2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

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JacobH
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2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by JacobH »

As we approach the end of April, I think it might be a good time to start thinking about 2009 vintage port declarations. We won't hear from the Taylor Fladgate partnership until the week after next and the Symingtons are yet to formally declare what they intend to ship, but details of other shippers seem to be dripping out.

From what I've seen it doesn't look like 2009 will be a full declaration, although I get the impression that there will be more classic vintage blends produced than 2008. We already know that Niepoort is producing both its vintage Ports from 2009 and that there will also be a 2009 Pintas whilst Churchill is going for a SQVP Quinta da Gricha. With the 2010 vintage looking patchy, that might increase the likelihood of full-blend vintage ports from other shippers, although I do think that those who managed to get the right grapes in at the right time in 2010 will probably be able to make some nice wines.

Of course these threads are only fun if we put our necks on the line and prepare to make some wide speculations about what will happen, so: my prediction is that 2009 will be another 2005. Mostly SQVPs but quite a few major shippers (and not just those, like Noval, who are known for declaring in minor years) will produce a classic blend.
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g-man
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by g-man »

I'd say with better wine making techniques and what appears to be warmer weather, we could potentially see a every year being an sqvp and vps being declared more often then 3-4 times in a decade (much like vesuvio)
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JacobH
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by JacobH »

Well, the ideal situation would be if economics meant the shippers stuck to 3-time-a-decade but produced SQVP of VP quality in the intermediate years! :wink: Indeed, I think that is already happening to some extent: every time I do a big vertical tasting, I am always struck by the quality of wines from minor years after 1994 and, again, after 2003.
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by jdaw1 »

JacobH wrote:Well, the ideal situation would be if economics meant the shippers stuck to 3-time-a-decade but produced SQVP of VP quality in the intermediate years! :wink: Indeed, I think that is already happening to some extent: every time I do a big vertical tasting, I am always struck by the quality of wines from minor years after 1994 and, again, after 2003.
But in the FG vertical, many of the pre-’94 years were also excellent.
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uncle tom
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by uncle tom »

Taylor, VVV, Fonseca & Croft declared.

Commenting on the declaration, Taylor’s CEO Adrian Bridge said: ‘I am delighted to announce our decision to release a declared vintage from 2009. The year has produced wines of massive scale, not unlike the iconic vintage ports of the early twentieth century. They are wines built to last.’

The last decade has been unusually prolific in great years for classic vintage port. The Taylor 2009 follows a series of three outstanding vintages, 2000, 2003 and 2007. Adrian Bridge remarked: ‘The 2009 is the fourth declaration in a decade. In over three centuries of Taylor’s history, a sequence of great vintages like this has been very rare.’ He added, ‘It is also remarkable that these four years have produced wines so different from one another but all unmistakably Taylor in style’.

2009 will be remembered in the Douro Valley for its dry summer, low production and very concentrated juice. Head winemaker David Guimaraens commented: ‘The low yields produced wines with enormous density of colour and excellent tannic grip. However they also display good acidity and wonderfully complex fruit.'

The Taylor 2009 blend is based on the wines of Quinta de Vargellas and Quinta de Terra Feita. Since 2000, the firm’s third property, Quinta do Junco, has also made a small contribution to the blend and has done so again in 2009. Quantities are smaller than those of the three preceding classic vintages.

Taylor’s will also bottle a small amount of Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha 2009 Vintage Port. According to Adrian Bridge: ‘We will be making a very limited release of Vargellas Vinha Velha 2009 which will be good news for vintage port enthusiasts and collectors of rare wines.’ The rare Vinha Velha Vintage Ports are made in very small quantities from a selection of grapes from the very oldest vines at Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas and seldom represent more than 2% of the production of the property.


Tom
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jdaw1
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by jdaw1 »

Fonseca’s website wrote:23 April 2011: Fonseca is pleased to announce that it has declared the 2009 vintage.

Fonseca’s CEO, Adrian Bridge, commented, ‘I am delighted to announce that Fonseca will bottle a declared vintage port from 2009. It is very unusual to have a string of four great vintages in a decade. This is a reminder that, although we can tip the balance in our favour through investment in our vineyards, ultimately it is nature which is in control.’

The reduced yields, resulting from low vine productivity and the very dry summer, resulted in dense and concentrated musts with high levels of tannin, sugar and colour. Due to the low yields at the harvest, the quantities of Fonseca 2009 are smaller than those of the preceding three declared vintages.

Fonseca’s head winemaker David Guimaraens remarked: ‘The’09s have higher colour intensity and tannin levels than we have seen for the last two decades. They also have exceptional fruit quality as can be seen from the wonderfully opulent nose of the Fonseca.’

Blender Mario Araújo, who celebrates his 50th year working in the Fonseca tasting room, noted: ‘This is one of the most impressive young vintage ports that I can remember. In many ways it reminds me of the 1970 with its firm tannins and powerful fruit.’

According to house tradition, the announcement is made in the morning of St. George's Day, 23rd April.
Also a PDF with more detail.
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DRT
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by DRT »

Excellent news! Perhaps this is shaping up for a true split declaration with 2010? - which will give us fun debates to have for decades to come :D
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JacobH
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by JacobH »

JacobH wrote:Of course these threads are only fun if we put our necks on the line and prepare to make some wide speculations about what will happen, so: my prediction is that 2009 will be another 2005. Mostly SQVPs but quite a few major shippers (and not just those, like Noval, who are known for declaring in minor years) will produce a classic blend.
**Feels fairly smug about the accuracy of my prediction, and awards myself a bottle of Fonseca 2009**
jdaw1 wrote:But in the FG vertical, many of the pre-’94 years were also excellent.
That’s true. But those are blended wines from what many regard as the finest Port house; one could arguable expect them to be good. What I don’t think existed 20 years ago were the fine wines in secondary years from much smaller shippers and independent quintas: Ports such as the 2005 Portal; 2004 Romaneira and 2003 Vale Dona Maria come to mind but there are many others. If we go back to, say, 1982 or 1978, there are many fine wines but many that disappoint and I think that those made more recently will age better.
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by jdaw1 »

JacobH wrote:What I don’t think existed 20 years ago were the fine wines in secondary years from much smaller shippers and independent quintas
In the late 1980s the rules changed, permitting shipping from the Douro rather than from Gaia, which has hugely increased the number of ‟smaller shippers and independent quintas”.
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by uncle tom »

Perhaps this is shaping up for a true split declaration with 2010?
Possibly. 2010 ticked most of the basic boxes for a declaration, but the reportage speaks of a 'difficult' year. There's not much enthusiasm for the vintage.

At this point, 2009 is looking more like a '58 or '72 - an intermediate year; although the quality I've seen so far is exceptional.

Drank the Niepoort '09 this afternoon at the CP - was voted the WOTA (wine of the afternoon..)

Tom
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by jdaw1 »

uncle tom wrote:At this point, 2009 is looking more like a '58 or '72 - an intermediate year; although the quality I've seen so far is exceptional.
This is a sentence of two halves. How can ‟intermediate” and ‟exceptional” best be reconciled?
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by Andy Velebil »

jdaw1 wrote:
uncle tom wrote:At this point, 2009 is looking more like a '58 or '72 - an intermediate year; although the quality I've seen so far is exceptional.
This is a sentence of two halves. How can ‟intermediate” and ‟exceptional” best be reconciled?
1972 an intermediate year? Stop kidding around.
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JacobH
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by JacobH »

jdaw1 wrote:
JacobH wrote:What I don’t think existed 20 years ago were the fine wines in secondary years from much smaller shippers and independent quintas
In the late 1980s the rules changed, permitting shipping from the Douro rather than from Gaia, which has hugely increased the number of ‟smaller shippers and independent quintas”.
Yes, indeed: I was including regulatory changes in addition to the technological changes which have improved the overall quality of Port produced. I think there is a strong argument that it benefited the larger shippers, too, since it allowed them to build more modern premises in the Douro for their winemaking (e.g. at Noval or Napoles). Of course, there were still many small shippers before the 1990s, which, like Morgan or Delaforce, no longer exist in their traditional form, too...
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by uncle tom »

How can ‟intermediate” and ‟exceptional” best be reconciled?
I define a split declaration as being one where some of the classic shippers declared one year, and others chose an adjacent year.

I define an intermediate year as being one where a number of the classic shippers declared, but several others declined to declare either that year or an adjacent year. It does not imply lower quality, only that due to economic or microclimatic considerations, the declaration was not universal.
1972 an intermediate year? Stop kidding around.
Dow, Sandeman and Offley declared blends in '72 - enough to qualify it as an intermediate year, IMO.

Tom
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by jdaw1 »

Ahhh. I thought ‟intermediate” referred to quality rather than number. It might be that Andy had thought likewise.
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by g-man »

Maintain the running list:

Taylor 2009
Taylor VVV 2009
Fonseca 2009
Croft 2009
Skeffington 2009
Niepoort 2009
Warres 2009
Vesuvio 2009
Quinta Vale D Maria 2009
Dow Senhora de Riberia 2009
Dow Bonfim 2009
Grahams Malvedos 2009
*Cockburn Canais 2009 - not available
Last edited by g-man on 20:12 Wed 18 May 2011, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by ajfeather »

g-man wrote:Maintain the running list:

Taylor 2009
Taylor VVV 2009
Fonseca 2009
Croft 2009
Skeffington 2009
Niepoort 2009
Quevedo 2009
Warres 2009
Vesuvio 2009
Dow Senhora de Riberia 2009
and
Quinta Vale D Maria 2009
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

I have been told that there will not be 2009 vintage ports from Sandeman, Offley or Ferreira.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

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I would be amazed if there was not a 2009 Malvedos - a cask sample was stupendous..

..has this been confirmed?

Tom
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

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uncle tom wrote:I would be amazed if there was not a 2009 Malvedos - a cask sample was stupendous..

..has this been confirmed?
Yes.
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by DRT »

g-man wrote:Maintain the running list:

Taylor 2009
Taylor VVV 2009
Fonseca 2009
Croft 2009
Skeffington 2009
Niepoort 2009
Quevedo 2009
Warres 2009
Vesuvio 2009
Dow Senhora de Riberia 2009
Oscar told us last night there will be no Quevedo 2009.

Christian Seely told me today that Noval and Romaneira will not be producing any 2009 VPs.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by DRT »

jdaw1 wrote:
uncle tom wrote:I would be amazed if there was not a 2009 Malvedos - a cask sample was stupendous..

..has this been confirmed?
Yes.
The Symington's are also producing Dow Bomfim and Cockburn Canais from 2009.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
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JacobH
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by JacobH »

DRT wrote:
jdaw1 wrote:Yes.
The Symington's are also producing Dow Bomfim and Cockburn Canais from 2009.
Although we won’t get to see either of the Malvedos or Bomfim until about 2020 at the earliest :cry:

I thought the Quinta dos Canais was an extremely-limited library-only production. Is it going to be available anywhere?
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by DRT »

JacobH wrote:I thought the Quinta dos Canais was an extremely-limited library-only production. Is it going to be available anywhere?
Yes, library stock only, which presumably means it will remain in the gift of the Symingtons as to where and when it will be served. I do not think any are to be sold.
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uncle tom
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Re: 2009 Vintage Port Declarations and Predictions

Post by uncle tom »

There are always dozens of small library stock bottlings..

..if there are no plans to market it, then perhaps it shouldn't be on our little list...!

Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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