Port Harvest Vintage Report's

A good vintage with a few Vintage and Single Quinta vintage ports produced. A note from Maurice and Ronald Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "There seems every hope that the wines of this vintage from the best districts should turn out to be really good."

A fair vintage with a few Single Quinta vintage ports produced. Some stunning tawny ports have matured beautifully in wood are are now drinking beautifully.

A fair vintage with a few Single Quinta vintage ports produced. Some stunning tawny ports have matured beautifully in wood are are now drinking beautifully. A note from Ronald Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "In the Rio Torto the grapes were wonderful and in perfect condition when they came to the lagares. The mostos were little greener than our mostos here, but they also had good colour."

A fair vintage with a few Single Quinta vintage ports produced. Some stunning tawny ports have matured beautifully in wood are are now drinking beautifully. A note from Ronald Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "The weather throughout the vintage was perfect and the temperatures in the lagares just what was required, and as the grapes were free of disease the Coronation vintage may turn out well, or at any rate better than expected."

A fair vintage with a few Single Quinta and vintage ports produced. The vintage was overshadowed by the '55 vintage which followed. A note from Ronald Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "The graduações (sugar readings) were good and the mostos (musts) had very excellent colour and had plenty of grip. They were also full of flavour and were most pleasing to the nose and palate. [1954s] should turn out excellent wines."

An outstanding Vintage Port year producing superbly balanced Vintage Ports which are fruity, smooth and concentrated. A note from Ronald Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "The musts on the whole were very pleasant and generally speaking the later lagares were better than the earlier ones. We think some very good wines should be made as the colour generally was good and they were also very nice on the nose and palate."

A poor vintage not declared by all shippers. Some stunning tawny ports have matured beautifully in wood are are now drinking beautifully.

A poor vintage not declared by all shippers. Some stunning tawny ports have matured beautifully in wood are are now drinking beautifully.

A good vintage declared by most shippers producing fragrant and delicate Vintage Ports. A note from Ronald Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "Throughout the vintage the weather was most unfavourable with showers of rain which developed some of the days into continual pouring rain causing the picking on several occasions to come to a stop. The lagares took quite a lot of work. I think possibly in the better districts some quite good wines will be made but I very much doubt if any will be outstanding. The quantity generally is very much less than was expected, Bomfim producing about 54 pipes which is the lowest production for very many years."

A poor vintage not declared by all shippers. Some stunning tawny ports have matured beautifully in wood are are now drinking beautifully.

A very good vintage declared by most shippers. A note from Ronald Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "We are optimistic in thinking that a great proportion of the wines will turn out exxceedingly well, as the majority of the mostos were very good indeed."

A good vintage not declared by most shippers but some excellent single quinta Vintage Ports were produced. A note from Ronald Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "The picking in a great many places required a very rigorous escolha i.e. selection which entails the women picking out the burnt and imperfect grapes from the bunches before putting them in the baskets. This naturally led to lagares taking longer to fill than usual"

A good vintage not declared by most shippers but some excellent single quinta Vintage Ports were produced. A note from Ronald Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "It is rare however to see grapes in all districts looking so perfect as this year, completely lacking in any form of disease and bunches requiring no escolha (selection) at all. some musts were very pleasant even if on the green side and some had very good colour. When grapes are as exceptionally perfect as they were this year one often gets surprises and wines turn out much better than expected."

An monumental Vintage of legendary proportions. One of the 20th Century's finest. A Vintage Port against which all others are judged. Declared by all the major Port Houses. Vintage Ports with their essential three components of fruit, tannin and elegance prodcued. Ronald Symington of the Symington Port Group, "Wonderful weather for the last three weeks, which was just what was required after the rain. The last weeks of the most perfect weather cleared up any podre (rot) that was threatening. Mostos (musts) look very nice indeed and seem to have plenty of colour even if perhaps lacking a little in guts. Graduations on the whole are very good and the grapes, especially in the early part of the vintage, produced a great deal of wine. Nights have been cool and temperatures have been very satisfactory. We have every hope that some very good wines will have been made."

A good vintage not declared by most shippers but some excellent single quinta Vintage Ports were produced. A note from James Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "The grapes are looking splendid and the prospects for 1964 are good both in regards to quality and quantity. The grapes are a little burnt due to great heat latterly and a little rain within the next 2 or 3 days would help to freshen up the grapes"

An average vintage with a few single quinta declarations.

An outstanding Vintage Port year producing Vintage Ports with superb structure, filled with fruit and tannins. James Symington of the Symington Port Group, "Musts everywhere showed higher than average readings and the colour is excellent. Yields on the other hand are the lowest for many years, some Quintas being as much as 30% down on their '64/5 productions.We are delighted with the prospects for the 1966's. It will be surprising indeed if 1966 does not prove to be an excellent vintage for Port."

A good vintage declared by most shippers producing attractive elegant Vintage Ports and some excellent single quinta Vintage Ports were produced. A note from Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "To sum up the 1967 Vintage, there can be little doubt that it all started a little too early in the best areas (for fear of the rain which had marred the cutting of our last three Vintages) and rather ‘fresh’ wines should result, but from all the ‘middle class’ areas excellent and sound wines will have been made, probably above average in quality. Quantity was however low as in '66."

A good vintage not declared by most shippers but some excellent single quinta Vintage Ports were produced. A note from Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "On the whole, 1968 should have produced good, stout wines, with reasonable to good colour and fine graduations. We can look forward to our December Tastings of the young wines with confidence. The ‘middle quality’ districts have probably produced better than average wines."

A good vintage not declared by most shippers but some excellent single quinta Vintage Ports were produced. A note from Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "The general feeling at the close of this 1969 Vintage is that very much better wines have been produced than was at times thought possible, but 1969 is certainly not going to a particularly outstanding Port Vintage. But as the previous nine Vintages (since '59) have all been good to outstanding, including three ‘Declared’ years, '60, '63 and '66, we are in no position to grumble at what looks like being no better than an ‘average’ year!"

An outstanding Vintage Port year producing Vintage Ports with ripe fruit flavours and concentrated tannins, great balance and structure. James Symington of the Symington Port Group, "It is unlikely that the early high fermentation temperatures will prove to have been dangerously high and it is likely that the 1970 wines will prove to be quite outstandingly good. Their colour is exceptional and very purple and they seem to have plenty of body. Everybody seems delighted with the 1970s and it would surprise nobody if the year produced a Vintage."

A poor vintage not declared by all shippers.

A good vintage not declared by most shippers but some excellent single quinta Vintage Ports were produced. A note from Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "Those wines made during the early part of the Vintage from the best Quintas, though in very short supply, show great promise and could well prove to be very well balanced and outstanding in quality."

A poor vintage not declared by all shippers.

A good vintage not declared by most shippers but some excellent single quinta Vintage Ports were produced. A note from Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "Colour appears to have been excellent everywhere and seldom can a Vintage have been made from such uniformly sound and healthy grapes with not a trace of rot or mould from start to finish. While it is of course too early to say if the best Quintas have produced a ‘Vintage 1974’, certainly there is nothing to indicate that anything except very fine wines have been made, but what is an absolute certainty is that even ‘middle class’ districts have produced outstandingly good wines, well above average, and the overall 1974 Port Wine Vintage must prove to be one of the best for very many years, and will go a long way to make up for the frankly rather ‘light’ wines of recent vintages."

A good vintage declared by most shippers producing attractive elegant Vintage Ports. It was the first year that Vintage Ports had to be bottled in Portugal rather than being shipped in cask and bottled in other countries. A note from Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "The quality of the grapes coming in was uniformly high and the continued hot fine weather increased the graduations. Some outstanding and maybe even ‘Vintage Worthy’ ports have been produced in the Upper Douro."

A good vintage not declared by most shippers but some excellent single quinta Vintage Ports were produced. A note from Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "In spite of the rain, graduations were uniformly high and the colour of all wines excellent. 1976 will certainly turn out to be a year of dark, full bodied Ports."

An outstanding Vintage Port year producing well structured and balanced Vintage Ports, marked by strong tannins, great elegance and staying power. The best wines have the tannin and structure to age for decades.. Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group, "in the Douro we have been fortunate and certainly good average wines have been made, and it is thought a few outstanding lotes (batches) will emerge."

A good vintage not declared by most shippers but some excellent single quinta Vintage Ports were produced although in tiny quantities. A note from Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "Musts showed exceptional colour and body and very dark heavy wines have certainly been made. Not a trace of mould or rot was to be seen on the grapes coming in, and seldom can a Vintage have been made from more uniformly healthy grapes."

A poor year with no declared vintage ports but some excellent single quinta vintage ports were produced.

A good Vintage Port year produced well-balanced, Vintage Ports with backbone, freshness and plenty of fruit. Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "From a price/purchasing angle this vintage has been completely calm and free from the tensions and speculative fever... But with the price of brandy almost double that of last year... the cost price of a pipe of 1980 Port will stand at 22-25% above that of a pipe in '79... from a quality point of view the prospects are excellent and a good stock of young, good quality full-bodied Port wine is now in existence."

A poor year with no declared vintage ports. James Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "It would seem that while there is nothing basically wrong with the 1981 wines, they are on the whole lacking in freshness and bouquet though some of the fermenting cubas [tanks] here at Bomfim did show attractive colour."

A good Vintage Port year with a dozen major shippers declaring and some excellent single quinta vintage ports produced. Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "The 1982 Vintage has certainly produced wines of above average quality from every point of view"

A very good Vintage Port year producing very muscular Vintage Ports with a great capacity for ageing. Michael Symington of the Symington Port Group which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated, "our own impression is that certainly above-average wines have been made throughout the Upper Douro and we are sure that some will prove to be outstanding... the fresh nose of the fermenting musts was most noticeable and reminded one to the similar lovely fermenting nose of the 1977s and 1980s... the overall production of the Douro region is some 20-25% down on last year."

A good vintage not declared by most shippers but some excellent single quinta Vintage Ports were produced although in tiny quantities. A note from James Symington of the Symington Port Group, which owns the well known names as W&J Graham Vintage Port, Dow Vintage Port and Warre Vintage Port, stated "The made wine looks very nice and has a very nice rich purple colour."