The Douro: bullish vintage talk from the Symingtons

Quinta dos Malvedos 24.08.15, photo credit Graham’s

Yesterday, Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos winery opened for business – just one day earlier than last year.  No doubt fingers and toes are crossed that this month is kinder than 2014 and 2013, when September rains dampened vines and spirits.

Still, Symington Family Estates, the Port House’s owners, are finding it difficult to contain their excitement.  Last month Miguel Potes, the Symington Family’s Senior Manager Communications, emailed me about “prospects for a great 2015 harvest,” specifically “(weather permitting) a very good year in the Douro (potentially a Vintage in the making…).”  

This week I received a more detailed report and, back at my desk after travels, took the opportunity to ask Potes what’s behind the fighting talk.  The bottom line is that grape maturation is “a little ahead of 2014,” even though the relatively cool August put back this year’s vintage starting dates in some quintas.  In fact the temperate August conditions have served to counterbalance drought conditions, resulting in “an ideal balance between sugar and acidity in the grapes.”

However, what really seems to have excited the team is that “Touriga Franca is looking in very fine condition,” which I’m told is “one of the prerequisites for a Vintage year” (because it’s a late ripening grape).  Although the report referred only to ideal sugar/acid balance, Potes clarified that Malvedos’ viticulturist Alexandre Mariz is particularly excited by the “amazing” phenolic [tannin] development of the Franca – “rarely, if ever, has he seen Touriga Franca berries showing such phenomenal colour at this stage. Given that the sugar and acidity is in good balance, and the colour showing so well, this points to perfectly ripened Touriga Franca.”

Potes confirmed that the weather forecast continues to be favorable – here’s hoping!  And here’s the latest vintage summary from Symington Family Estates:

“The Douro had a very auspicious start to the current viticultural year (November 2014 – October 2015) with abundant rainfall during the month of November making a significant contribution to the replenishment of the soil water levels. This followed on from an already very wet October (the second wettest in the last 50 years) and whilst technically October 2014 falls into the preceding viticultural year, the rainfall that seeped into the soil in effect made an important contribution to building up soil water reserves for the following season.

December was a totally different picture with well below-average precipitation, just 12mm falling at Bomfim compared to the monthly mean of 99.2mm. January and February followed this pattern, both being exceptionally dry. These three autumn/winter months were all colder than usual, helping to attenuate the rate of depletions in soil moisture levels during the start of the viticultural year, which a combination of the dry spell and [otherwise] hotter temperatures would have accelerated.

With the start of the growing season in March (beginning of the vines’ vegetative cycle following the winter dormancy), the dry spell continued and to compound the situation air temperatures began to rise markedly. In fact the period stretching from the beginning of the growing season to the initial stages of the ripening season, between March and July, was simultaneously the hottest and driest of the last 36 years in the Douro, based on Quinta do Bomfim weather station records (see fig.5).

Both March and April were hotter than average, but only marginally so. May and June though were exceptionally hot; May registered the second highest average temperatures and June the highest average maximum temperatures of the last 50 years. In May, the deviation in air temperature from the mean was 2 degrees Celsius and on June 28^th and 29^th at Quinta do Ataíde the thermometers recorded, respectively, 41ºC and 43ºC. Temperatures in July continued above-average but just narrowly and, significantly, August was cooler than usual. Although weather data for August show temperatures just a fraction below the monthly mean (see fig. 4), this doesn’t reflect the full picture. The temperature surges of the 20^th/21^st and of the 29^th/30^th notwithstanding, the fact is that most days throughout the month were cooler than normal, both daytime and nighttime temperatures reflecting this. Although the drought continued, with just 0.8mm of rainfall recorded at Bomfim (the 30 year average for August is 11.7mm), its effects have been counterbalanced by the more temperate weather pattern during August.

These propitious conditions have proven a real boon for the vines during this final stage of the maturation cycle providing for an ideal balance between sugar and acidity in the grapes. Rainfall is of course crucial but during the home stretch of the grapes’ maturation, air temperature is equally as important and the small size of the healthy bunches and berries on the vines augurs well for structured and concentrated wines. The Touriga Franca is looking in very fine condition, one of the prerequisites for a Vintage year and our viticulture and winemaking teams are very encouraged by this.

Another important aspect of the growing/maturation cycle was the rainfall pattern in the Douro Superior where just over half of our total vineyard area is located. Very significantly in this sub-region the rain came when it was most needed and when it came it arrived in useful quantity, falling evenly over several hours, allowing the soil to gradually absorb and thus more efficiently store the precious water. These additional reserves afforded the vines some further protection from the exceptionally hot conditions experienced between flowering and veraison (mid May to mid July, see fig. 5). In just one day — May 4^th — a bounty of rainfall was recorded at Ataíde: 35.2mm (the average for the whole month is 44.6mm). Similarly, on that same day, other Douro Superior weather stations registered much needed precipitation; 27mm at Vesuvio and 32mm at Vale Coelho (respective averages, for the whole month: 38.4mm and 49.4mm). June also brought above-average rainfall to some parts of the Douro Superior (Vale Coelho and Ataíde), helping to reduce the rainfall deficit there. Interestingly, to strike a direct comparison of the shortfall of rain at the end of June between the Douro Superior and the Cima Corgo, Ataíde had accumulated 64% of the normal precipitation for that period (against the 30 year mean), whilst Bomfim had 54%. As we know, this is usually the other way around.

Thus far, the viticultural year can therefore be divided into two clear-cut stages: a cold, relatively humid winter and a very dry and very hot spring and summer (excepting August).”

You can keep up-to-date with the vintage as it unfolds on Graham’s super-diligently updated and informative blog here.