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That is the headline of this articlein todays Daily Telegraph. Seems a shame, or is it progress???
Suppose it all depends on the finished product.

Alan.

Mind you, if you remember this, maybe it was inevitable!

That is quite the shame. IMO, nothing makes a better VP than treading by humans....I guess time will tell.

I've posted a message on the other site and hope Roy will follow up with his contacts in the Symingtons.

I have half a suspicion that this is a bit of a non-story. The Symingtons have had robots in their lagares for quite a while and have used mechanised treading in their non-premium wines for some time. If they phase out all foot treading for ruby and filtered LBVs then I would feel differently compared to them phasing out foot treading for all vintage ports - like Vesuvio!

If I get a response from Roy then I will post the gist of what I find out here.

Alex

I was also thinking about Vesuvio... They've experimented with the robotic lagares for some time now, but for Vesuvio the've alsways been proud to say that everything was foot trodden. Will be interesting to see what the decision is there.

Does anyone have an update on this?

Interestingly, the uniforms worn by the treaders in the picture in the article are those that we wore last year at Vesuvio. I'm not sure if those tartan (plaid) shirts and blue nylon shorts are standard issue at all Quinta's?

It would be a great shame to see this tradition brushed aside. I can see how it would be difficult to resource enough lagars to crush the entire output of a Quinta but only a fraction of the grapes go into VP so one would think that the method could be sustained for grapes from Grade A parcels from the top Quinta's at the very least. Given the price of a bottle of 2 year old VP these days I can't believe that cost is a real issue for premium wines from Premier League shippers.

Having heard Alistair Robertson describe the electric atmosphere and tradition that surrounds the harvest at Vargellas I only hope that this is not going to be a route that Taylor Fladgate follow.

Derek

Derek T. wrote:Given the price of a bottle of 2 year old VP these days I can't believe that cost is a real issue for premium wines from Premier League shippers.

This would make sense, but we have to remember that the producers see only a portion of the price of that we the chump on the other end of the wallet will pay. Could be a dramatic difference.

But still a shame...

Todd

Derek T. wrote:Does anyone have an update on this?

Interestingly, the uniforms worn by the treaders in the picture in the article are those that we wore last year at Vesuvio. I'm not sure if those tartan (plaid) shirts and blue nylon shorts are standard issue at all Quinta's?

I remember the uniforms we wore, and recall wondering at the time "is'nt that a Scottish thing"?

I've seen pics of other Quinta's wearing a similar kit in the lagars, so I don't think it is unique to Vesuvio, but I could be wrong.

Todd,
The biggest problem isn't the cost per se, but in finding the people to do it. THe Douro is a dying place for young people to stay in. Many people are moving out and to the big cities. Actually, there is a big exodus of young people from Portugal has a country. From what I was told last year, Portugal is the poorest country in the EU and many younger people are heading to Spain or other countries to try and make a better living. So the hard part is just finding enough people to tread at night.

Although it is very financially rewarding for a treader. For about 3-4 hours work in the lagar they are paid the same as a full day in the field. So a worker can double their salary by staying late into the evening. But that makes for a long day, and they must come back the next morning.

Good to see this one has been cleared up. And AHB's Vesuvio is safe!

The aticle in the http://www.infoportwine.com/ confirms that they consider they were misquoted. They are changing emphasis, but continuing the traditional treading in certain areas.

Alan

Good.