Vintage countdown

[oscar quevedo]

Hey Oscar,

Have you seen any raisining of the grapes? Or possibly, is the ground water suppy sufficent to provide the vines with the needed mositure?

Marc

Hi Marc, we have noticed some sunburn in Quinta da Alegria, which is different from raisining. As you may know, raisining comes after full maturation, while sunburn is the result of an excess of sun over the skin of the grapes, few weeks ahead of the complete maturation.

Regarding the question about water supply in the soil, there is probably enough water in Cima Corgo sub-region, but in Douro Superior, which is drier and hotter, the levels are low. Also rain would help to settle down dust of the vineyards.

[uncle tom]

Danielle has now been uprated to hurricane status.

Cloud gathering to form the next system has moved closer to Cape Verde, so could now generate a significant storm as far as europe is concerned. It also looks big, and will probably be christened 'Earl' before long.

Meteo are no longer forecasting rain at the end of the month, and Accuweather are predicting high temperatures as we move into September.

Tom

Update: Danielle strengthening rapidly, now Category 2, and more expected.

[Andy Velebil]

It is possible that Charles and Johnny are taking about different quintas in different regions of the Douro

To be fair, Charles is focused on Malvedos, while Johnny tackles the Douro as a whole.

Have you posted a question on these blogs

The VPS site has stopped responding to consumer enquiries; but i've made a post on the Malvedos comments blog..

Tom

A reply explaining the slight differences Tom mentions was posted on the Graham's Blog

Well spotted Tom! Both are correct in their respective contexts. Bear in mind: in this blog, unless we state differently, we speak solely about the five quintas that make Graham’s Port (3 clustered on river bank near Tua, one on the Rio Torto, one in Douro Superior on the river east of Vesuvio), whereas the Douro Insider is a digest of our viticulturalist’s (Miles Edlmann’s) observations across all 25 Symington quintas, from Lamego (south of Régua) to the far northeast corner of the DOC area. Hence general observations and conclusions can be slightly different. On our Terroir page is a map which marks all our quintas – take a look, seeing it will explain a lot, I think. Thanks for being such an attentive reader!

[uncle tom]

..and it has been confirmed that Miles Edlmann is indeed the author of the 'Douro Insider' and not Johnny Symington, as I had previously thought.

I don't know if any useful rain actually fell this week in the Douro - the Meteo's 'Risco de Incendio' map was taken down a notch or two for the coastal areas yesterday, but was little changed further inland - http://www.meteo.pt/pt/ambiente/risco_i ... fwi_d1.xml

No rain on the immediate horizon is forecast, and there's plenty more heat predicted, well into September..

It's not clear at present where hurricane Danielle will end up. There appears to be a weather pattern change imminent, with a small system predicted to stall and fill in mid atlantic, immediately prior to Danielle's arrival. The system following Danielle, which is likely to be named today; is looking broadly similar in size and trajectory, and is about 4-5 days behind.

Tom

[uncle tom]

Earl has been christened, and looks set to take a slightly wider arc..

..if the hot weather brings the harvest forward; Earl (or the remains of it..) could be an issue..

Tom

[uncle tom]

And still the outlook is dry, with much of the Douro on maximum fire alert.

The Meteo forecast is predicting some rain on the first of September, but from the maps I doubt there will be much. The other forecasters are only predicting cloud.

Danielle, now a Cat.3 hurricane; will slingshot across the Atlantic next week, but the eye now looks likely to pass slightly to the north of the Azores, on a ENE trajectory.

This is slightly too far to the north. However, as the storm passes over cooler water, it is likely that some rain bearing cloud will spin away from the centre; so there might yet be some hope of rain.

Earl has yet to get beyond tropical storm status, and currently looks set to graze the east coast of the US towards the end of next week. It now looks much less threatening than before.

Another big storm is now in the making, about four days behind Earl, forming to the southwest of the Cape Verde islands. The cloud mass is moving fairly rapidly to the west, so this one may be more likely to cause trouble in the Caribbean or US.

Tom

[DRT]

I spoke to Dom Symngton last night and he tells me they have had some heavy rain in Porto but nothing has yet managed to cross the mountains into the Douro. Apparently the temperature is starting to fall and the baking heat of summer seems to have gone.

[uncle tom]

IMPORTANT!

The US National hurricane center has just updated it's projections for Danielle.

It is now uprated to a category 4 hurricane, one less than the highest category, and although still projected to pass north of the Azores, it is now expected to travel almost due east as it does so.

It is also expected to cross the Atlantic with considerable speed between Tuesday and Thursday next week.

If it tracks to the southern side of the forecast error margins, it could stay on warm water.

This means there is a risk of a direct hit on Portugal as a full blown storm.

Bookmark this link: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphic ... k#contents

Tom

[DRT]

Good find Tom! It certainly looks threatening given the projected path over the pond.

Should we change your user name to "Storm Chaser"

[uncle tom]

Wow! What a change of forecast!

Less than 24hrs ago Danielle was headed straight for Regua, but now it's more likely to hit Reykjavik!

The NHC are usually pretty good, but this revision takes the path way outside of their error margins.

The Met office (who only project five days forward) agree that it will probably slip north, and also now agree with the Meteo in that a little rain is likely in the middle of next week. Accuweather, however, still think it will stay hot and dry for the forseeable future.

Tom

[uncle tom]

Well, some rain should arrive in Porto this evening, and the consensus of the forecasters is that it WILL cross the Marao this time, to provide some rain in the Douro tomorrow..

..but whether there will be enough to breathe some life back into the vines remains to be seen.

- Feedback from the front line would be most welcome!

Tom

[uncle tom]

Well, there is currently rain in Spain, and it's falling mostly on the plain..

..but how much has fallen in the Douro along the way?

Tom

[Dom Symington]

No rain yet! Yesterday evening threatened thunder and showers in Porto and we had a few huge drops of rain but no clearing of the air. Nothing at all in the Douro.
I’ve just spoken to Vesuvio and although a little cooler (relative) there is no sign of rain at the moment although the forecast does show some rain for the interior North of the country. So long as it’s not hail or really heavy thunderstorms!

[Dom Symington]

on an entirely different subject ... why am I tagged with Cruz Ruby??? ... a fine bottle but not quite what I normally keep at home!

[Andy Velebil]

on an entirely different subject ... why am I tagged with Cruz Ruby??? ... a fine bottle but not quite what I normally keep at home!

You must not be drinking enough Port, we can help in that regard

After "x" number of posts you are automatically upgraded to the next bottle, which slowly increases in quality. So don't feel bad, I've over a 1,000 posts and I'm only a 1991 Morgan VP Derek on the other hand, at over 6,000, is now a 1970 Dow's

And thanks for the weather update!

[uncle tom]

Thanks for the update Dom, sorry the news isn't better.

Hurricane Danielle has now dispersed over cooler water, but it's remnants may yet generate some rainfall after the weekend, although there's no great certainty of that.

Hurricane Earl is still predicted to cause trouble up the east coast of the US, but after that is currently projected to head toward the arctic, where it would quickly fill and disperse. Behind that is a storm named Fiona, which is currently on a projection to pass just west of Bermuda. This makes it less likely to be useful, but things can change..

There is another storm brewing, which is likely to be named Gaston before long. At the moment it is WSW of Cape Verde, and is moving quite slowly. My best guess is that this one will track a little further to the east than Fiona, but it's leisurely pace suggests that any succour it may give to the european vintage is unlikely to arrive much before the 15th, and possibly several days after that..

why am I tagged with Cruz Ruby???

The more posts you make, the better it gets..!

Tom

[Dom Symington]

well, well, well, that's certainly an incentive ... thanks.
I shall have to see if the site administrator is bribeable!

[Andy Velebil]

I shall have to see if the site administrator is bribeable!

I heard he likes Pink Port

[uncle tom]

I heard he likes Pink Port

- Don't be mean!

"Malvedos 2009 cask sample" would look much better than "Cruz ruby" - and I'm sure that admin could be very easily bribed..

..pity I'm not the admin', really...

Tom

[DRT]

well, well, well, that's certainly an incentive ... thanks.
I shall have to see if the site administrator is bribeable!

Can I just make it absolutely clear that I (and I think the other Admins) are open to bribery on this subject. Anyone who wants to send me a case of Graham's 63 will be instantly promoted to that rank.

Other ranks are available...Taylor 55; Noval Nacional 31; Ferreira 1815...etc

[KillerB]

Site Administrator is eminently bribable. Just name your Port

[Dom Symington]

rather like Churchill said ... now that we've established the fact it's all a matter of the price!
I can see a serious challenge coming my way during the vintage.

Cooled considerably in Porto today. I'll get an update from the Douro later (and an excuse for another post!)

[DRT]

Congratulations, Dom! You have now hit 10 posts and been automatically promoted to "Cheap Ruby"

We will entirely understand if you do not wish to discuss the relative position of this rank above that which you held previously

[uncle tom]

There were some notable storms in Portugal yesterday, but only a little seems to have fallen in the Douro valley.

Every vintage can be viewed from two perspectives, one of quantity and the other quality; and the factors that favour the respective camps differ significantly.

The great heat and prolonged dry weather that we have seen, tend to favour quality; but I have been told today that we are probably past the point where this is now beneficial.

The good news is that there is a decent prospect of some rain after the weekend, without any obvious threat of attendant stormy conditions.

If that is followed by a week or more of fresh, dry and breezy weather; there seems still to be a chance that we could see that elusive mix of both quantity and quality.

Looking at past vintage reports, I note a close similarity between this year (so far), and Richard Mayson's account of 1996 - a year that I feel was probably declarable, but lost in a run of good vintages.

It would be very interesting if Dom, or someone else in the trade; could highlight where the years differ.

Tom

[uncle tom]

While most of the Douro has seen little or no rain of late, a violent hail laden storm has hit Alijo, which lies about 10km (as the crow flies) north east of Pinhao.

The storm was bad enough to feature on Portuguese TV news, and there are pictures of shredded vines and grapes in the bulletin. Oscar has posted a link on his site.

There are no famous port quintas in the immediate vicinity of Alijo; the closest being Passadouro, which lies about 5km away.

Tom