume below average figures.
In terms of colour development, this is in line with sugar content which should bring about balanced ripening. This and good acidity levels suggest that we could have a very good vintage although we require some rain between now and the beginning of September."

It's important to remeber that the potential size of the crop does not influence the "Port" production because this is set annually by the IVDP after consultation with the Trade and representatives of the grape farmers, the variable production capacity being absorbed as DOC and Table Wine.
Dom

Oscar Quevedo posted an update on his WEBSITE Here is a little of what he posted...

....Yesterday in our vineyard in Quinta das Olgas, Mós, center of the Douro Superior, maturity control of the grapes showed already 12,5% potential alcohol. It seems grapes maturation is few days behind the average, but evolving quicker than expected.....

Miles and Dom,
Thanks for the update!

Here is the link to the latest post on the GRAHAM'S BLOG

Got the news today that some white grapes is being harvested in the Douro. So it has started!

On Oscar's blog he begs for some rain; so I assume the showers that reached Porto earlier this week, did not clear the mountains...

Many of the significant weather systems that reach europe at this time of year, start off life as tropical storms and hurricanes that form off the west coast of Africa; the point of genesis being often close to the Cape Verde islands.

I find it fascinating to observe their development, trajectory and eventual demise, which can sometimes take as much as four weeks (Indeed, I waste far too much time poring over weather maps at this time of year.. )

So, is there any rain in prospect?

None of the forecasting bodies are currently betting on rain over the next ten days or so, but there is an atlantic system whose progress they seem uncertain about; the current consensus being that it will fill and disperse, but it is not impossible that it will come ashore on Iberia.

Behind that we have hurricane Danielle, currently to the south east of Bermuda, and unlikely to make landfall on the Americas. It is currently projected to pass to the north east of Bermuda at the weekend, after which, recent activity would suggest a rapid slingshot across the Atlantic toward northern France and England

However, we may be seeing the autumnal re-ordering of the weather patterns with the preceding system, so it is possible it will travel further south. Whether it remains a cyclonic storm, or decays into a mass of rain, remains to be seen.

There is a sporting chance that Danielle will provide some timely pre-harvest refreshment, around a week into September.

Behind Danielle we have another and very similar tropical depression, that is likely to become a named storm or hurricane within the next 24hrs. The genesis of this storm was about five days behind Danielle, but it now looks likely to take a slightly wider arc, possibly impacting Bermuda or passing to the west of it. This will probably delay any european landfall for an extra two or three days.

This makes it slightly worrisome. The storm is likely to be christened 'Earl'

Tom

Then again, even PRO weather forecasters are accurate only about 33% of the time, not much better than an excellent baseball player at bat. How they get to keep their job when they are typically wrong 2/3s of the time is beyond me.