174 Port anD the Douro
desavinho (coulure) particularly in the A grade vineyards. Potential yields fell by as much as
30 per cent as a result. Warm, dry weather returned during June and July and the so-called
‘pintor’ (veraison) was homogenous, occurring in mid-July. The dry weather continued
through August with high temperatures during the early part of the month, and a few days
of rain in mid-September helped to finish off the ripening prior to the harvest, which began
as usual around the 20th of the month.
The widely anticipated small harvest led to an unseemly scramble for grapes. Shippers
without vineyards of their own were forced to pay stratospherically high prices for
premium-quality grapes which were also being diverted to satisfy the growing demand for
unfortified Douro wines. Through no fault of their own, Sandeman and the Symington
family were apprehended receiving illegal grapes (even though they were accompanied
by the correct paperwork) and scare stories spread about grapes arriving from outside
the region and even from Spain. But by the end of the harvest there was no shortage of
grapes, however; production in the altos and the Baixo Corgo was at or above normal as
the flowering had taken place later and in better weather.
In terms of vintage Port, it is the A-grade vineyards of the Cima Corgo and Douro
Superior that matter. Here yields of little over half a kilo per vine produced musts of
extraordinary richness and concentration. At Warre’s Quinta de Cavadinha, the old
mixed plantings with an average age of around fifty years produced just 190 grams per
vine, the lowest yield in living memory. As the sun shone during picking, it became clear
that a very fine vintage was on the cards. The musts had barely finished fermenting when
one senior Port shipper had the temerity to say ‘I am 95 per cent certain we will have a
declaration. I am even more certain than I was at this stage in 1994.’
After spending the statutory two winters in wood, 2000 was unanimously declared in
the spring and early summer of 2002. For most shippers it was only the twenty-fifth or
twenty-sixth vintage to be declared since 1900, a landmark year that also happened to
be a very successful vintage and was widely declared at the time. It is interesting to draw
parallels between 2000 vintage Port and the crazy demand for 2000 Bordeaux when these
wines were sold en primeur in 2001. Opening prices were up by just 5 to 10 per cent on
1997, the previous declared vintage. Although demand for the top names was strong,
there was none of the speculative fever that surrounded 2000 Bordeaux, the market
having been dampened by 9/11 the previous year.
As to the wines, the 2000 vintage is remarkable for the sheer depth of colour and richness
that is evident across the board. Although there are some Ports that lack intensity and show
up as being rather sweet and one dimensional, the best combine seductively ripe, fleshy fruit
with structure, power and concentration. It remains to be seen if the 2000s are as powerful
and complete as the exceptional 1994s (some interesting comparative tastings lie ahead),
but they have more depth and poise than the 1997s which are somewhat leaner in style.
There can be little doubt that 2000 is a very good, classic year which, like 1966 and 1970,
has produced a handful of truly great wines. For Graham (one of the greats), this was the
first vintage to be made (36 per cent) in robotic lagares. Although there are a number of
good middle-distance wines that will be enjoyable in a decade or so (Cockburn’s Quinta dos