192 Port anD the Douro
1948 ***** rich, ripe, opulent wines
Following a wet winter, bud burst was prolific and fruit set was good, except in the higher
areas where the flowering coincided with wet weather. The pintor arrived early following
hot weather in June but July was unusually cool. High temperatures and dry easterly winds
(Nem bom vento...) dried the grapes during August and September. Picking began early
(around 15 September) but most waited for another week or ten days. The weather during
vintage was hot, but the nights were cool. Sugar levels were high, many grapes were over-
ripe and the fermentations were rapid. Many farmers faced huge difficulties in the light
of post-war quotas and an impossible market for vintage Port at the time and, as a result,
1948 was not widely declared or shipped. Those that did declare made fabulous, opulent
wines. I have only tasted the 1948s on a few occasions, most recently in 2003 at the Hersh’s
Seattle Port weekend. Taylor (last tasted in 2007) is so rich it is almost caramelised. Still
fresh, with floral aromas, it is amazingly rich and intense but almost unbalanced by so
much sweetness. Similarly Fonseca, still fine and expressive with rapier-like tannins cutting
through the fruit which has the sweetness of Demerara sugar. Not quite as powerful as
either of these, Graham is nonetheless bolt upright with ‘hot’ sweet fruit and wonderful
length. Sandeman is variable, but when I last tasted the 1948 in 2011 it was powerful and
fresh with great length and depth. A 1948 Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim which was neither
declared nor shipped but bottled for home consumption is almost syrupy in its richness
and intensity. The wines are not as solid as the ’45s but they are certainly more sumptuous.
Drink now or keep.
Pick of the Vintage: Taylor; Sandeman.
1947 **** very fine, balanced wines that have developed well; now rare
A year with ideal weather conditions: wet spring, hot summer and low yields. The weather
was fine during the harvest and the lagares took plenty of work. Reluctantly declared by a
number of shippers, 1947s are now very hard to find. Both Cálem and Ferreira are now
fragile but Sandeman (last tasted in 2011) is youthful in appearance with great poise with
bitter-sweet berry fruit and firm tannins still propping up the finish. Cockburn (who did
not declare 1945) is undoubtedly the best: mellow, fully mature but retaining its bitter
chocolate concentration at the core. Drink soon.
Pick of the Vintage: Cockburn.
1945 ***** ‘victory vintage’: wonderfully solid, lasting wines
‘This being the first vintage spent in peace after the defeat of Germany and Japan it is
disappointing that conditions may not allow a 1945 Victory Vintage,’ wrote Ronald
Symington at the time. The flowering was exceptionally early and fine weather during
berry set held the prospect of the large vintage. The pintor arrived early but searing heat
in June raisinised the grapes, cutting yields by about 50 per cent. Further drought caused
yields to diminish even more. The harvest began early and, according to Dick Yeatman, the