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I picked up a snippet in the Telegraph that reported that Pinhao in Portugal saw the mercury hit 47C on July 14th.

Now, IIRC, there is more than one place called Pinhao in Portugal, but assuming it is 'our' Pinhao, could this be a harbinger of a potentially good vintage?

- Or is the heat a bit too extreme - and perhaps a bit early..?

Anyone have any correspondence from the front line?

I’m pretty sure that it was Pinhão in the Douro: the Symingtons put something online about it. They suggested that it was the hottest temperature recorded in Portugal, although I have heard a few other candidates for that rather dubious record.

It sounds much too hot much too early for me for a classic vintage but I hope I am wrong. I was also interested that it was there rather than the Douro Superior.

uncle tom wrote: ↑11:11 Thu 04 Aug 2022 I picked up a snippet in the Telegraph that reported that Pinhao in Portugal saw the mercury hit 47C on July 14th.

Now, IIRC, there is more than one place called Pinhao in Portugal, but assuming it is 'our' Pinhao, could this be a harbinger of a potentially good vintage?

- Or is the heat a bit too extreme - and perhaps a bit early..?

Anyone have any correspondence from the front line?

Yup, it was Pinhão in the Douro. A new record temperature in Portugal.

In my opinion the grapes will be unbalanced, phenolic maturation will not keep up with sugar maturation.

I think Tom has mentioned in the past that there aren’t many publicly-available weather stations in the Douro. I think the only ones used to be in Régua and Villa Real, although there seem to be more, now. I did wonder if the reason it was hottest in Pinhão was because it was actually the hottest place or whether it might have been even hotter elsewhere but just not recorded. I usually assume that it is much hotter in, say, Foz Côa.

Personal weather stations can be relatively inexpensive - there are ones that work with the Ambient Weather network as low as $150. I'm a little surprised that there aren't more of those available, but it appears that their network only has a single station in the Porto area.

Having a small network of those in Vila Nova de Foz Coa, Sao Joao de Pesqueira, Pinhao, and maybe a few other places would be super useful!

I agree. Also, I’m sure that many producers will have weather stations on their properties. I’d have thought you’d want quite a sophisticated one if you are managing a big quinta. It is a pity that even snapshot data isn’t available.

I saw today on FaceBook that Niepoort have started to bring in their Pinot Noir into Napoles.

And a couple of days ago Ramos Pinto reported viosinho grapes were being brought into the winery at Bons Ares.

Any idea how this compares to “normal”? I feel like every year is the earliest-ever at the moment...

It's very early.

Having discussed climatic conditions and the effect on the harvest with a number of Port producers every year for almost two decades I suspect that 2022 will be generally described as "a difficult year where we made some very nice wines"

DRT wrote: ↑22:43 Tue 09 Aug 2022 Having discussed climatic conditions and the effect on the harvest with a number of Port producers every year for almost two decades I suspect that 2022 will be generally described as "a difficult year where we made some very nice wines"

Translation: not going to be declared, but we don't want to say it sucked because we still want to sell you our product.

Glenn E. wrote: ↑22:53 Tue 09 Aug 2022

DRT wrote: ↑22:43 Tue 09 Aug 2022 Having discussed climatic conditions and the effect on the harvest with a number of Port producers every year for almost two decades I suspect that 2022 will be generally described as "a difficult year where we made some very nice wines"

Translation: not going to be declared, but we don't want to say it sucked because we still want to sell you our product.

It's almost impossible to make bad Port these days, unless you really want to. One can always grade it on a curve, and there one will find 'great' years and 'bad' years, but the 'bad' ones are still really good in 'real' terms, it's just that the 'great' ones are...well, great.
I have no doubt that 2022 will produce really good wines...on an absolute scale. But relative to other - great - years, it'll be below par (in my opinion; things can still change - like with some unexpected rainfall in August).

My understanding is it has been very dry and a sustained heat (aka: very hot) this year. Not a great combo for grapes so early in the ripening cycle, generally speaking. Hopefully permanent damage hasn't already happened and some rain comes that refreshes things and the harvest turns out well. Keeping fingers crossed.

Absolutely. It's always hot in the Douro summer, but I don't remember it being so hot for so long. We've had temperatures in the high 30s (ºC) for, what, two months, now?
Summer nights also used to be cool (sometimes even downright cold), but this year they haven't been so cool, which is also bad for the ripening cycle.

"a difficult year where we made some very nice wines"

- Difficult usually meaning poor yields or erratic ripening, rather than rubbish quality

It's almost impossible to make bad Port these days, unless you really want to.

There's been quite a seismic change on that front. We've not had a really problematic vintage since '93. Prior to that, rubbish years happened around twice a decade.

uncle tom wrote: ↑18:00 Thu 11 Aug 2022

It's almost impossible to make bad Port these days, unless you really want to.

There's been quite a seismic change on that front. We've not had a really problematic vintage since '93. Prior to that, rubbish years happened around twice a decade.

Wasn't either 2001 or 2002 pretty bad? Not as bad as '93 for sure, but still pretty poor.

Wasn't either 2001 or 2002 pretty bad? Not as bad as '93 for sure, but still pretty poor.

I've little personal experience of 2002 so far, but the notes from others are good. Every 2001 I've tried has been very solid, and I know one significant producer who argues with passion that it should have been declared in preference to 2000.

Glenn E. wrote: ↑21:08 Thu 11 Aug 2022

uncle tom wrote: ↑18:00 Thu 11 Aug 2022

It's almost impossible to make bad Port these days, unless you really want to.

There's been quite a seismic change on that front. We've not had a really problematic vintage since '93. Prior to that, rubbish years happened around twice a decade.

Wasn't either 2001 or 2002 pretty bad? Not as bad as '93 for sure, but still pretty poor.

2001 was better than 2002. The later wasn't so good. I don't recall Noval or Vesuvio releasing a 2002 if that helps put it in perspective.

Andy Velebil wrote: ↑19:58 Fri 12 Aug 2022

Glenn E. wrote: ↑21:08 Thu 11 Aug 2022

uncle tom wrote: ↑18:00 Thu 11 Aug 2022

It's almost impossible to make bad Port these days, unless you really want to.

There's been quite a seismic change on that front. We've not had a really problematic vintage since '93. Prior to that, rubbish years happened around twice a decade.

Wasn't either 2001 or 2002 pretty bad? Not as bad as '93 for sure, but still pretty poor.

2001 was better than 2002. The later wasn't so good. I don't recall Noval or Vesuvio releasing a 2002 if that helps put it in perspective.

Ah yes, the Vesuvio test. An excellent data point!

Although Vesuvio didn't declare in 2002, there were others who did - like Cavadinha, Noval Silval, Roeda and Vargellas.

I’ve just seen a post by Vallado that they have started picking their white grapes.

And now Ramos Pinto are picking their white grapes at Ervamoira.

I think the last seriously challenging years where no or almost no VP was made were 2002, 1993, 1981, 1973 & 1971. As Tom says, about once a decade (although I bet modern winemaking and a willingness to declare small quantities might have helped some of those). 1993 was a wash-out. I think 2002 was badly impacted by late rain. Does anyone know what happened in those other years? I’m wondering if it is always too much rain (or too late) that really kills off the ability to make VP?

1973 was the industrial alcohol scandal.