For The Love Of Port

I would welcome views on the general quality of 2nd label VP's from premier league houses (Fonseca Guimareans, Graham Malvedos, Niepoort Secundum) compared with (a) true VP from lesser houses and (b) Single Quinta VP.

I usually hesitate to buy these 2nd label vintages on the basis that they must be what they say they are, 2nd best - but, is 2nd best from these houses generally better than the best from most of the others?

Derek

This is a great and controversial question Derek.

I believe it is hard to generalize and bunch all 2nd label VPs into one neat package. There are some SQVPs that are consistently great. There are some 2nd labels that are also typically very high quality VPs. So you'd really need to narrow the focus to specific examples for a really accurate answer. For now, I'll let others have a crack at this nut.

One more thing to take into account. Some second label wines like Sandeman's Vau VP and Niepoort Secundum, are not lesser in quality, but they are made in a completely different vain than their Shipper's classic VP. Both of these are made to drink much earlier than their siblings. There are ways to structurally tweak the wines (esp. the tannins) to make them more user friendly while still maintaining the basic house style.

I am somewhat skirting the issue ... for now ... as I do want to give others a chance to add their opinions here. I'll be back.

I'll help you out Roy,

Although I have not had much in the way of second labels, I have had several bottles of Sandmans Vau Vintage Port, 1997, and one bottle of the 1999 Vau Vintage. I will say they were very good bottles, I liked the 1997 a bit better but this is probably because '97 was a better year than '99. For a second label I was very impressed. Not quite a true VP, but quite close. It's nice to have something close to a VP to drink while waiting for the others to mature, and these hit the spot.

If I had to compare the Vau to Dow's 1986 Quinta do Bofim Single Quinta, which I had several months ago, I would probably chose the Dow. Nothing bad about the Vau, but the Dow had significalty more time to mature. And these are two totally differant types of port. To echo what Roy said, the second label's are just made to drink younger and at a better price. I may be wrong, and correct me if I am, but some of the grapes from the second labels come from the same vines as the "first labels."

Derek, I would not hesitate to get these second labels to drink while waiting for the heavy hitters to mature.

Interesting topic…some thoughts:

- It’s just a difference in definition, probably, but I don’t consider Bomfim, Malvedos (also a SQ, BTW), Vargellas, Guimaraens, etc. to be true second labels as the are only produced in the years the “full Vintage” isn’t made (Vargellas VV being the exception to the rule). As such, there is no real comparison possible between these wines, as there is between say a Lafite Rothschild and a Carruades de Lafite from the same year.
- As to compare Niepoort with Niepoort Secundum, Sandeman with Sandeman Vau, or indeed Portal with Portal +; these are deliberately made in a different style than the “regular” Vintage, and not necessarily with grapes not deemed worthy of the “real stuff”. The only house I know of that made two different wines and marketed them (at least in The Netherlands) with one being better than the other is Qta. d. Tedo – in 2000, they produced a Tedo Vintage Port, and a premium version, the Tedo Savedra VP.

Now, to answer your question – I honestly believe one cannot give a definite answer. For instance, the Guimaraens ’76 puts MANY a ’77 to shame. The ’84 and ‘86, however, is rather weak. The vintage itself is also of influence here. To compare wines from the same Vintage: I LOVE the Niepoort ’91, but is the better than the Guimaraens of that year? Time will tell, but somehow I doubt it. ’87 is a year that almost begs for comparisons between SQVP and “real” VP…lots of fun!

Derek,

My penn'orth - I will happily buy these "2nd" wines. They are frequently very enjoyable to drink and I find that they are perfect for when I want to have something that is cheaper and easier to enjoy.

I don't consider them to be second rate, rather that they are made in a specific style so that you can know what to expect.

If you've hestitated to buy one - then I can tell you that my first ever bottle of port was a Malvedos 1979 that was drunk with 3 friends while sitting on a boat on the Douro river in Vila Nova de Gaia. That was what hooked me on port and I have not looked back...was it really only 12 years ago?

Try them, please. Let us know what you think.

Alex

Good stuff - keep it coming, please

My only issue with any of the responses so far is the claim that Malvedos is a single quinta port - I don't think it is - anyone care to confirm one way or another?

I like the 2nd label and I hope they are goind to stay on the market for a long time. I don't buy a lot of them because they don't take value with time, so you can always find a good one at good price and they offer great QPR.

I normally drink these for the medium term, they do not have as much concentrentation as the regular VP does but they evolve faster and some really get fresh and silky at 20 years of age. Guimareans 1986 is fantastic right now. When you are receiving friends that like port are not conoisseur, this is the right bottle to open to please them and yourself too.

For the single quinta, more and more, they try to release a Vintage Port every year. Their goal is to produce every year a very high quality VP just as in classic declaration. VP is the best way to make money in the Douro, so if they can achieve this and sell all the wines every year beacause of its high quality, Bravo! The customer will never complains. Vesuvio set the way and many are following and successful too.

I had always believed that Malvedos was a single quinta port - the Symington equivalent of Vargellas. In good years when the grapes from other vineyards were good enough then the Malvedos grapes went into the blend and a full VP was declared.

In lesser years, when the Malvedos grapes were VP quality but the quantity or quality elsewhere was not sufficient, then a Malvedos vintage was declared.

However, I stress this in only what I have come to believe by osmosis. I don't think that I have ever read this anywhere and I fully accept that I may be wrong.

Alex

Hi Derek, Malvedos used to be a blended VP, but this changed somewhere in the late 1980s. As Malvedos was already an established brand, the Symingtons didn't feel like changing the name to Qta. d. Malvedos.
As an aside, even Guimaraens isn't / wasn't always a blended VP: in '78 and '82 it was 100% Qta. d. Cruzeiro (and labeled as such).

Steven,

Thanks - I was starting to think I was going mad :? I knew I had heard or read somewhere that Malvedos was a blend but couldn't find the evidence to back up my claim. You have now explained it. Thanks.

Derek

I believe the first vintage of Malvedos was 1962. I have kept a sadly empty bottle of the 1962 in my old bottle collection and it says only Malvedos, not Quinta dos Malvedos.

I spent a week in the Douro in 1982 and Bruce Guimaraens took me on a boat trip upriver to Malvedos. In that year the production was only two pipes from my memory of what Bruce told me. It was shockingly low for such a large quinta.

Graham's website says that "In the mid '80s the Quinta was the subject of a major re-planting programme and today 70 of its 146 hectares are covered with over 205,000 vines". 70 hectares makes a great deal of port. So my guess is that today Malvedos is a single quinta in most years. Because the vines are probably only twenty years old now, I believe that the Malvedos grapes were not a major part of the blend until the mid nineties.

As Steven Kooij said in his post, he believes Graham did not want to change the name to Quinta dos Malvedos now because of marketing reasons. This could be an important reason. I think Graham may also wish to add port from another quinta to fine tune the blend in some years. Whatever the reasons, Malvedos it is.

Shawn

Strangely, I often prefer the second labels to the main wines.

The reason for this is, that my expections are lower, so I have a "bigger" experience - plus, often you get those seconds for less than half what a firstlabel costs.

My own personal favourite is Fonseca Guimaraens (1984) which I find to hold remarkable fruit to this day.

I feel the same way when it somes to many red wines. I like "off"-crus in "off"-years better that those "monster"-years, again beacuse my expections are lower, thus often being more than fulfilled, where my expectations on the big crus in big years are so high, that I can (almost) never be anything than disappointed.

I recently did a very thorough posting on the history of Malvedos and Graham's purchase etc.

I'll find it and post it below.