Vintage at last??

[uncle tom]

The late Michael Broadbent hailed the '55 vintage with the words 'Vintage at last' After a run of good vintages in the 40s, there was a long gap between '48 and the next serious vintage.

There's been a similarly long gap today since the last vintage the trade could all rally around.

- But what are the portents for 2023?

The ascent of paid for weather information is limiting the amount of free data that one can now access, so there's only a limited amount of free data about the year to date out there - unless I'm missing something.. My past source for rainfall data no longer appears to be free.

- What are people hearing from the front line?

[MigSU]

I'd be quite surprised if 2023 was a classic vintage year. Spring was mostly hot and dry, with late May and June being quite wet. June and July have been hot (it is summer in the Douro, after all) but not particularly so, with some days actually being very mild. Morning dews have been very common, even this week. As I look out the window right now there's a big rain cloud system approaching, I wouldn't be surprised if we got some rain tonight or this weekend.

There's a few weeks left before harvest. It's not enough time to drastically improve the year, but it sure can get worse!

I'm sure some people here have access to more knowledgeable people and resources, and I'd love to hear from them (after all, my viewpoint is from my vineyard and my home, not the entire Douro region). But this is, broadly, what I've seen this year in the Douro.

Oh, and barring some heavy rain during harvest, it'll be a year of above average grape quantities in general.

[Alex Bridgeman]

When I visited the Pinhão Valley in late June, what I saw ties in with what Miguel says. Plenty of green shoots needing to be trimmed, which indicates the vines have had plenty of water. I also heard that the humidity in the soil was high enough to justify some preventative copper sulphate spraying to ensure mildew and oidium don’t have a chance to take hold.

I note that Portugal has been spared the heatwave that hit the Mediterranean, so it’s been helpful to hear Miguel’s thoughts on the weather in July and how the grapes have been developing.

[MigSU]

Just a couple of points, for those of you interested in this sort of thing.

- last week temperatures plummeted in much of the Douro, with highs of 22/23/24ºC. This week saw the complete opposite, with temperatures soaring into the high 30s. I'm still having morning dews in my vineyards (granted, I'm at ~600m, but still...). All in all, a very uneven year. Good for sparkling wines and whites, probably not great for Port or full bodied reds.

- The benefício has been decreased by about 11% for this year, which means Port sales weren't great last year and aren't forecast to be great this year either. Just something to be aware of.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Thanks for the update Miguel.

[MigSU]

Massive thunderstorm yesterday, lots and lots of rain. Not good.

[Andy Velebil]

Massive thunderstorm yesterday, lots and lots of rain. Not good.

Seems like there’s been a lot of rain this harvest. Is it localized or pretty wide-spread area of Douro?

[MigSU]

Massive thunderstorm yesterday, lots and lots of rain. Not good.

Seems like there’s been a lot of rain this harvest. Is it localized or pretty wide-spread area of Douro?

The Baixo Corgo took the brunt of it. It rained quite a bit in the Cima Corgo, but not as much (although it's raining there today, while here in the BC it hasn't so far). I've texted a couple of people in the Douro Superior, haven't heard back yet.

The Douro superior also saw quite a bit of rain in the last couple of days.

[Alex Bridgeman]

My understanding is that it’s supposed to be cold and wet for the next couple of days, but the dry weather returns on Tuesday.

[MigSU]

Indeed, Tuesday is the current prediction.

[Andy Velebil]

My understanding is that it’s supposed to be cold and wet for the next couple of days, but the dry weather returns on Tuesday.

Yikes. Not what one wants in middle of harvest.

[MigSU]

I had to stop harvesting today at 9.30am, it was just pissing down. These last few days have been a bit of a downer, things were going pretty smoothly.

[uncle tom]

So.. not a great year by the sounds of it.

Now the vintage is wrapped up, is it looking like a poor, bad or terrible one?

[Andy Velebil]

So.. not a great year by the sounds of it.

Now the vintage is wrapped up, is it looking like a poor, bad or terrible one?

From what I gather (no pun intended), grapes picked before the main rains that came were very good. What came after the rain, not so much.

That generally means some producers will probably end up making some very good or excellent VP’s and some won’t be so lucky.

[forest26]

So.. not a great year by the sounds of it.

Now the vintage is wrapped up, is it looking like a poor, bad or terrible one?

From what I gather (no pun intended), grapes picked before the main rains that came were very good. What came after the rain, not so much.

That generally means some producers will probably end up making some very good or excellent VP’s and some won’t be so lucky.

Thanks for the update.
Another year will go by without a declaration (probably).... Port sales declining around the world... The industry needs some good news!

[Alex Bridgeman]

2023 was going to be an amazing vintage, provided you had been able to spray during the rather wet and humid June.

But July, August and September were perfect months for the grapes. Grapes picked before the rain were superb quality and there were plenty of them.

Some producers managed to pick most of their grapes when they were ripe and before the rains came. They will make superb wines and Ports.

Others picked a portion of their grapes before the rains. Those producers will have some difficult decisions to make, whether to make a small amount of excellent wine or blend the good grapes and less good grapes to support the volumes of wine needed elsewhere. Or, perhaps, a bit of both.

[MigSU]

That's a pretty accurate description of the growing season.

I would just make a small addition. I think maturation this year was a few days - maybe a week - behind, relative to what is considered 'normal'. Had we had a slightly warmer June/July (and to a lesser extent August), which would've sped up maturation, we could've been talking about one of the best vintages of this century, as the vast majority of grapes would've been able to be picked before the rain.

But alas, it was not to be. I agree that great Ports can and will be made. But I don't believe in a general declaration (if that even still exists).

[jdaw1]

we could've been talking about one of the best vintages of this century

What proportion of vintages are almost a vintage of the century?

[MigSU]

we could've been talking about one of the best vintages of this century

What proportion of vintages are almost a vintage of the century?

There are many 'ifs', that's true.