vintage Port 1652009 **** an unusual split declaration, some very ripe opulent wines
Following a very dry winter (the third in a row), the growing season began early and stayed
ahead of normal all the way through to an early harvest. Unsettled weather in April and
May reduced yields throughout the region and June brought welcome rain. Early July was
relatively cool but the heat built up to a peak of 40°C plus at the end of the month and
continued through August. No rain fell before harvest, which began as early as the end of
August in the Douro Superior. Here, yields were down by as much as 40 per cent and low-
lying vineyards suffered from the summer heat with high sugar readings and dehydrated
yet under-ripe grapes. The thermometer was still touching 40°C on 9 and 10 September
when many quintas were already picking. Sugar readings were high, especially Tinta Barroca
which was heavily raisinised in places; Churchill registered a lagar of Barroca at 20 degrees
Baumé that was so raisinised that the treaders could walk on top of it, and the average sugar
reading in the lagares at Churchill’s Quinta da Gricha gave a potential alcohol of 17.5%
by volume! Tinta Roriz and Touriga Nacional both fared much better, with many of the
best-quality grapes coming from higher altitudes than normal. I arrived in the Douro on
18 September (our vintage in the Alentejo already concluded) to find healthy, disease-free
grapes already being picked at around 450 metres altitude under clear skies. The fine, warm
weather continued nearly to the end of harvest when a heavy storm blew over the Serra do
Marão. On 6 and 7 October more rain fell than in any month since January.
The prospect of a good single-quinta vintage was on the cards right from the outset
but the trade was taken completely by surprise when the Fladgate Partnership announced
an outright declaration of Taylor, Fonseca and Croft on St George’s Day 2011. The other
Port shippers had absolutely no inkling of their impending declaration. Fladgate were
joined in their declaration by Barros, Cruz, Dalva, Delaforce, Krohn, Messias, Niepoort,
Real Companhia Velha, Poças, Rozès, Skeffington and Warre. The latter chose to declare
just 500 cases in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the liberation of Oporto in
which Captain William Warre was awarded Portugal’s highest military honour.
The character of the 2009s is in complete contrast to 2007, reflecting the heat of the
growing season. Taylor is dense and opulent, Fonseca ripe but more restrained with Croft
showing the sweet, plummy succulence that has become a hallmark. Taylor’s Quinta de
Vargellas Vinha Velha is outstanding: aromatic rather than opulent with ripe berry fruit
and rapier-like tannins. The vintage also produced some very fine single-quinta wines,
namely Dow’s Senhora da Ribeira and Quinta do Vesúvio. Opening prices for the fully
declared wines were very close to the 2007s.
Pick of the vintage: Taylor; Warre; Cockburn’s Quinta dos Canais; Dow’s Quinta Sra.
da Ribeira, Ramos Pinto, Quinta da Ervamoira.