vintage Port 1732001 **/*** good middle-weight wines for drinking over
the medium term
The year began with one of the wettest winters on record. Nearly 1200mm of rain fell in
Pinhão between November and the end of March. This helped to replenish the water table
after four abnormally dry years but caused a great deal of damage in the vineyards. At Entre-os-
Rios the bridge over the River Douro collapsed with the loss of over seventy lives. Mild, rainy
conditions led to an early bud burst in the first ten days of March but from April onwards
the weather cleared and just 110mm of rain fell before the end of August. Although the
first two weeks of May were cool and wet, flowering generally took place under optimum
conditions later in the month. With groundwater supplies thoroughly replenished, there was
the expectation of a large crop. The summer was cooler than normal and temperatures were
uneven during August. Rain at the end of the month helped to swell the grapes and the first
half of September was warm and dry. The harvest began in the main on 17 September with
Tinta Barroca already over-ripe by this stage. The weather remained fine through to the end of
the month, and although ambient temperatures were relatively high this caused few problems
as most lagares were equipped with temperature control. However, rain fell in early October
and sugar readings fell quickly towards the end of the harvest.
Yields were up on 2000 by between 20 and 30 per cent on average in the A/B grade
vineyards. Overall, 2001 proved to be a fairly useful year. David Guimaraens commented
at the time that ‘the quality was evident from the first. Although not exuberant in aroma,
many of the wines show as much colour as in 2000’. Most shippers declared single-quinta
wines in the spring of 2003. Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim, Graham’s Malvedos, Warre’s
Quinta de Cavadinha and Smith Woodhouse Madalena will not be released until 2012.
Having tasted most of the wines blind in the summer of 2004 and some again in 2011,
I am impressed by the depth of colour but some of the wines lack structure and breadth.
The best wines are soft, supple and elegant, mostly ready to drink now and with sufficient
balance to keep for another fifteen years.
Pick of the Vintage: Dow’s Quinta Sra. da Ribeira; Fonseca Guimaraens; Quinta do
Noval Nacional; Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas and Quinta de Terra Feita; Quinta do
Vale Meão.
2000 **/*** a small harvest produced fine, concentrated wines
with a long life ahead; unanimous declaration
Few years can have raised quite so much hope and expectation as 2000. The previous harvest
concluded in torrential rain that continued until the end of the year, but the first three
months of 2000 were cold and abnormally dry. The low rainfall meant that the growing
season began with very little water in the soil and bud burst was irregular with potential
yields reduced from the outset by gavinhas (excessive vegetative growth). During April and
May the heavens opened and half the normal annual rainfall fell in just two months. This
encouraged tremendous vigour, with vines directing their energy to the development of
new shoots. Flowering in late May coincided with heavy showers and cool weather causing