It has been an extraordinary year throughout Portugal. I have talked to people in their eighties who cannot recall a year so dry. Springs and wells have been drying up all over the country. But far from being a disaster, some good wines have been made from varieties like Touriga Nacional and Trincadeira that seem to withstand the drought. We ran out of water for irrigation of the younger vines as early as July but fortunately the summer months were not excessively hot. Yields are down considerably on average (by as much as 50% in parts of the Douro) largely due to the small size of the berries but thankfully there was not as much raisinisation as there might have been if we had had a late heatwave. The harvest began in warm weather but the rain that fell around 25th brought cooler temperatures for the last few days of picking. Having stopped the harvest for a week, we ended up picking our last grapes (Touriga Nacional) on 8th October. Inevitably the grapes picked after the rain have much lower baumés than those picked before. Our Alicante Bouschet picked in early October registered just 12 baumé. These wines may well complement the big, sometimes over-ripe reds picked early in the vintage. 

With the sun still shining, I arrive at the adega to taste our wines from 2012. Most are going through malo-lactic and we have a lagar of Touriga still fermenting. Our first wine of the vintage, a 50-50 blend of Syrah and Touriga Nacional from the upper part of the vineyard is settling down well at the end of malo-lactic. Deep in colour, it already smells and tastes fantastic with ripe, sappy fruit. It will form the base for a wonderful Duas Pedras to be bottled early next year. We have five barrels of wine from the old vines set aside for Pedra e Alma. These are still going through malo but taste powerful and dense if rather hot and heady in their overt ripeness. It will be interesting to see how they settle down. The fruit picked after the rain gave more softer, more open wine, some of which is a bit stretched and simple. 2012 will be a year when selection and careful blending is going to be paramount to make good wine.             

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 The silence on my website has been deafening over the past few weeks, at least to me. I have been busy finishing the third edition of my book Port and the Douro which is due to be published in the autumn. With nearly all the i's dotted and t's crossed I can go back to posting tasting notes on my website. One of the highlights of updating my book was spending a day with António Agrellos at Quinta do Noval. At the end of lunch he served two wondefrul wines, Noval Colheita 1968 (bottled in 2012) and Quinta do Noval Nacional 1994. I was too busy talking about clonal selection with Nuno Magalhães, viticultural consultant to Noval, to take detailed notes on the '68 Colheita, but suffice to say that it was a beautiful wine, quite sweet and rich in style with highlights of chocolate and torrefaction. It is bottled to order.  However I never miss an opportunity to take notes on a Nacional:

Quinta do Noval Nacional 1994 ****

Mid-deep, youthful colour as you would expect from an eigthteen year old wine of this calibre; wonderfully pure fragrance, surprisingly delicate, open and floral in character, cherry fruit, not especially big, powerful or muscular and seemingly quite forward (surprisingly so), pure, great finesse, long and very charming. Despite being ready to drink this is a beautifully poised Nacional which I suspect will surprise us with its longevity.  Only 240 cases made.  18

Location: Quinta do Noval
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I celebrated a significant birthday this year and with the help of some enthusiastic members of the Port Forum (click on ‘links’ for more information) we uncorked some splendid wines:

Viña Pomal 1961 (Bodegas Bilbainas) ***

I know little about the background to this wine which I bought at auction some years ago. There is no indication of ageing (crianza, reserva, gran reserva) but it has certainly spent some time in wood: still showing good brick red colour, woody – gamey aromas, still very recognisable as Rioja with soft strawberry fruit, a touch musty (bret perhaps?) but not dry or dried up, losing its gaminess with exposure to air. A curiosity but one that lives on. 15

Chateau Leoville Las Cases, St. Julien, 1961 *****

No one had thought about laying down any 1961 Claret for me so I am very grateful for the opportunity to taste this, one of the top wines from one of the best Bordeaux vintages of all time: retaining a lovely colour, still mid-deep with a thin brown rim; beautiful nose, elegant, floral and scented, naturally sweet, ripe blackcurrant fruit still very much in evidence with a touch of classic cedar too; still sweet, gentle, a touch leathery and gamey, drier towards the finish but smooth with wonderful poise. A great wine that shows the pedigree of the vintage. 19.5  

Location: Rowleys, Baslow, Derbyshire
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Meursault Les Rougeots 2004 (Coche-Dury) *****

Mid-straw in colour; lovely, taut minerally aromas, subdued smoky new oak with much more ti give on the nose; fine streak of acidity, very fresh, almost steely but with plenty of underlying richness, sublime length. Outstanding. Better still in 10 years. 19

Chateau Latour 1988 ****

Deep centre, purple rim, still youthful in appearance; very fine, open, ripe and scented: damsons, plums. Cedary and a ltouch of liquorice; rich, concentrated, firm, slightly green tannins, sweet plummy fruit, savoury, still fresh, elegant, long and linear. 18

Chateau Latour 1979 ** / ***

Still deep, surprisingly so; slightly damp  vegetal quality on the nose, lard and chip fat, drying out with a cedary character underlying; better on the palate, firm if dry fruit, still just about holding together, dry tannins, verging on lean but not unpleasnt to drink, some grce and elegance on the finish. Drink soon.  14.5

Chateau Margaux 1972

This is only the second time in my life that I have drunk first growth claret from the dismal 1972 vintage: pale colour, browing rim; hollow, slightly musty (but not corky), damp raspberries, weedy and growing thinner in the glass, just a vestige of fruit; very light and acidic, thin, dried out but still with a hint of past elegance. Short. Abrupt.  10

Clos Windsbuhl, Gewurtztaminer 2005 Vendage Tardive (Zind-Humbrecht) ****

 Pale; fresh yet restrained, very pure, apricots and crushed rose petals, still with much more to give; very fresh and zsety on the palate, lovely poise, spicy tropical flavours, well defined, great purity. Needs another 5 years plus.   18

Location: Dinner with Jonathan Owen, Dean Row, Wilmslow
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Corton Charlemagne 2004 (Bonneau de Martray) *****

Pale lemon in colour, youthful green tinge; restrained,  minerally, lemon butter and smoky oak evident, still needing time to integrate, quite taut, this wine never seems to age; lovely, taut minerally flavours, slightly more evolved on the palate than on the nose, fine acidity, quite steely but with a long, ripe finish, needs more time, at least another two years. 19

Chateau Pichon Lalande 1986 ****

Still mid-deep in colour with very little browning on the rim; fine, fragrant, showing some evolution on the nose, cedary, touch of resin, blackcurrant, slight soily undertone but fine and focuse; lovely lithe tannins on the palate, fine and firm, gentle and focused. Drink within the next 5 years. 17

Chateau Cheval Blanc 1988 ****

Mid-deep youthful colour; very fine, plummy, cedary fruit, opening up, delightful floral fragrance; firm, quite tight, (65% Cabernet Franc), some richness evident, still very fresh and quite sweet, quite plump with good depth and length. Very good but stops short of outstanding. 18   

Location: The Rookery, Ashford-in the-Water
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