198 Port anD the Douro
1897 ****
After the widely declared 1896 vintage, only a handful of shippers declared, mostly as a
mark of respect to Queen Victoria who celebrated her Diamond Jubilee this year. There
was a shortage of fortifying spirit and Sandeman apparently used Scotch whisky. I have only
ever tasted one wine from Harvey, still fresh in 2010 with a delicate, lifted tealeaf and citrus
character and still very drinkable.
1896 ***** watershed year: the first great post-phylloxera vintage
The turning point for Port: the best vintage since phylloxera struck the Douro in the
1870s. Ernest Cockburn records that ‘in May the vines were looking very well and the
prospects were good, but from then on the vines began to be attacked by various diseases
that had done so much damage in the past...’ (presumably oidium). The harvest took place
amid favourable weather conditions although Ernest Cockburn – who seems to be quite
pessimistic about most vintages – wrote that ‘the grapes were not as ripe as they should have
been’. This is not borne out by Cockburn’s 1896 when I tatsed it in 2012, which still retains
a pink hue with a lovely chocolate core and caramelised finish. Similarly, Dow’s 1896 (tasted
at their bicentennial tasting) still had a remarkable colour for its age with fresh berry fruit
evident and extraordinary firm, peppery tannic grip. A remarkably bold wine, even after
102 years!
1880
This must have been the height of phylloxera and so very few wines were made. I have
only tasted one, a wine from Ramos Pinto (the year of their foundation) bottled in 1914
so technically a colheita. It was tasted in 2000 to celebrate the 120th anniversary of Ramos
Pinto: old mahogany colour with olive green rim, high toned on the nose but with a vestige
of fruit; tasting fresher than it smells, still sweet and spicy with a tawny marmalade character
but fading fast in the glass.
1873
Phylloxera broke out in the Douro in 1863 and was spreading steadily through the region
at this time, reducing yields. Nonetheless, sixteen shippers declared including Sandeman,
whose remarkable wine I tasted with the Port Forum in London in 2011: still quite intense
and aromatic with a lovely caramelised orange character, velvety richness with a vestige of
tannin remaining, sweet and very beautiful.
1854
A so called ‘comet’ vintage, coinciding with Halley’s Comet. Tasted at Dow’s bicentennial
tasting and made from pre-phylloxera vines: very pale amber in colour, green-tinged rim;
high toned but scented, almost floral and slightly caramelised; lovely creamy caramelised
tawny flavours, burnt sugar. Light, fine, fragile and quite short but still just about alive, even
retaining the last vestige of tannic spice.