The 2014 Harvest

[uncle tom]

Not sure exactly how much.

10mm reported at Vila Real, so hopefully not too much.

The weather forecasts have deteriorated, and Accuweather's 15 day forecast is pretty dire.

However, Accuweather's own track record for forecasting Portuguese weather more than a week ahead is also pretty dire - so fingers crossed!

[Cynthia J]

A friend tells me they began cutting Monday at Tua and Malvedos. Elsewhere, others have decided to wait a few days after rain last weekend in their area. And this evening I'm having a few heavy showers here in Gaia, hopefully this wont get up to the vineyards.

http://www.ipma.pt/pt/otempo/prev.local ... dadeID=276 Portuguese weather authority's site, link to forecasts. Not lookin good for poor old Régua the next day or two. Districts/towns to watch:
Vila Real / Peso de Régua or Alijó (on the plain above Malvedos) or Sabrosa (on the plain above Pinhão) - Pinhão not an option.
Viseu / São Joâo de Pesqueira
Bragança / Carrazeda de Ansiaes (north and a bit east of Valeira Dam)
Guarda / Vila Nova de Foz Côa

Also interesting, Advid now has a page with info for past 7 days - http://www.advid.pt/ go to Meteorologia / Dados Climáticos - can choose various data types from the drop down box. At Pinhão they show 7.2 mm rain Sunday daily high temps 26 to 33 the past 7 days.

[Cynthia J]

10mm reported at Vila Real, so hopefully not too much.

I wouldn't recommend trying to extrapolate from Vila Real as a rule - they get thoroughly dumped on by any and every passing rainstorm being in the middle of the Marão. I think they get rain that no one else does! Their annual total rainfall is about the same as on the coast.

[djewesbury]

Thanks for this info and insight Cynthia. Very interesting!

[JacobH]

There was a bit of picking going on at Quinta Nova on Saturday but I saw very little elsewhere with most people saying they were going to start this week or later.

I was intriged on how many grapes in the parts of Quinta do Panascal which you can walk around had appeared to have gone over and shrivelled up: I would have thought that it was better to maximise the amount of juice available from a class A vineyard by going over it twice then risk spoilage. But perhaps it was just the few rows I walked through.

[DRT]

{engage Brian Blessed voice}

Jacob's alive!!!!!

[uncle tom]

A few days ago a storm began to assemble just to the south of Cape Verde, which has now developed and been named tropical storm Edouard. Whilst it may not reach hurricane status, it's predicted path indicates that it's remnants could very easily bring a lot of rain to the european landmass in about 8-10 days time - not welcome..

[uncle tom]

Quite a bullish update from the Malvedos site with some perfect bunches of Sousao on display.

Despite the raft of minor weather systems coming off the Atlantic, the Advid site indicates no further rain at Pinhao in the past week, so it looks like the mountains are doing a fine job.

Edouard is progressing slightly slower than previously forecast, but there is little improvement in it's trajectory - it, or it's remnants, look set to pass north of the Azores, so there's a sporting chance the French will cop the worst of it..

[djewesbury]

It looks, from a variety of sources, like there will be thunderstorms in Pinhão this week…

[Alex Bridgeman]

It looks, from a variety of sources, like there will be thunderstorms in Pinhão this week…

Presumably they are following RAYC as he cycles around the Douro.

[uncle tom]

There was a little rain on Sunday (just over 2mm) and about twice as much yesterday. The forecast for today is not good and the cumulative total of rain may be enough to pause the harvest for a few days.

Graham's have picked the Stone Terraces, which feels early given the general timeline, and may reflect pessimism over the forecast.

Edouard has gravitated from a tropical storm to Cat 2 hurricane and has further slowed. It is currently projected to curl into the Azores on Sunday, slightly further south than previously forecast, and curling slightly southwards. This is not a good sign..

Edit: Malvedos site confirms Stone Terraces and Port Arthur vineyards harvested shortly before a brief heavy shower.

[Glenn E.]

Graham's have picked the Stone Terraces, which feels early given the general timeline, and may reflect pessimism over the forecast.

Edit: Malvedos site confirms Stone Terraces and Port Arthur vineyards harvested shortly before a brief heavy shower.

I saw this and it made me sad. I hope that this is the planned and normal harvest time for the Stone Terraces vineyards (Port Arthur and Vinha dos Cardenhos) and not some emergency harvest that could lower the quality of the 2014 Stone Terraces VP. The 2011 Stone Terraces VP is glorious and I was really hoping to see a follow-up for 2014.

[Andy Velebil]

From Facebook posts it appears those in the eastern areas are getting sun and those to the west end are getting rain. At least based on pictures being posted. Sounds like it's going to be an interesting harvest based on where you are.

[jdaw1]

From the Malvedos blog:


Nelson can’t help being impressed by the incredible colour of the Sousão that came in from Graham’s sister vineyard of Quinta do Tua to be vinified at the Malvedos winery.

[Cynthia J]

As I type it is raining again here in Gaia - we have had intermittent showers, many pretty heavy, generally overnight or early morning, with mostly clear or at least dry afternoons the past few days. If you go to the ADVID site http://www.advid.pt meteorologia / dados climáticos ... it's worrying. The past three days 2.4, 4.8, then 6.6 mm of rain each of the past 3 days, nothing posted yet re today of course. For Vilariça it is showing nothing sunday or monday but 22.4mm of rain yesterday. I am devoutly hoping that is some wild unfortunate typo.

[uncle tom]

The hour by hour analysis of the numbers confirms the total for Vilarica.

But where exactly is this weather station? The name is familiar and I'm pretty sure there's a Quinta by that name or something similar, but Google maps points to a hamlet near the Spanish border, some way outside the demarcated area...

[Cynthia J]

...Vilarica. But where exactly is this weather station? The name is familiar and I'm pretty sure there's a Quinta by that name or something similar,

Shame on you Tom!! You just flunked Symington 101!!! Vilariça is the valley in the northeast of the Douro where SFE have 3 quintas which were part of the Cockburn's property: Quintas do/da/de Ataide, Canada and Assares. The first two are south of Vila Flor (the main town out there) and Assares is a bit further north. The Altano table wines are made from these properties, which are organically farmed.

As for the weather station - ADVID's weather station is in fact located at Quinta do Ataide.

Let's see if I can upload a photo... a view of Ataide - just left of centre you can see a white house and a cluster of trees and buildings - that's it.

Quinta do Ataide.JPG (196.25 KiB) Viewed 7185 times

[djewesbury]

Wow, that's amazing detail Cynthia. But this sounds like terrible news! Is the harvest out there ruined? Surely 200+ mm of rain tends to fall in a fairly disruptive manner...

[Glenn E.]

Wow, that's amazing detail Cynthia. But this sounds like terrible news! Is the harvest out there ruined? Surely 200+ mm of rain tends to fall in a fairly disruptive manner...

20.4 mm. A little over 3/4".

That's still a lot of rain during harvest season, but not likely to be disruptive unless it arrives in the space of a single hour or less. A steady, gentle, drizzle all day long could easily reach 3/4" in a day.

[djewesbury]

Sorry. Overexuberant typing. I didn't think that 8" of rain had fallen in one go. That would be unequivocally catastrophic!

[Glenn E.]

Sorry. Overexuberant typing. I didn't think that 8" of rain had fallen in one go. That would be unequivocally catastrophic!

Understandable. We do have a tasting coming up next week. Exuberance is to be expected.

[djewesbury]

Sorry. Overexuberant typing. I didn't think that 8" of rain had fallen in one go. That would be unequivocally catastrophic!

Understandable. We do have a tasting coming up next week. Exuberance is to be expected.

[uncle tom]

Vilariça is the valley in the northeast of the Douro where SFE have 3 quintas which were part of the Cockburn's property: Quintas do/da/de Ataide, Canada and Assares. The first two are south of Vila Flor (the main town out there) and Assares is a bit further north.

Thankyou Cynthia - I've spent very little time in the Vila Flor area and don't know it at all well.

That's still a lot of rain during harvest season, but not likely to be disruptive unless it arrives in the space of a single hour or less.

The analysis shows that the rain fell almost entirely over a three hour period in the afternoon.

[Glenn E.]

The analysis shows that the rain fell almost entirely over a three hour period in the afternoon.

That is a decent rain, then. Hopefully no damage!

[uncle tom]

Hopefully no damage!

That much rain at this time of year is likely to be taken up by the vines and into the grapes, diluting the juice. It can also cause the grapes to split and start to rot.

They might get over it if the grapes were not too ripe and the rain is followed by a few warm dry breezy days; but that is not the forecast, and almost every day is seeing some rain at the moment.

Sadly, from a most auspicious start, I fear the vintage is descending into a rescue mission.