‘Young Harvest’ Port proposals

[Doggett]

Thoughts?

https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/prod ... st-468338/

[JacobH]

Interesting. My first thought is it would be good to invite him to a tasting and see if we can persuade him to bring a sample! My second is that the name is never going to work but that could surely be sorted out.

Haven't the Symingtons' been playing around with some very young Ports recently? I think the Graham's No 5 White is bottled in the same year as it is harvested and sold in the next. It's very good.

But then I've always thought Beaujolais Nouveau is a rather fun idea...

[jdaw1]

My first thought is it would be good to invite him to a tasting and see if we can persuade him to bring a sample!

Seconded.

But then I've always thought Beaujolais Nouveau is a rather fun idea...

Very fun idea. But terrible to drink.

[Alex Bridgeman]

I've tasted Port straight from the lagar and also from barrel a few weeks after the harvest. I have thoroughly enjoyed both - but then I also enjoyed drinking a couple of glasses of Quinto do Crasto 2017 last night in my newly refurbished local pub (Yes! I managed to persuade the landlord to stock a Vintage Port and he's already sold most of 2 of the 4 bottles he bought for when he opened 2 weeks ago.)

[DaveRL]

Why not. Worth a try. The marketing will need to be carefully thought out. There is certainly a market for big Ozzie reds, so young fruity Ports could have significant appeal.

[MigSU]

I mean, how much 'younger' does one need one's Ports to taste? Just-released LBVs are pretty young to me, as are other rubies. And, if one really wants to, nothing's stopping one from opening just-released VPs.
Also, producers can always release a Ruby Port in the same year. No one is stopping them from doing so. If they want to do a high quality Ruby, just price it accordingly and release it.

I don't see much point in this (inventing a new category).

[DRT]

I don't see much point in this (inventing a new category).

+1

I think the existing Port categories are complicated enough without adding this.

[Glenn E.]

I don't see the point in this, either. Having tasted samples from various points along the line between 0 days after fortification right up to freshly (officially) released, I can say that VP changes fairly dramatically over that time period. It continues to change rapidly for about another year after that as well, then slows down to the "normal" maturation curve that we're all mostly used to. (In the US most people have only ever experienced that "normal" curve because VP generally doesn't reach store shelves here for what seems like a full year after it has been officially released.)

That rapid change for the first 18-30 months after harvest probably isn't something that the Port industry would want to expose customers to. There's nothing bad about it at all, but in my opinion the change is pretty dramatic and most people aren't going to understand what's going on. There's considerable potential for confusion when a bottle that you bought last year doesn't taste like you remember it tasting at purchase.

[MigSU]

I just want to reiterate that there's nothing stopping producers from producing VP- or LBV-quality wine and releasing it immediately - they just can't call it VP or LBV. But there's nothing stopping them from releasing a €50 Ruby Port.

[JacobH]

I don't see the fact that it might change dramatically as a big problem- isn't that the case with other young wine like Beaujolais Nouveau and even many lighter wines that are supposed to be drink young, like some rosés?

It seems to me that this is yet another area where less regulation might be better. Why not allow a producer to put a year on the bottle if that reflects its contents so that if you wanted to make a 2021 Porto Nova (forgive my Portuguese if I get that wrong!) as a type of Ruby you can.

[Glenn E.]

Porto Nova (forgive my Portuguese if I get that wrong!)

"Porto" is a masculine noun in Portuguese, so "new Port" would be "Porto Novo".

Young Port would be Porto Jovem.

[MigSU]

Porto Nova (forgive my Portuguese if I get that wrong!)

"Porto" is a masculine noun in Portuguese, so "new Port" would be "Porto Novo".

Young Port would be Porto Jovem.

Bloody hell, I'm not needed here

[Glenn E.]

Porto Nova (forgive my Portuguese if I get that wrong!)

"Porto" is a masculine noun in Portuguese, so "new Port" would be "Porto Novo".

Young Port would be Porto Jovem.

Bloody hell, I'm not needed here

My Portuguese isn't that good! I'm pretty sure that Will's is better than mine, too, and I'd be surprised if there aren't others here who have a firmer grasp on the language than I do. I just like practicing it and using it.

It's kind of strange, but what I've found is most useful about slowly learning Portuguese via Duolingo is that when I now use Google Translate to go from English to Portuguese I can tell whether or not it's what I was actually trying to say.

[DRT]

Porto Nova (forgive my Portuguese if I get that wrong!)

"Porto" is a masculine noun in Portuguese, so "new Port" would be "Porto Novo".

Young Port would be Porto Jovem.

Bloody hell, I'm not needed here

My Portuguese isn't that good! I'm pretty sure that Will's is better than mine, too, and I'd be surprised if there aren't others here who have a firmer grasp on the language than I do. I just like practicing it and using it.

It's kind of strange, but what I've found is most useful about slowly learning Portuguese via Duolingo is that when I now use Google Translate to go from English to Portuguese I can tell whether or not it's what I was actually trying to say.

After 15 years of visiting Porto and the Douro at least once per year (with one obvious exception ) I have mastered the following Portuguese phrases:

When you get out of bed: bom dia

After Lunch: boa tarde

After dinner: boa noite

Always after anything: Obrigada / Obrigado (I have no idea which one when)

When you and someone else are thirsty: Super Bock, por favor. Obrigada / Obragado (whichever comes to mind first)

If the person you addressing doesn't understand, just speak slower and louder. I think this proves that Brits are really great at foreign languages.

[JacobH]

Porto Nova (forgive my Portuguese if I get that wrong!)

"Porto" is a masculine noun in Portuguese, so "new Port" would be "Porto Novo".

Young Port would be Porto Jovem.

Ah. Of course. Thank you. Whilst I can pick may way through things written in Portuguese, I have almost no ability to go the other way. And continue to be defeated by the pronunciation...