Vintage countdown - 2011

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 23:16 Fri 29 Jul 2011

Here we are again, at the end of July, ready to welcome another vintage..

The story so far this year is one of a good start, with reasonable ground hydration, but then followed by problems with mildew, poor fruit set, hail and even sunburn - factors that spoil yields (and in the case of some quintas, devastatingly so..) but are otherwise neutral or positive from a quality standpoint.

The good news is that the vintage is running well ahead of schedule (which should reduce the stress levels amongst the wine-makers..!) and although a relatively minor statistic, it was nice to hear that May was the warmest since 1931..

The current weather outlook is unexceptional. Further afield, the Atlantic hurricane season is predicted to be busier than usual, but has so far looked fairly tame.

Please post any reports you get from the front line..

Tom

JacobH · Post by **JacobH** » 07:39 Mon 01 Aug 2011

uncle tom wrote:The story so far this year is one of a good start, with reasonable ground hydration, but then followed by problems with mildew, poor fruit set, hail and even sunburn - factors that spoil yields (and in the case of some quintas, devastatingly so..) but are otherwise neutral or positive from a quality standpoint.

Although these things don’t directly affect quality, if what was going to be the best section of your vineyard for 2011 was destroyed by mildew then blending a vintage blend is likely to be harder. I get the impression that in less-than-perfect years having a large enough quantity of grapes so as to be able to select the best is particularly important so having grapes written off by these sorts of things is not good.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 08:35 Mon 01 Aug 2011

From what I've been told, the mildew damage has not greatly affected the A grade vineyards, because the higher value of the wine made there enables the owners to invest in more rigorous spraying regimes. It's the small farmers with lower grade vineyards who have suffered the most.

The hail damage appears to have been confined to the fringes of the Douro Superior, while sunburn has badly affected some parcels of Barroca in exposed locations.

~~~

Some rain is expected later today, which is probably welcome. Temperatures look around average (or a little below) for this week, but a good burst of intense heat is forecast for a week's time. Given the forward nature of the vintage, that looks nicely timed.

The Atlantic hurricane season has so far delivered four named tropical storms, but no serious systems to date. A hurricane proper may be forming off the Lesser Antilles, and will probably be christened Emily in the next 24 hours. However it's location makes it likely that it will blow itself out on the US mainland.

Behind that, the satellite photos are not showing any threats in the making.

Tom

JacobH · Post by **JacobH** » 10:55 Mon 01 Aug 2011

uncle tom wrote:From what I've been told, the mildew damage has not greatly affected the A grade vineyards, because the higher value of the wine made there enables the owners to invest in more rigorous spraying regimes. It's the small farmers with lower grade vineyards who have suffered the most.

That’s good, of course, from the point of view of the Vintage but pretty awful for the Douro in general...

uncle tom wrote:The hail damage appears to have been confined to the fringes of the Douro Superior, while sunburn has badly affected some parcels of Barroca in exposed locations.

Is that because Barroca is particularly susceptible to heat damage or just by chance?

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 11:02 Mon 01 Aug 2011

Is that because Barroca is particularly susceptible to heat damage or just by chance?

According to Miles Edlmann (a.k.a. The Douro Insider) - it's a Barroca thing.

http://malvedos.wordpress.com/2011/07/2 ... #more-4255

Tom

JacobH · Post by **JacobH** » 12:21 Mon 01 Aug 2011

Ah, thin skins, apparently; I suppose that makes sense.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 08:03 Thu 04 Aug 2011

The Malvedos blog is confirming that the vintage is fully two weeks ahead of schedule.

Current weather conditions are dry and partly overcast, with temperatures close to average. Some rain is expected on Saturday.

Temperatures are then expected to rise to give a full week of good heat, with clear skies.

Further afield, tropical storm Emily has been named, and is currently near stationary to the south of the Dominican Republic. Current projections indicate that it will travel toward Florida and then graze the US east coast, but slow moving systems do tend to confound the projections. Beyond that, the atlantic is looking pleasantly tranquil.

Tom

Post by **jdaw1** » 08:21 Thu 04 Aug 2011

uncle tom wrote:slow moving systems do tend to confound the projections.

Please, how do you know this to be so? Is there data?

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 08:31 Thu 04 Aug 2011

Please, how do you know this to be so? Is there data?

Try following them here:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

When they stall, they sometimes fill and disperse, or deviate widely. If you read the discussion text for this storm (why they do them all in upper case I don't know..) you can find the caveat:

THE UNCERTAINTY IN THE TRACK FORECAST CONTINUES TO BE LARGER THAN
NORMAL GIVEN THE CURRENT SLOW MOTION

Tom

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 09:45 Fri 05 Aug 2011

Yesterday, I wrote:

When they stall, they sometimes fill and disperse

- Emily is now no more, but there's reckoned to be a 60% chance that the remnants will re-group.

Tom

Post by **jdaw1** » 09:50 Fri 05 Aug 2011

Thank you for the link to the unpredictability of slow-moving storms.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 09:09 Fri 12 Aug 2011

The Douro appears to have enjoyed some good heat this past week, and the immediate outlook is for dry weather with a slight reduction in temperature. Although some moderate rain has appeared on the forecasts, the elevated fire risk ratings suggest that little, if any, has fallen.

Although the tropical storm Emily never got fully cyclonic, the cloud mass has hung together for the last week and is set to give northern France a serious soaking tomorrow night.

The system also appears to have deflected the recent pattern of atlantic rain clouds, that has given Scotland such a deluge of late.

The hurricane season is now playing London buses - after a few days of total calm (unusual for August) no fewer than four systems have started to emerge, three of which are in potentially threatening locations as far as Iberia is concerned.

None have yet developed sufficiently to be named however.

Tom

g-man · Post by **g-man** » 14:35 Fri 12 Aug 2011

waiting in excitement to put aside some p ort for the soon to be new g baby.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 09:33 Sun 21 Aug 2011

Weather in the Douro over the last week appears to have been largely unremarkable, and is now looking sultry and sticky - there may be some outbreaks of stormy rainfall this weekend.

The current forecasts are indicating sunny weather for the rest of the month, with temperatures around normal.

The activity in the Atlantic previously noted has brought some rain to the UK and France, and remnants of these systems also appear responsible for some patches of damp air over Iberia, but they are lacking in coherence by the time they cross the pond.

In fact the hurricane season is breaking records this year, having so far produced and dissipated eight named storms, without any of them reaching hurricane force - the first time that has happened since reliable records began in 1851.

A ninth storm, named Irene, is now approaching Puerto Rico en route to Cuba and Florida via the Dominican Republic and Haiti. With so much land in its path, it too may fail to achieve hurricane status.

Another system seemed to be forming over Cape Verde, but this now appears to be dispersing. The satellite photos show considerable cloud masses between Cape Verde and South America, which are likely to spawn some cyclonic systems over the next few days.

Tom

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 09:27 Mon 22 Aug 2011

There have been some worrying signs that autumn is coming early this year.

After a long period during which the Atlantic weather systems repeatedly soaked Scotland, they swung south when the remnants of Emily arrived and started impacting northern France instead.

The Atlantic pressure maps hinted that this southern trend might continue, but up until yesterday, the forecasts seemed confident that the weather systems would mostly pass north of Iberia.

That view is now changing, and the outlook for the end of the month is for patchy rain.

However, looking on the bright side, the grapes have had very little hydration of late, and will probably benefit from some pre-harvest refreshment.

But not too much.. Irene has just been uprated to hurricane status and is currently over Puerto Rico. It is tracking slightly further north than previously expected, and the eye of the storm may well move out to sea. Whilst it is currently projected to impact the US mainland, any further northward movement would make it a significant threat to europe.

Tom

Post by **DRT** » 10:59 Mon 22 Aug 2011

uncle tom wrote:There have been some worrying signs that autumn is coming early this year.

DRT's mother confirmed this yesterday when she witnessed the leaves starting to fall from her tree in Edinburgh.

RonnieRoots · Post by **RonnieRoots** » 11:39 Mon 22 Aug 2011

DRT wrote:
uncle tom wrote:There have been some worrying signs that autumn is coming early this year.
DRT's mother confirmed this yesterday when she witnessed the leaves starting to fall from her tree in Edinburgh.

I had the distinct feeling that autumn started end of June this year.

benread · Post by **benread** » 19:06 Mon 22 Aug 2011

DRT wrote:
uncle tom wrote:There have been some worrying signs that autumn is coming early this year.
DRT's mother confirmed this yesterday when she witnessed the leaves starting to fall from her tree in Edinburgh.

If I remember correctly from my Geography O level (yes I am that old!), Edinburgh is a few miles North of Oporto!

Post by **DRT** » 19:19 Mon 22 Aug 2011

benread wrote:
DRT wrote:
uncle tom wrote:There have been some worrying signs that autumn is coming early this year.
DRT's mother confirmed this yesterday when she witnessed the leaves starting to fall from her tree in Edinburgh.
If I remember correctly from my Geography O level (yes I am that old!), Edinburgh is a few miles North of Oporto!

But they have almost the same climate: cold winters and blistering hot summers. The only perceptible difference is that Edinburgh's summer only lasts for about three hours one afternoon in the middle of May.

Andy Velebil · Post by **Andy Velebil** » 03:18 Tue 23 Aug 2011

Was there even a summer this year? Even the normally hot L.A. has been relatively cool all summer. I can't remember having August days so cool before. Is this part of Global Warming, cause it feels like Global Cooling. Since I said that it's guaranteed to be 100+ the rest of the month

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 09:05 Tue 23 Aug 2011

Well, I don't know how much rain has fallen recently, but Portugal's fire risk map has turned a worrying shade of green..

http://www.meteo.pt/pt/ambiente/risco_incendio/

Tom

Post by **jdaw1** » 09:48 Tue 23 Aug 2011

Malvedos blog: Prospects for Harvest 2011, posted 23 August 2011.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 11:46 Tue 23 Aug 2011

Was there even a summer this year?

There were extreme temperatures towards the end of June, which caused problems with sunburn to the Barroca grapes, and there was a week of good, intense ripening heat earlier this month.

The outlook though is worrying - the projected trajectory for hurricane Irene has gone from Florida to Georgia, to South Carolina and now North Carolina..

..one more notch northward and this storm will come rolling back as a nasty Atlantic system instead of blowing itself out over the USA

The system that began to form and then disperse over Cape Verde a few days ago has begun to reassemble itself, and is now about 750 miles north west of the islands. Even if the passage toward cooler water stalls its development as a storm, there's a lot of water in those clouds that won't be very welcome - wherever it ends up..

Tom

Post by **jdaw1** » 21:33 Wed 24 Aug 2011

Malvedos blog: Touriga Nacional at Quinta do Tua, posted 24 August 2011.

Cynthia J · Post by **Cynthia J** » 19:02 Thu 25 Aug 2011

Just want to assure you all, no, I am not paying Julian to tout the Graham's Blog for us... But I do appreciate it! Thank you!!

Post by **jdaw1** » 20:11 Thu 25 Aug 2011

Cynthia J wrote:I am not paying

Already discussed in a different thread.

Andy Velebil · Post by **Andy Velebil** » 01:27 Fri 26 Aug 2011

Cynthia J wrote:Just want to assure you all, no, I am not paying Julian to tout the Graham's Blog for us... But I do appreciate it! Thank you!!

Could you at least send him some Six Grapes so he can stop drinking that really cheap stuff they sell in France he's now forced to buy and drink

Post by **jdaw1** » 10:22 Fri 26 Aug 2011

Andy mis-typed. He meant Graham and Dow 1970.

Andy Velebil · Post by **Andy Velebil** » 14:52 Fri 26 Aug 2011

jdaw1 wrote:Andy mis-typed. He meant Graham and Dow 1970.

didn't want to jump into the deep end first so I was going to ease into that.

Cynthia J · Post by **Cynthia J** » 20:36 Fri 26 Aug 2011

Just spotted I have been upgraded from cheap un-named ruby to Cockburns Special Reserve. Paul will be proud of me!

Post by **jdaw1** » 22:21 Fri 26 Aug 2011

The port rank increases with your number of posts. But careful! Not all ranks are Symington products.

Glenn E. · Post by **Glenn E.** » 02:21 Sat 27 Aug 2011

Cynthia J wrote:Just want to assure you all, no, I am not paying Julian to tout the Graham's Blog for us... But I do appreciate it! Thank you!!

It's not like he needs to, I think we all read it anyway.

Cynthia J · Post by **Cynthia J** » 19:36 Mon 29 Aug 2011

jdaw1 wrote:The port rank increases with your number of posts. But careful! Not all ranks are Symington products.

Oooh dear... better ask Derek to send me the list, so I know at what point I have to snow the boards with comments so I am never seen to rank as a ...

Post by **jdaw1** » 20:42 Mon 29 Aug 2011

The list has lengthened since this post, but it will last you a while.

benread · Post by **benread** » 07:02 Tue 30 Aug 2011

jdaw1 wrote:The list has lengthened since this post, but it will last you a while.

I still struggle with the concept that my next post (after this one - number 999) takes me from Bomfim 87 to Cruz 89

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 08:19 Wed 31 Aug 2011

Well, yesterday I got a text message telling me that the harvest is fully underway, and that it felt really wierd starting so early..

I assume that this is mostly wine grapes coming in at the moment, but might this go down as the earliest harvest ever?

- No doubt Miles will be trawling through the archives once the rush is over..!

The immediate weather outlook is a little worrying however, which might prompt some delays.

Hurricane Irene made the news big time, and made just enough landfall in the USA to avoid getting drawn into the Atlantic slingshot - the remains appear to be somewhere near Greenland now.

The rain mass that I noted eight days ago is about to come calling however, with a possibility of showers later today to be followed by a forecast of thunder storms throughout tomorrow. Hopefully the precipitation will not be as heavy as the forecasts are suggesting..

Further afield we have a tropical storm named Katia to keep an eye on - currently between Cape Verde and the Antilles, it's current forecast trajectory is toward Bermuda, from whence it is likely to swing back toward europe.

Both the trajectory and likely arrival time of the remnants, make it a substantive threat to the european vintage..

Tom

Cynthia J · Post by **Cynthia J** » 18:08 Sun 04 Sep 2011

Hi Tom, I was in the Douro on Wednesday - I think "fully underway" may be an overstatement, except perhaps in context of a single vineyard or maker. I saw only a few people harvesting - neighbours in the Vilariça valley and between Sra Ribeira and Canais with small holdings (none of them suppliers to SFE), and when driving down to PinhÃ£o through the Rio Torto valley we were stuck behind a lorry of grapes, no branding to tell us whose. Raul was at Malvedos on the Tuesday AM and said he thought he saw people in the vineyards at Aciprestes opposite Tua (Real Companhia Velha table wine vineyards, dont know if they have white there or not) but no one was visible when Gustavo and I arrived around 15:00 or so. Quinta do Sol has opened and Pedro Correia said they would start on the whites for Altano Thursday (1st). Friday night I was chatting with Adrian Bridge (yes, really!) and he said they had begun, I forget which vineyard... not one I recognised the name. Friends of mine in the Minho started their Vinho Verde harvest 24th August http://quintadegomariz.wordpress.com/

Paul was up at his vineyards at Netas, above Cavadinha, and Saturday left this comment on the blog:

I am in the Pinhao valley, having just done a long walk through my vineyards. It has rained quite a lot these last two days, the grapes are full and round. This evening the weather is clearing and we have ten days of sunny weather forecast. If that holds true, we will have some fabulous wines!..

Weather here in Gaia today (Sunday) cool (for us - 20 to 23 I imagine) and not a cloud has been seen all day, the sun has been really warm. Tomorrow (Mon 5th) I get a full update from Charles, I will post to Blog as fast as I can write and get approval. FYI: I am moving to Quinta do Tua for the season on Wednesday and will be blogging from there (god, EDP and whoever provides the wifi / broad band service willing!!!)

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 06:02 Mon 05 Sep 2011

Thanks for the update Cynthia - do keep us posted!!

Tom

Cynthia J · Post by **Cynthia J** » 06:37 Mon 05 Sep 2011

More from Paul Sunday night, he occasionally posts to Facebook for us:

The weather in the Douro cleared today (there was no rain yesterday, just overcast), exactly as the forecast said it would. A warm sunny afternoon followed by a good dry wind coming through the vineyards this evening. The rain of last week now needs to be followed by some days like today to bring the grapes to exactly the right condition, and that is exactly what is forecast for the next week.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 15:17 Thu 08 Sep 2011

Some very bullish news has come to me regarding the quality of fruit coming in for vinification (so far)..

..and Hurricane Katia now looks set for a classic slingshot across the atlantic - straight towards Scotland..

Derek, tell you're mum to batten down the hatches - Scotland could be the first landfall for this tim'rous beastie..

..but it may not be so wee.....

Tom

Post by **DRT** » 16:52 Thu 08 Sep 2011

uncle tom wrote:Derek, tell you're mum to batten down the hatches - Scotland could be the first landfall for this tim'rous beastie...

It's ok, Clan DRT are based on the east coast so will miss the worst of it. The good news is that Katia might give all those soap-dodging Weegies a long overdue wash

Cynthia J · Post by **Cynthia J** » 19:04 Thu 08 Sep 2011

Hot and brilliantly sunny today in the Douro. Saw Charles in passing, he continues happy and tells me no changes to the information posted earlier this week to Blog and Vintage Port Site about starting dates etc. Steve Rogerson (research winemaker) confirmed forecast is outstanding, just perfect, clear and warm (says she, melting on the doorstep at 8:00 at night).

Post by **DRT** » 19:25 Thu 08 Sep 2011

Thanks for the update, Cynthia, please keep them coming!

Axel P · Post by **Axel P** » 17:22 Tue 13 Sep 2011

Just talked to our good friend Miguel at Crasto and he is ready for a very good Vintage (Port). So, all, lets keep the fingers crossed for the next 3 weeks sun and warm temperatures.

Axel

g-man · Post by **g-man** » 18:08 Tue 13 Sep 2011

Looks like little g-man may indeed be a 2011 baby.

Here's to a great vintage!!!

Cynthia J · Post by **Cynthia J** » 05:48 Wed 14 Sep 2011

Spectacular sun and heat continue, couldnt do better, really... just about to pack up and walk over to Malvedos, meeting Charles for early AM walk through vineyards, so he can settle first couple days picking order. Of course its the barroca, but which parcel when... Henry is coming up from Gaia this morning with Juca and Fonseca, and tomorrow we start the harvest. I did a little video of conditions yesterday, panning a perfectly cloudless sky above cavadinha, but connection too slow to upload, darn it!! Besides wishing us a good harvest, could you please send good thoughts about the strength of the wifi up here? I would really appreciate it! beijinhos

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 08:34 Wed 14 Sep 2011

The weather outlook now looks very settled.

There is a weak tropical storm (Maria) moving up the eastern seaboard of the USA, but that looks set to head toward Newfoundland and the arctic. Behind that, the hurricane season now looks very docile, with no obvious threats at present.

Meanwhile current forecasts indicate a high pressure area deflecting any straggling bits of rain cloud north of Iberia.

Accuweather are suggesting some rain on about the 28th, but I can't see where they are getting that from - they may be playing the 'seasonal averages' game..

It's been a rough year for quantity, for a cocktail of reasons; but the prospects for quality are looking very promising. With a small beneficio to suffer, the producers will be hoping for wines of great quality.

- Do we have a general declaration in the making?

Much too early to say of course, and the biggest negative to that scenario looks economic rather than vinicultural. However, two years after a partial declaration, and four years after a general one would make it timely.

The alternative scenario of course is for those who didn't declare '09 to come in with '10 and give us a split declaration; but if that's on the cards, people are keeping very quiet about it - I've not picked up any excited buzz or chatter about the '10s so far..

Tom

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 01:22 Mon 19 Sep 2011

The weather forecasts indicate that the next ten days will probably stay fine, with good harvest weather. The only negative is that it may be slightly warmer than is ideal, so temperature control systems may come into their own this year..

Accuweather's forecast beyond that period changes radically by the day, but there is a lot of rain cloud brewing now between Africa and the Americas, so the end of the month might well see a change in the weather. However, by then this year's early harvest should be more or less finished.

- So far, so good!

Tom

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 09:33 Sat 24 Sep 2011

Having just returned from a two day flying visit to the Douro, I can confirm that the harvest weather is absolutely perfect...

Early enthusiasm for the Douro wines has cooled a little, but it is shaping up to be a first class port year - only the economic crisis is likely to stand in the way of a declaration.

The earliness of the vintage continues to amaze the producers - as of Sept 22nd (the average first picking day for port in the Cima Corgo) some 70% of the port grapes had been gathered, with the pickers working at full stretch to get the grapes in before they become overripe.

The expectation is that the harvest will be completed before the end of the month.

Tom

Post by **DRT** » 09:50 Sat 24 Sep 2011

This does all sound promising, but has there ever been a "great" VP year in which the harvest was completed before the end of September?