2021 Declarations

[PCM]

A Dutch retailer offers Quinta do Vale Meao Vintage Port 2021, so I guess Quinto do Vale Meão declared!!

[Axel P]

So did Churchill Gricha

[uncle tom]

I am late on parade with my annual vintage rankings this year because I'm struggling to make sense of this vintage.

On the one hand we have a very small list of declared VPs, this is one of the rare years when the biggest names are offering neither their declared blends nor an SQVP - but on the other hand we have declarations by two titans. I'm also fighting somewhat blind as I've not had the opportunity to sample any of those that have been declared this year.

Is the absence of SQVPs a direct reflection of the quality of this vintage, or does it reflect a contracting market and an excess of stock from past years?

I'm seeing SQVPs less often in the supermarkets I frequent, and when they do appear they are often on a promotional deal.

[Alex Bridgeman]

I suspect that there will be a fair number of independent producers who bottle a 2021 vintage but haven’t yet announced it or offered them for sale.

It’s worth visiting - or at least keeping an eye on - Axel’s Port Exhibition in a couple of weeks to see which producers show a 2021 VP or SQVP.

I don’t know what the relatively small number of declared vintage wines means. Could it mean that stocks are being held back to support the volumes of Tawny sales which are anticipated in 10-50 years time?

[Alex Bridgeman]

Quinta das Sequeirinhas added to the list of known declarations.

Has anyone seen anything not on the list?

[Glenn E.]

Roy is doing his usual review of the 2021 vintage starting next week (IIRC) with the plan being to release his notes in the FTLOP newsletter by the end of the year. I've seen a too-distant-to-see-details picture and it looks like there are lots of bottles. Granted the picture was both 2020 and 2021, but it looked like 40-50 bottles in total. So we're likely to be able to add to the list once he publishes.