News archives 2008

www.infoportwine.com
News archives 2008.
All articles older than 1 to 3 months are entered in News archives. We start with a title list with accompanying dates. You will find the full articles by linking the titles.

In 2004 the purchase of the RCV complex cost 1.4 million Euros. The alteration and design of the 1783 premises cost 5.2 million Euros. Next to the renovated complex an extension in modern design and with modern materials has been made (see photo by MeiaHora). Besides the exposition rooms the MdoD has a restaurant, a library, a reading room, a wine bar and a shop.

The museum (see: http://www.museudodouro.pt/intro.aspx) kicks off with two expositions in its new accommodation. One dedicated to the painter Tito Reboredo and one dedicated to Barão de Forrester, one of the Port Wine historical characters. He was a pioneer in the field of wine growing studies and became famous by his maps and photos. The name of the exposition is: Barão de Forrester, Razão e Sentimento: Uma história do Douro (Reason and Emotion: A history of the Douro) and is open until October 2009.
Another exposition, entitled Memória da Terra e do Vinho (Memory of the earth and the wine), has been organized in the annex behind the IVDP Solar.
The entrance charge for the three expositions is 5 Euros.

The museum project with eight or eleven annexes spread across the whole region (see our News item of 05/07/08) is still in preparation. In January the first one will be inaugurated in Tabuaço.

Extensive Tasting Vintages 1970.
27/12/08. A group of fourteen Port lovers, amongst whom Axel Probst (see: www.worldofport.de)
and participators to www.theportforum.com, will organize a tasting with over 30 Vintages 1970 in the Royal Air Force Club in London on January 30^th. The contributions come from the private cellars of the participators, all fervent collectors. Dominic Symington will be present as the VIP. Both Axel Probst and his co-organizer were, not coincidentally, born in 1970.

New products of Q. do Estanho.
27/12/08. Quinta do Estanho of Jaime Cardoso has launched three new products in het Hotel Tiara Park Atlantic Porto on November 21^{st .} Two are Port Wines:
- The Q. do Estanho Vintage 2006.
- The Q. do Estanho LBV 2003.
These wines can be bought on: http://vinhos.paravenda.net
See also: http://www.quintadoestanho.com

New packagings of G Porto.
27/12/08. G Porto is the brand which Port house Gilberts launched in 2001. Then Gilberts and Burmester were owned by the Amorim group which sold these brands to Caixanova/Sogevinus (also Cálem, Barros en Kopke) in 2005. See our News item of 02/07/05.
The design of G Porto was, especially in those days, spectacular. See www.gporto.com and our News item of 01/12/01.
Recently G Porto has marketed two metal packagings in a fifties style (see photo). The large box contains two half litre bottles, a 10 Years Old Tawny and a Vintage 1999. The small box contains 5 bottles of 5cl, a White, a Ruby, a Tawny, a 10 Years Old Tawny and a LBV 2003.
The boxes are available in: The Chech Republic, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Austria, Brazil, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Spain, France, Switzerland and in 2009 in the United States.

New visitors centre Gran Cruz in Gaia.
27/12/08. The French Gran Cruz there will change one of its buildings at its complex near the Douro in Vila Nova de Gaia into a visitors centre with a strong multimedia character.
On the ground floor there will be a reception and a shop, on the first floor an exposition room which can function as a gallery, on the second floor there will be a conference room and on the top floor there will be a tasting room and a terrace with a view of the Douro.
The investment will amount to about 4 million Euros and the construction time will be some 18 months.
(Source: Jornal de Notícias of 28/11/08.)

Wine tourism by Selected Wineries.
27/12/08. Selected Wineries is an initiative of the private Portuguese company W solutions. It wants to bring together a product selection of good quality wine producers. Participating companies are situated in the Alentejo and the Douro, in Minho, near Sétubal and in Vila Nova de Gaia. The company offers trips of one or more days, including only wine activities, but also a golf arrangement and a Oporto/Douro trip. From the Port Wine industry the participants are:
- Quinta do Seixo of Sogrape.
- Q. do Panascal of The Fladgate Partnership.
- Q. da Pacheca.
- The lodges in VN de Gaia of Sandeman and Ferreira of Sogrape and of Taylor’s and Croft of The Fladgate Partnership.
See: www.selectedwineries.com

Vintage City Tour in Oporto.
27/12/08. On November 14^th the STCP (public transport company) has presented a new city tour through Oporto and Vila Nova de Gaia in cooperation with the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto (IVDP). The main elements of the tour are a visit to the Museum of the Electrical Tram and a visit to the laboratories and the tasting room of the IVDP. The explanation will be in eight languages. At the IVDP you will get a glass of Port Wine and you can visit the shop/information room.
For more information see: http://www.stcp.pt/pt/alugueres/circuito_turistico.htm

Top 100 market prices of Liv-ex.
27/12/08. Liv-ex (see: http://www.liv-ex.com), the English electronic marketplace for wine traders, has made up a Top 100 from November 2007 to November 2008. In this list we find the following three Port Wine brands:
- Taylor’s at 72.
- Fonseca at 83.
- Graham’s at 88.
The Drinks Business (www.thedrinksbusiness.co.uk) has published a full analysis of the results in its December issue. The article can be found at:
http://liv-ex.typepad.com/livex_fine_wine_market_bl/2008/12/liv-ex-power-100-released.html

Sales numbers January - October 2008.
27/12/08. The sales results in October are again worse after a short improvement in September (see here). The latest numbers (export + Portugal) of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto are as follows:

-         the volume of all Port sold decreased by 6,3%.
-         the revenue of all Port sold decreased by 7,2%.

-         the volume of the Special Categories sold decreased by 13,2%.
-         the revenue of the Special Categories sold decreased also by 13,2%.

The complete information can be found at: http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?codPag=73&codSeccao=6&idioma=0

IVDP events calendar as of January 2009.
27/12/08. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto has planned the following events in Belgium:

. January 14th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Huy.
. January 14th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Luik/Liége.
. January 15th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Charleroi.
. January 21st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Brussels.
. January 21st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - School of Brussels, Fr.
. January 26th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - School of Brussels, Nl.
. February 16th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Kortrijk.
. February 19th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, La Louviere.

See also: http://www.ivdp.pt/eventos.asp

Revista de Vinhos no. 229, December 2008.
27/12/08. The December issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos contains the following information on Port Wine:

New products:
- The Burmester Tordiz 40 Years Old Tawny got 18.5 points from the editorial staff on a score chart from 0 to 20 and was chosen as one of the six selections of the month.
- The Guilherme Barbosa Alfarella 40 Years Old Tawny scored 17.5 points.
- The Quinta Seara D’Ordens got 16.5 points.

Encontro com o Vinho e Sabores:
António Falcão describes this event in Lisbon organized by Revista de Vinhos. One of the items was a competition with 69 wines judged by a group of specialized journalists. The winner in the category fortified wines was the Burmester 40 Years Old Tawny.

RCV/Q. do Ventozelo:
João Paulo Martins publishes an interview met Pedro Silva Reis of Real Companhia Velha with reference to the buy of Quinta do Ventozelo (see our News item of 04/10/08). The short interview contains surprisingly much news:
- The family had tried for 50 years to buy QdoV and to make it an unity with their own Quinta das Carvalhas (together totally 1,000 hectares with 300 hectares under vine).
- RCV hardly considers changes in the vineyards of QdoV. Only the maintaining of the 4 or 5 hectares with old vines is not yet certain.
- The product portfolio of QdoV will been reconsidered. RCV wants to adapt the style of the wines. The 2008 harvest has already been made by RCV.
- RCV will also market a rosé Port Wine in cooperation with The Fladgate Partnership. RCV already cooperates with the same group with the brand Delaforce (see our News item of 03/05/08).

TerraVino 2008.
27/12/08. During the third Mediterranean International Wine & Spirits Challenge TerraVino in Eilat, Israel from November 8^th to 13^th a gold medal was awarded to the Porto Cordovero, the first Kosher Port Wine (see our News item of 01/09/07).
For more information see: http://www.mediterraneaniwc.com/index_en.htm

Rodeo’s International Wine Competition 2008.
27/12/08. During the sixth Rodeo’s International Wine Competion in Houston on November 14th silver medals were awarded to the:
- Kopke 20 Years Old Tawny.
- Kopke Colheita 1988.
The competition contained 1,969 entries.
For more information see: http://www.rodeohouston.com/downloads/2008WineWinners.pdf

India Wine Challenge 2008.
27/12/08. During the India Wine Challenge in Delhi, India from December 2^nd to 4^th the Borges Vintage 2005 won a bronze medal.
The competition contained 501 entries.
For more information see: http://www.ife-india.com/ife2008/show_link64.asp

Top lists Wine Enthusiast 2008.
27/12/08. The American Wine Enthusiast Magazine has published its annual Best of the Year lists.
The Fonseca Quinta do Panascal Vintage 2004 is 54 in the Enthusiast 100 list with 94 points.
The Q. de la Rosa Vintage 2004 is 66 in the Top 100 Best Buys list with 93 points.
For more information see: http://www.winemag.com/homepage/index.asp

Grand Prix Magazyn Wino 2008.
27/12/08. Niepoort has won a bronze medal in the category best "Licor wine" with its 2005 Vintage in the Grand Prix Magazyn Wino of the Polish magazine of the same name.
See also: http://www.magazynwino.pl/aktualny_numer
(Source: aicep Portugal Global of 06/12/08.)

Top 200 Marcelo Copello - Brazil.
27/12/08. The Brazilian wine writer Marcelo Copello of the website Mar de Vinho has published his Top 200 in the newspaper Gazeta Mercantil for the eighth time. In the category sweet and fortified we find the following Port Wines:
- the Burmester Vintage 1995.
- the Ferreira Vintage 2000.
- the Quinta do Mourão São Leonardo Vintage 2000.
For more information see: http://www.mardevinho.com.br/vinhos/top-200-os-melhores-de-2008
The exchange rate of the Brazilian Real is 0.3 Euros.

The favourite wines of Tom Cannavan.
27/12/08. Tom Cannavan of Wine Pages has announced his favourite wines of the year for the twelfth time. In the category fortified he chose the Rozès Quinta do Grifo Vintage 2003.
For more see: http://www.wine-pages.com/features/wines-of-the-year-2008.shtml

Next publication.
06/12/08. Our next publication will not be in the weekend of January 3^rd and 4^th , but in the weekend of December 27^th and 28^th .

Quinta dos Murças sold to Finagra/Herdade do Esporão.
06/12/08. Finagra in Lisbon, the group of manager/owner João Roquette (brother of Jorge Roquette of Q. do Crasto), has bought Quinta dos Murças. Finagra’s most important possessions are Herdade do Esporão in Reguengos de Monsaraz in the Alentejo southeast of Évora and Herdade dos Perdigões. The company specializes in wine and olive oil. The most important wine brands are Esporão, Defesa and Monte Velho. The magnificent restored Tower of Esporão (1490) is a striking feature at the quinta and is used as a logo by the group. See: http://www.esporao.com/Pages/index.aspx

Quinta dos Murças is situated on the north bank of the Douro in Covelinhas and can be seen clearly from the road on the south bank between Peso da Régua and Pinhão. Since the mid thirties the company has been owned by the Pinto de Azevedo family lead by Dr. Vicente Bonfocchi. The area of QdosM is 150 hectares large of which some 60 hectares contain vineyards class A, fully south faced and on a level of 80 metres (near the river) to 295 metres. In 2004 QdosM produced some 10% of Douro wines, the rest was Port Wine. The total annual production is 120.000 litres of wine. Furthermore the company encloses 6,000 organic olive trees and an orange orchard. The house at the quinta is suitable for wine tourism.
The take-over price of QdosM has not been announced.

Finagra will invest some 3 million Euros in QdosM. The most important plans are the recovery and the planting of vineyards worth 1.5 million Euros and a new winery for one million Euros. The aim for QdosM is to realize 20% of the trade (in 2008 some 40 million) and 50% of the profits (in 2008 some 4 million) of the group within eight years.
(Source: Diário Económico of 04/11/08.)

Port Wine websites in strong development.
06/12/08. The year 2008 shows some fascinating developments in the field of Port Wine websites. They are becoming ever more consumer oriented and sometimes even a little interactive.
www.sandeman.eu and www.thevintageportsite.com of the Symington group were always like this, but not coincidentally both have been renewed this year (see our News items of 05/04/08: san and vps).
The Gourmet websites of Sogrape and Sandeman have also undergone special developments (see our News item of 06/09/08).
Last month we found three additional sites which all offer something special. Reviews can be found below.

Quevedo - first weblog of Port Wine producer.
06/12/08. The company of the Quevedo family in São João da Pesqueira has recently published a totally new site where, besides the normal information about a Port company, a weblog occupies a prominent place. The site is available in English and Portuguese.
The company says in a press release:
“With young adults as their main target, Quevedo will post around 12 articles per month, with content related not only to their wines, but also to the wine business as a whole, including tourism, culture and gastronomy. A winery's use of a blog to communicate their message is a growing trend in the major wine producing countries, and Quevedo is proud to be the first (producers) port wine blog in the world.”
So far the contributions to the blog are mainly by brother Óscar jr. (economist) and sister Claúdia Quevedo (winemaker), but friends also cooperate. Publications started on July 24^th and in the beginning it were often paragraphs of permanent pages on the site. Later on though, the harvest impressions were much more attractive. The big challenge will be to persevere in the frequency of the posting of new contributions.
See: http://quevedoportwine.com

Website Niepoort projects - information and special activities.
06/12/08. Besides the already existing, more or less standard, website www.niepoort-vinhos.com this company has started a separate site www.niepoort-projectos.com with more personal information and projects, like small lots of special own wines and sales of special products of other firms.
The site is only available in Portuguese.
The creators describe the philosophy of the site as: “Shopping, to know Dirk a little better and tell your opinions, suggestions and thoughts.”
Illustrating this two articles on the latest harvest and offers of Riesling and Moscatel wines of Dirk and wines of J.L. Chave from the Côtes-du-Rhône are published.

Croft Indulgence - a single type website.
06/12/08. The Fladgate Partnership (Taylor’s, Fonseca, Croft) has started with websites for one single product, definitely a renewal. The first www.croftpink.com was an obvious choice as this is such a deviating product within the range of Port Wine products.
But www.croftindulgence.com is solely dedicated to a Reserve (Ruby) Port. The site is only available in English.
Both sites are totally directed towards consumers.

Decanter video How to decant.
06/12/08. The English magazine Decanter has published a video in which Tim Stanley-Clarke demonstrates how a Vintage Port can be decanted. See: http://www.decanter.com/news/273004.html

Best of Wine Tourism Awards 2009.
06/12/08. The Great Wine Capitals Global Network has granted its sixth annual awards. Members of this group are: Bilbao-Rioja, Bordeaux, Cape Town, Florence, Melbourne, Mendoza, Oporto and San Francisco-Napa Valley.

A Global Winner Award was granted to Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo in the category Art and Culture for its Wine House in the railway station of Pinhão (see our News item of 05/04/08).

National Winner Awards were granted to:
- eco Tours Portugal in the category Wine Tourism Services.
- Casa das Pipas of Quinta do Portal in the category Sustainable Wine Tourism Practices.

For more information see: http://www.greatwinecapitals.com/bestof/view_list.php

News from Q. do Portal November 2008.
06/12/08. In its fifth Newsletter Vinhos, Quinta do Portal announces several new products including the following Port Wines:
-         the Vintage 2006. In June 25,194 bottles and 330 magnums were bottled of this third QdoP Vintage.
-         the Colheita 2000.
-         the LBV 2004. In July 25,946 bottles and 236 magnums were bottled unfiltered.

Sales numbers January - September 2008.
06/12/08. The, under the influence of the world economic crisis, very strong decrease of sales has surprisingly become less strong in September. The latest numbers (export + Portugal) of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto are as follows (between parentheses the figures of January to August):

-         the volume of all Port sold decreased by 5.6% (8.1%).
-         the revenue of all Port sold decreased by 6.8% (7.9%).

-         the volume of the Special Categories sold decreased by 6% (11.4%).
-         the revenue of the Special Categories sold decreased by 9.6% (11.4%).

The complete information can be found at: http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?codPag=73&codSeccao=6&idioma=0

IVDP events calendar as of December 2008.
06/12/08. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto has planned the following events in Belgium:

. December 17th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Leuven/Louvain.
. January 14th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Huy.
. January 14th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Luik/Liége.
. January 15th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Charleroi.
. January 21st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Brussels.
. January 21st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - School of Brussels, Fr.
. January 26th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - School of Brussels, Nl.
. February 16th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Kortrijk.
. February 19th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, La Louviere.

See also: http://www.ivdp.pt/eventos.asp

Revista de Vinhos no. 228, November 2008.
06/12/08. The only Port Wine news in the November issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos concerns a report on the harvest. The articles contain no news compared to our item of 01/11/08.

First Annual U.S. Professional Wine Buyers Competition 2008.
06/12/08. During the first edition of the First Annual U.S. Professional Wine Buyers Competition (see our News item of 05/07/08) in Santa Rosa on October 13^th and 14^th the only Port winner was the Quinta do Crasto LBV 2001 with a silver medal.
The competition contained 888 entries.
For more information and the other medals see: http://www.prowinebuyerscomp.info

International Value Wine Awards 2008.
06/12/08. In the third International Value Wine Awards for the best wines under 25 dollar of the Canadian Wine Access Magazine the following awards were granted to Port Wine products in the category After Dinner:

A Judges Choice went to the:
-         Fonseca Bin No. 27.
-         Taylor Fladgate White.
-         Dow’s LBV 2003.
-         Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve.

Category Champion was the Taylor Fladgate LBV 2002.

The competition contained over 1050 entries.
For more information see: http://www.valuewineawards.com/IVWA_Results_08.pdf

Harvest 2008.
01/11/08. This year we could hardly find any information on the harvest in the Port region. That’s why we have asked some people for a brief report. We thank them very much.

- On October 16^th Symington’s Dan Carbon wrote to us:
“This year we started picking even later than last year, which was already late. So we only just finished the harvest. But basically I can tell you that overall production was low due in part to ‘desavinho’ in April (poor fruit set) as it rained a lot in this month. As you know, low yields does not mean low quality, quite the contrary. What is true is that the summer was mild, without great heat, so the skins were soft and the colour of the musts was very good. Baumes were good and the grapes came in healthy. The greatest threat to the harvest may have been the recent mild weather, which increased the risk of mildew and oidium and like last year, those that were not attentive will have lost a lot of their crop, something that we were able to avoid.

It is very early but clearly some very good wines have been made at our properties in the Douro this year.”
For a more extensive report see: http://www.thevintageportsite.com/vintageReport.aspx?pg=9

- On October 17^th Adrian Bridge of The Fladgate Partnership wrote to us:
“The harvest of 2008 has been a very good one for overall quality of Ports produced.

This has been a dry year and at the start of September we were concerned that the grapes had not ripened sufficiently. This was a concern because of the threat of rain, particularly with an active hurricane season in the Carribean which often causes rain in Portugal. Indeed we did have storms and rain on 21st, 22nd and 23rd September. In the end little rain fell and the weather dramatically improved with warm (23 degrees centigrade) sunny days. Broadly the weather has continued this way and we have had an excellent harvest. The grapes have continued to ripen and reduce in volume so that the total volume of grapes and wine made has been reduced. In many ways this harvest has similarities to 1985. ipw: see 1).

We will be issuing shortly a summary of the viticultural year and the notes from our winemaker.”

1) - Mayson 1999: “A few outstanding, fleshy wines but caveat emptor.”
- Decanter 3* from 5.
- The Vintage Port Site (Symington): “A great classic Vintage, with concentrated, rich, potent wines. General declaration.”

- On October 18^th Pedro Mansilha Branco of Quinta do Portal wrote to us:
“We have finished the picking on the 16th October just before the return of the rain.

We had in general less 30% grapes than in 2007.

The White wines are very fresh with good aromatic intensity.

The Red wines have very good colour (better than expected) and we’re about to start some malolactic fermentations that we think will be quite long.

For the Ports the concentration is very, very big and this can easily lead to the declaration of Vintage Ports.”

See also: http://www.niepoort-vinhos.com/News2008HarvestReport.html of Niepoort.

New management IVDP.
01/11/08. On Tuesday October 21^st the Portuguese Minister of Agriculture has installed in Peso da Régua the new board of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto. Luciano Velhena Pereira was, as more or less expected, the successor of Jorge Monteiro as president. The appointment of the young Paulo Meneses Osório to vice president was a surprise.

Pereira (1946), lawyer and solicitor, was president of the CIRDD in 2004, in those times the interprofessional council for the Port industry. He is honorary member of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Viticultura e Enologia and member/founder of the Confraria dos Enófilos e Gastrónimos de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro.

Osório (1964), agricultural engineer, created together with many others the company Lavradores de Feitoria in 2000. From 2006 he has been director marketing and sales of Caves Vale do Rodo, the merger result of the cooperatives of Régua, Armamar and Tabuaço.

The minister called returning the Casa do Douro delegation to the Conselho Interprofessional, the present interprofessional council for the Port industry, the most important first task for the new management. He furthermore announced many changes, especially the transfer of the Douro wine activities from Oporto to Régua, being the main domicile of the IVDP since 2003. A new premises will be built on the bank of the Douro for this.

Take-overs in Port Wine industry?
01/11/08. On September 25^th the Portuguese newspaper Diário Económico wrote about several take-over plans in the Port industry.

Dão Sul, with the Port quintas Q. Sá De Baixo and Q. das Tecedeiras, is investigating the possible take-overs with some owners.

Herdade do Esperão, the well known wine firm from the Alentejo, is also looking for purchase possibilities in the Douro. Earlier this company was brought in connection with Q. do Ventozelo, but this jewel went to Real Companhia Velha (see our News item of 14/10/08).

The Spanish Sogevinus (Cálem, Burmester, Gilbert’s, Kopke, Barros) is still interested in take-overs, possibly together with Dão Sul.

Finally there are the plans of Joe Berardo to be active in the Douro through a purchase of possessions of the Casa do Douro (see our News item of 01/03/08). Berardo has said that announcements can be expected shortly.

New hotels in the Douro.
01/11/08. Till 2013, sixteen new hotels of high quality will be built in the Douro region, involved a total investment of 150 million Euros.
Early 2009, the quinta hotels Quinta da Pacheca in Lamego with 14 rooms and Quinta do Pégo with 10 rooms wil be inaugurated.
Q. do Pégo is owned by Danish investors and has strong ties with Rozès.

Annually the Douro region counts 240,000 stays. Hopes are high that this will increase to 500,000 stays in 2013. The average duration of the visits is now 1.5 night. It is expected to double this by 2013.
(Source: Público of 05/10/08.)

Croft at Decanter Fine Wine Encounter 2008.
01/11/08. The Decanter FWE is a tasting with hundreds of good wines. The Croft Vintage 1960 has been chosen as one of the Top 10, the best of the best of this event. The tasting is organized in the Landmark Hotel London NW1 in the weekend of November 22^nd and 23^rd from 11.00 to 17.00.
One of the masterclasses, on November 23^rd at 16.00 o’clock, concerns 50 Years of Croft where the following Ports can be tasted:
-         the Croft Vintages 1960, 1970, 2000 en 2003.
-         the Quinta da Roeda Vintages 1995 en 1997.
-         the Croft 10 Years Old Tawny.
-         the Croft Indulgence.
-         the Croft Pink.
For more information see: https://orders.ipcmediasecure.com/templates/tck/products.php

Sales numbers January - August 2008.
01/11/08. As written by us earlier the sales results are decreasing strongly under the influence of the world economic crisis. The latest numbers (export + Portugal) of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto are as follows:

-         the volume of all Port sold decreased by 8.1%.
-         the revenue of all Port sold decreased by 7.9%.

-         the volume of the Special Categories sold decreased by 11.4%.
-         the revenue of the Special Categories sold decreased by 11.4%.

The complete information can be found at: http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?codPag=73&codSeccao=6&idioma=0

IVDP events calendar as of November 2008.
01/11/08. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto has planned the following events in Belgium, Finland and Portugal:

Belgium:
. November 6th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Moeskroen/Mouscron.
. November 14th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Liège/Luik.

Finland:
. November 18th - Port and Douro wine tasting - Kansallissali, Helsinki - 15.00-19.00.

Portugal:
. October 31st-November 3rd - Encontro com o Vinho e Encontro com os Sabores - Pavilhão do Rio no Centro de Congressos de Lisboa, Junqueira.
. November 5th - Education cycle Hotel Schools - Escola Superior de Turismo de Seia Politécnico da Guarda Seia.
. November 6th - Education cycle Hotel Schools - Escola Profissional do Fundão - Fundão.
. November 7th - Education cycle Hotel Schools - Escola Superior de Gestão Politécnico de Castelo Branco - Idanha-a-Nova.
. November 22nd and 23rd - Third edition Port and Douro Wine Show - Convento do Beato, Lisbon.

See also: http://www.ivdp.pt/eventos.asp

Revista de Vinhos no. 227, October 2008.
01/11/08. The October issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos contains the following information on Port Wine:

New products:
The Niepoort Colheita 1998 received 17.5 points from the editorial staff on a score chart from 0 to 20 and the Niepoort 10 Years Old White received 16.5 points.

Recorking at Ferreira:
João Paulo Martins describes the recorking of the Ferreira stocks of Vintages in a fascinating article. From 1815 this Port house lays up 300 bottles of each made Vintage and there are still stocks of many years. Because the humidity in the cellars is high, Ferreira chooses to renew all corks every 25 years, a practice that is unusual in the sector. This time the complete stocks from before 1980 has to be handled, a job that will take months.

IWSC 2008 (2) - Trophy.
01/11/08. On June 7th we published the five Best of Class Gold Awards of the International Wine and Spirit Competitie (see here). Now the Trophy winners have also been announced. The Trophy for Port Wine was granted to the Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage 1994.
03/11/08. The competition contained 7,002 entries.
For more information see: http://www.iwsc.net/Trophies/Product_Trophies.ehtml?top=Trophies&bottom=Product%20Trophies

Wine Style Asia Awards 2008.
01/11/08. During the fifth Wine Style Asia Awards competition, part of the sixth Wine For Asia fair in Singapore from October 16^th to 18^th silver medals were granted to the following Port Wine products:
-         Vista Alegre Vintage 2005.
-         Niepoort LBV 2004.
For more information see: http://www.wineforasia.com/pdf/WSAA%20Results1.pdf

Harvest expectations 2008.
04/10/08. On July 7^th the ADVID still predicted an average decrease of the harvest with over 11%. The ADVID is the development institute for the viniculture in the Douro. On August 14^th a decrease of over 21% was expected.

In Comércio of August 20^th Miguel Sousa of Quinta do Portal was quoted who expected a 10% lower yield.

However, many winemakers in Portugal expect a good to even excellent quality.

On September 18^th Q. do Portal wrote in its Newsletter:
“We began picking on September 9th and stopped on the 12th. For now we have picked the grapes that had a correct maturation (12.5-13% vol) for White Douro wines, namely Malvasia Fina, Viosinho and Rabigato. We shall restart picking on the 18th. We've also picked some Cerceal, Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz for a new sparkling wine experience.
There is a shortage on the vintage of around 30%. The musts have very good acidity”

Every month The Vintage Portsite of the Symington group publishes extensive reports on the developments in the vineyards and the weather. Unfortunately these reports will be held up in September and October because all manpower is necessary for the harvest. The next news will come, later on, in November.

Agroportal published on September 20^th an article in which Pedro Silva Reis of Real Companhia Velha said:
“We have already started harvesting. The most is presenting very well, with good figures for the maturation. Now we are only praying that it will not rain a week long according to the weather forcast.”

RCV buys Quinta de Ventozelo.
04/10/08. Real Companhia Velha has bought Quinta de Ventozelo from the Spanish Grupo Proinsa. Proinsa, a family firm in canned fish, bought QdeV in 1999. The company invested much in the quinta and modernised the production and marketing effectively. However, the magnificent accommodation at Ventozelo was withdrawn from the public and was only used by the family.

QdeV is one of the largest and most beautiful quintas in the Douro region. The quinta is situated at the Douro in the Cima Corgo in Ervedosa do Douro, part of São João da Pesqueira and borders on Quinta das Carvalhas of RCV. The company covers 600 hectares which includes about 200 hectares of vineyards class A. The planning of Proinsa was to expand the area with vines to 250-300 hectares in 2010.

RCV was founded in 1756 by Marquis de Pombal and is the oldest, still existing Port company. Initially it was a governmental institution. The company, now owned by the Silva Reis family, was occupied and nationalized during the Portuguese revolution of 1974. Although this nationalization was later rectified, financial problems have remained afterwards for a long time. Large blocks of shares changed from owner and in 1990 a block of 40% ended up with the Casa do Douro which, because of that, got into dire straits itself. As the large shippers continued to trade with RCV during the period of nationalization, a deep gap was created between them and the Silva Reis family. RCV is still the only large Port producer not associated with the organization of large shippers (AEVP).
In recent years RCV has been mentioned as possible take-over candidate because the company would be too small to survive.
Managed by Pedro da Silva Reis and the Californian winemaker Jerry Luper the company took the offensive and created an impressive series of table wines.
Recently the company did its first small takeover. It bought the brand Delaforce from The Fladgate Partnership (see our News item of 03/05/08).
With the takeover of QdeV, RCVwill become a market party which should not be underestimated.

The conditions of the taking-over have not been announced. It is said that there is some talk about a kind of participation agreement in which the RCV possessions in Vila Real de Gaia play a part. These locations could be developed in the real-estate atmosphere, just like many others in Gaia.
(Source: Público of 01/09/08.)

Duorum: a new Port brand.
04/10/08. In January 2007, José Maria Soares Franco and João Portugal Ramos, two Portuguese top winemakers, set up the company Duorum-Vinhos, S.A. The company will be active in the Douro (Cima Corgo and Douro Superior) and will make table wines as well as Port Wines. The idea originated during a diner in Sintra in the summer of 2006.

The families of both founders have been friends for three generations. Both men studied together from 1972 to 1977 and did together a work placement between 1977 and 1978. After that Portugal Ramos went as a consultant to the Alentejo and Soares Franco went to Sogrape (Ferreira, Offley, Sandeman) in Oporto. At Sogrape, Soares Franco took over including the final responsibility for the legendary table wine Barca Velha from Fernando Nicolau de Almeida from 1987. Portugal Ramos worked for including Quinta do Carmo (Lafite Rothschild) and started, by planting five hectares of grapes, his own company near Estremoz in the Alentejo in 1990.

Duorum is Latin for ‘the two’, refering to including two winemakers and two regions in the Douro. The company is managed by José Maria Soares Franco together with the administrator Luís de Castro, winemaker José Luís Moreira da Silva and viniculturist João Perry Vidal. The distribution of the wines will go through the channels of Gestvinus, the holding of the companies of Portugal Ramos.

The grapes come from their own Quinta de Castelo Melhor with ca. 125 hectares in the freguesia of the same name in Concelho de Foz Côa and from the hired vineyards in Vinteiro with 11 hectares class A and from Q. do Custódio with 62 hectares class B and a small part of class C. Besides grapes are bought from farmers. The offer of this exceeded the expectations.

The first table wines from 2007 have been presented. In the field of Port Wines the company will produce LBV’s and Vintages. But for the first Vintage we will have to wait until April 2009 and for the first LBV to 2011.

The website of Duorum is still under construction: www.duorum.pt

IVDP events calendar as of October 2008.
04/10/08. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto has planned the following events in Belgium, Portugal and the United States:

Belgium:
. October 8th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Lokeren.
. October 9th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, St Niklaas.
. October 16th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Charleroi.
. October 20th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Bruxelles/Brussel, NL.
. October 21st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Bruxelles/Brussel, FR.
. October 23rd - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Liège/Luik.
. October 27th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Bruxelles/Brussel, FR.
. October 28th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Bruxelles/Brussel, NL.
. October 30th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Huy.
. October 31st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - School de Mons, Bergen/Mons.
. November 6th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Moeskroen/Mouscron.
. November 14th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Liège/Luik.

Portugal:
. October 31st-November 3rd - Encontro com o Vinho e Encontro com os Sabores - Pavilhão do Rio no Centro de Congressos de Lisboa, Junqueira.
. November 22nd and 23rd - Third edition Port and Douro Wine Show - Convento do Beato, Lisbon.

United States:
. October 15th - Seminar in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Newbury Colleges, Brookline, Massachusetts.
. October 16th - Two seminars in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
. October 16th - Tasting Portuguese Wines - Ritz Carlton Hotel, 4375 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey, Los Angelas.
. October 20th - Two seminars in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Johnson & Wales, Rhode Island.
. October 21st - Tasting Portuguese Wines - Harvard Club of Boston, 374 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston.
. October 22nd - Seminar in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Connecticut Culinary Institute, Hartford University, Connecticut.
. October 23rd - Seminar in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Astor Centre, New York.
. October 24th - Seminar for Sommeliers - American Sommelier Association - New York.

See also: http://www.ivdp.pt/eventos.asp

Revista de Vinhos no. 226, September 2008.
04/10/08. The September issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos contains the following information on Port Wine:

Museu do Douro:
Samuel Alemão describes the origin of this general Douro museum in Peso da Régua and the alteration and layout of the former premises of Real Companhia Velha to permanent settlement. The complex will be inaugurated on December 14^th .

David Guimaraens:
João Paulo Martins had a short interview with the winemaker of the Fladgate Partnership (Taylor, Fonseca, Croft). Among other things he says that the company has no plans to buy more quintas.

Quinta Nova:
Samuel Alemão describes Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo and their Wine House in Pinhão. He rates their tourist activities with 19 points on a score chart to 20.

Shop Kopke in Gaia:
João Paulo Martins reviews this new shop which also presents other products of Sogevinus. He rates a trio Colheitas as follows:
-         Kopke Colheita 1957 which 18.5 points.
-         Kopke Colheita 1941 which 18 points.
-         Kopke Colheita 1937 also with 18 points.

Concours International Vins de Montagne 2008.
04/10/08. On September 6^th the results were published of the 16^th Concours International Vins de Montagne which was organized by CERVIM in Italy from July 2^nd to 4^th. The following Port products are among the winners in the category liqueur wines:
-         the 10 Years Old Tawny of Quinta de Marrocos won a silver medal.
-         the 10 Years Old Tawny of Caves Santa Marta got a honourable mention.
The competition contained 534 entries.
For more information see: http://www.cervim.org/i-vini-vincitori-del-16-concorso-internazionale-vini-di-montagna.aspx

MUNDUSvini 2008.
04/10/08. During the eighth International Wine Prize Competition MUNDUSvini of Meiniger Verlag in Neustadt - Germany from August 29^th to September 7^th the following medals were awarded to Port Wine products:
-         Gold: Ferreira LBV 2000.
-         Silver : Vista Alegre LBV 2003 Unfiltered and Pousada LBV 2001.
The competition held 5,343 entries.
For more information see: http://www.mundusvini.de/5617288--~en~internationaler_weinpreis~ergebnisse~2008.html and choose: Weinart: Port/Madeira/Sherry; Herkunfstland: Portugal and Anbaugebiet: Douro.

New Zealand International Wine Show 2008.
04/10/08. During the New Zealand International Wine Show in September gold medals were granted to the following Port Wine products:
-         Dow’s 20 Years Old Tawny.
-         Graham’s The Tawny.
-         Quinta de la Rosa Tonel 12 10 Years Old Tawny.
-         Q. de la Rosa Vintage 2005.
The competition contained 2,273 entries.
For more information and the other medals see: http://www.nziws.co.nz/index.htm

Benefício 2008.
06/09/08. The IVDP (Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto) has set the benefício (production quotum) for the next harvest at 123,500 pipas (casks of 550 litres) of must (before adding aguardente). This is a reduction of 1,500 pipas compared to 2007 and slightly below the corresponding amount of sold Port Wine last year. All this was announced through the Comunicado de Vindima 2008 (harvest bulletin) of July 15^th , 2008.
The IVDP writes that it was cautious in the determination of the numbers of pipas, but the benefício is still generous taking into account the present market circumstances. On the one hand because the production surplus from the years 1999 to 2001 has not yet been entirely removed (still + 18,228 pipas), on the other hand because sales numbers in the first half year of 2008 have decreased by 8.2% and because late last year the Casa do Douro brought 14,500 pipas from its stocks into the market by selling them to three shippers (see our News item of 01/03/08).
The IVDP also reckons with an expected harvest decrease by 13% compared to 2007.

The development of the benefício was as follows during the past years:
2001: 154,000 pipas.
2002: 135,000 pipas or – 12.3%.
2003: 107,900 pipas or – 20.1%.
2004: 126,000 pipas or + 16.8%.
2005: 120,000 pipas or – 4.85%.
2006: 123,500 pipas or + 2.9%.
2007: 125,000 pipas or + 1%.
2008: 123,500 pipas or – 1.2%.

The full harvest bulletin can be found on the IVDP website: http://www.ivdp.pt/pt/docs/Comunicado%20Vindima%202008.pdf

Gourmet websites Sogrape and Sandeman.
06/09/08. Sogrape (including Ferreira, Offley and Sandeman) has been working for over a year on the construction of an extensive gourmet site with all its brandies, table wines and Port Wines. As of the end of June this site is also available in English.
http://eng.sogrape.pt/gourmet is part of the entire Sogrape site and was set up in cooperation with blueMedia whose publications include the wine magazine blueWine.

Gourmet Sogrape wants to be more than just a simple section on gastronomy. The sites covers the complete portfolio of all Sogrape wines and brandies.

The site consists of two main components under the collective heading Wine Expert:

- The Wine Aroma Wheel, an extensive taste wheel with three rings. The site offers a clear use instruction. The wheel was developed in 1990 by Ann C. Noble, Davis - USA. The two inner circles correspond to the more generic aromas, the outer circle with the more specific aromas. The wheel is also available in a laminated plastic version. See for this: www.winearomawheel.com

- The Gourmet part with as most important pages Wine and Recipes, Special Occasion, Quick Dishes and Create Your Own Menu.

Three links on the starting page help to begin with the orientation in the multitude of information: How to Use this Guide, Gourmet Sogrape A to Z and Recipe Quick Search.

Sandeman, just like the other Sogrape brands, has a page on the Sogrape site, but has fortunately maintained its own extensive website too and has recently renewed it entirely. See: www.sandeman.eu On this site Sandeman presents an attractive gourmet version with its own products. A link to the Arome Wheel on the Sogrape site as mentioned above has been placed on the Explore your Senses page.

Sales numbers first half year 2008.
06/09/08. As written by us earlier the sales results are decreasing strongly under the influence of the world economic crisis. The latest numbers regarding the first half year (export + Portugal) of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto are as follows:

-         the volume of all Port sold decreased by 8.2%.
-         the revenue of all Port sold decreased by 7.9%.

-         the volume of the Special Categories sold decreased by 8.9%.
-         the revenue of the Special Categories sold decreased by 9.8%.

The top 7 in volume of all Port sold were:

France 35.1%; - 3.8%.
The Netherlands 16.3%; - 12.5%.
Belgium 13%; - 8.6%.
Portugal 10%; - 0.3%.
The UK 5.5%; - 15.3%.
The USA 4.3%; - 10.7%.
Germany 4.2%; -13.9%.

The top 7 in revenue of all Port sold were:

France 30.2%; - 2%.
The Netherlands 13.5%; - 12%.
Portugal 12.1%; + 0.5%.
Belgium 11.2%; - 7.2%.
The USA 7.1%; - 16.4%.
The UK 5.7%; - 21.3%.
Canada 3.9%; - 18.6%.

The top 7 in volume of the Special Categories were:

France 20.67%; +1.2%.
The USA 18.35%; - 12%.
The UK 13.72%; - 16.4%.
Portugal 9.88%; + 0.5%.
Canada 9.8%; - 21.1%.
The Netherlands 8.68%; - 17.5%.
Belgium 3.89%; - 12.9%.

The top 7 in revenue of the Special Categories were:

The USA 18.78%; - 16.4%.
France 16.2%; - 0.7%.
Portugal 14.62%; + 2%.
Canada 10.86%; - 17.5%.
The UK 9.93%; - 25.3%.
The Netherlands 8.1%; - 13%.
Belgium 3.78%; - 14.3%.

The complete information can be found at:
http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?codPag=73&codSeccao=6&idioma=0

IVDP events calendar as of September 2008.
06/09/08. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto has planned the following events in Belgium, Portugal and the United States:

Belgium:
. September 4th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Kortrijk/Courtrai.
. September 11th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Brugge/Bruges.
. September 18th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Antwerpen/Anvers.
. September 25th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Dendermonde.
. October 2nd - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Louvain/Leuven.
. October 8th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Lokeren.
. October 9th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, St Niklaas.
. October 16th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Charleroi.
. October 20th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Bruxelles/Brussel, NL.
. October 21st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Bruxelles/Brussel, FR.
. October 23rd - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Liège/Luik.
. October 27th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Bruxelles/Brussel, FR.
. October 28th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Bruxelles/Brussel, NL.
. October 30th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Huy.
. October 31st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - School de Mons, Bergen/Mons.
. November 6th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Moeskroen/Mouscron.
. November 14th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Liège/Luik.

Portugal:
. November 22nd and 23rd - Third edition Port and Douro Wine Show - Convento do Beato, Lisbon.

United States:
. October 15th - Seminar in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Newbury Colleges, Brookline, Massachusetts.
. October 16th - Two seminars in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
. October 20th - Two seminars in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Johnson & Wales, Rhode Island.
. October 22nd - Seminar in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Connecticut Culinary Institute, Hartford University, Connecticut.
. October 23rd - Seminar in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Astor Centre, New York.
. October 24th - Seminar for Sommeliers - American Sommelier Association - New York.

See also: http://www.ivdp.pt/eventos.asp

Revista de Vinhos no. 225, August 2008.
06/09/08. The only Port Wine news in the August issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos is a short article by Luís Antunes about a tasting of three centuries of Ramos Pinto Vintages. The tasting was organized in the Centro Cultural de Belém (Lissabon) on June 26th and contained the years 1870, 1880, 1924, 1934, 1955, 1964, 1970, 1983, 1995, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Japan Wine Challenge 2008.
06/09/08. During the eleventh Japan Wine Challenge in Tokio from July 9^th to 11^th silver medals were awarded to the following Port products:
-         Ramos Pinto 20 Years Old Tawny.
-         Messias 10 Years Old Tawny.
The Ramos Pinto 20 Years Old Tawny was also crowned with de JWC Award for Best Portuguese Wine.
The competition contained over 1.700 entries.
For more information and the other awards see: www.japanwinechallenge.com

IWPZ 2008.
06/09/08. During the Internationale Weinprämierung Zürich from July 15^th to 18^th Silver Diplomas were granted to the following Port Wines:
-         Cálem Colheita 1998.
-         Cálem Vintage 2000.
-         Quinta Seara d’Ordens Vintage 2005.
The competition contained 2.071 entries.
For more information see: http://www.iwpz.ch

Large tourism project in Favaios.
02/08/08. A combination of a wine museum and sales activities has been created in Favaios, around road no. 322-3 from Pinhão to Alijó. The project is indicated as Enoteca Douro - Quinta da Avessada - Avessada Enoteca and Douro Wine Museum. The investment costs amount to 1.5 million Euros with co-funding of the Programa Comunitário Leader.
The complex, at the old premises of Quinta da Avessada, has not yet been officially inaugurated, but was already visited by 700 people. Probably, the inauguration will be on September 13th.
In 2002 the idea for this project came from Luis Barros during his study tourism at the University of Aveiro. His family already owns Q. da Avessada since five generations.
For the time being the opening hours are between 10.00 and 24.00 hours by appointment.
The address is Rua Direita, 26; 5070-272 Favaios.

The theme of the museum is: How are the Douro and Port Wines made these days? How were the same products made through the centuries? Who were the leading figures? The whole process and all traditions, old and new techniques and practices are shown.
The museum is interactive including films, plasma screens and touch screens.
The tour starts outside in the surrounding vineyards with information on the types of grapes and continues in the Theme Corridor through the gardens with illustrations of over 100 years of work and machines in the vineyards. The second step is the room with Lagares with a short film and constant reproduction of pictures on the walls accompanied by the sound of the matching traditional music. The last step is the Aging Room with explanation about the final phase of the wine production. In this room a wine tasting finally follows, with Moscatel wines too. There is also the possibility to consult a database with products and producers and to see more information about the Douro region.

The sales activities contain a joint shop, but separate rooms for companies are also available. Until now 17 producers already offer their wines, compotes and other products. Amongst them are Roseira e Rico, Adega Cooperativa de Favaios, Caves Messias, Quinta de Marrocos, Q. do Côtto, Q. Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo and Q. de Ventozelo.

The organization, managed by director Luis Henrique, offers many programs:
-         a tour through the museum of 1.5 hour costs 12 Euros.
-         the same tour combined with a regional gastronomic tasting costs 20 Euros.
-         the price for a lunch at the nearby Quinta da Faísca is 32 Euros.
-         the price for a three-days arrangement of at least 20 persons has still to be fixed. On the third day of this tour there will be a tasting in the new Q. Nova wine centre in the railway station of Pinhão (see our News item of 05/04/08).
-         this also applies to the price of the possibility to blend your own wine accompanied by the present specialists.
-         during harvest time there is the possibility of two and three days-stays at the Hotel Quinta do Silval (see Round trip 14.2e.), Hotel Solar de Canavarros and Pousada Barão de Forrester, ranging from 125 to 300 Euros for groups of at least 20 persons.

For more information see www.enotecadouro.com (still under construction, probably ready early September).

Sandeman’s the Don eighty years old.
02/08/08. This year the characteristic Sandeman logo, the Don, is celebrating its eightieth birthday. It is the ideal combination of Portugal and Spain, of Port and Sherry. The design was made in the twenties of the last century when many artists were active in the world of advertising. Sandeman had already published beautiful posters and Ramos Pinto also has a nice collection from around that time.

The real story on the Don’s origin is told in the book Sandeman: Two Hundred Years of Port and Sherry by Ned Halley, published in 1990 as part of the bicentenary of this company which markets Port, Sherry, Madeira, Brandy and table wines:

“A representative of the Lochend Printing Co. of Victoria Street, London, called upon Sandeman’s Advertising Manager, Eric Marshall-Hardy, in that October of 1928. Marshall-Hardy assured him that he was always interested to see poster and showcard ideas and invited him to submit a design proposal. The task was given to one of the three artists in the Lochend studio, George Massiot-Brown. He produced the figure dressed in stylised Portuguese student’s cape and wide-brimmed hat, just like those worn by the ‘caballeros’ of Jerez (Spain), silhouetted for dramatic effect, with the sole dash of colour the port in the glass held up for inspection. The background he made yellow-green. Brown, well aware that French poster artists were currently in vogue, signed the artwork G. Massiot - conveniently camouflaging his Scots origins.

“Eric Marshall-Hardy was immediately impressed and showed it to Walter Sandeman, who purchased the artwork and all rights in it for 50 guineas. The Lochend Printing Co. were later to receive a first order of 1,000 16-sheet colour posters. “The first advertising in which the Don featured appears to have been the national press campaign of 1930. In 1934 the figure was included on the Company’s letterheads and on the labels of Apitiv fino sherry. Perhaps the first time he was referred to as the Don rather than as the Sandeman was in 1935 when he figured prominently on the label of the newly launched tawny port, Dry Don. The first decanters made as Don figures - now collectors’ pieces - had been made by Royal Doulton as early as 1931.”

In 1965 the Don was brought into life in a first TV commercial entitled “Find the Don and you will find Sandeman”, now still to find in the section TV Spots at: http://www.sandeman.eu/homepage/en

BPI sells last stocks Borges.
02/08/08. The Portuguese bank Banco Português de Investimento (BPI) will sell the last 12,5% of its stocks in the Sociedade dos Vinhos Borges, S.A. to majority shareholder Grupo José Maria Vieira. The conveyance will happen this year when the last details have been arranged. The sales price has not been announced.
Borges was founded in 1884 by the Banco Borges & Irmão, which was bought later on by the Banco do Fomento & Exterior, which was finally bought by BPI. BPI sold the majority of the company to the distributor of Borges the Grupo Vieira and kept 24,99% of the stocks. Four years ago BPI already sold 12,49% to the Grupo Vieira.
The Grupo Vieira has an annual turnover of about 50 million Euros. Half by the coffee trade with the brand Torrié and half by Borges (sales some 10 million Euros) and the distribution of other brands like Pitu and Louis Roederer.

Second website Cockburn’s.
02/08/08. In May Fortune Brands/Beam Global, the distributor of Cockburn’s in the United Kingdom, announced a renewal and promotion campaign (see our News item of 07/06/08).
Within this framework the website www.cockburns.com was launched early July. The site has a nice design. Though many dark colours have been used, the texts are clear. Besides the usual product information and the general information on Port Wine, the site emphasizes that enjoying Port is not bound by rules. A competition has even been organized on this theme which, however, is open to UK residents only.

In 2001 the distributor in the United States has already published the website www.cockburns-usa.com. This site also offers good information.

It is strikes that on both sites nothing is said about the sale in 2006 of all Cockburn’s properties to The Symington Family Estates which will do the production for Cockburn’s during 20 years (see our News item of 02/09/06).

Casa do Visconde de Chanceleiros for sale.
02/08/08. One of the very first (spring 1999) luxury accomodations in the Port region, the Casa do Visconde de Chanceleiros of the Böcking family (see Round trip 14.3b.) is for sale. This Manor House, west of Pinhão, is also frequently used for group activities, among them those by the Douro Boys. The price asked amounts to 4.7 million Euros.
For more information see: http://www.engelvoelkers.com/pt/pt/Wohnimmobilien/details.php?exp=126482&search_id=101911&SERVER=#
(Source: http://port-blog.typepad.com/ of 15/07/08.)

Sales numbers January - May 2008.
02/08/08. The sales results in the first five months of 2008 have strongly decreased compared to last year. The latest numbers (export + Portugal) of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto are as follows:

-         the volume of all Port sold decreased by 7.7%.
-         the revenue of all Port sold decreased by 7.3%.

-         the volume of the Special Categories sold decreased by 9.3%.
-         the revenue of the Special Categories sold decreased by 9.8%.

The complete information can be found at: http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?idioma=0&codPag=73&codSeccao=6&

IVDP events calendar as of August 2008.
02/08/08. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto has planned the following events in Belgium and the United States:

Belgium:
. September 4th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Kortrijk/Courtrai.
. September 11th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Brugge/Bruges.
. September 18th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Antwerpen/Anvers.
. September 25th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Dendermonde.
. October 2nd - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Louvain/Leuven.
. October 8th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Lokeren.
. October 9th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, St Niklaas.
. October 16th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Charleroi.
. October 20th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Bruxelles/Brussel, NL.
. October 21st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Bruxelles/Brussel, FR.
. October 23rd - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Liège/Luik.
. October 27th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Bruxelles/Brussel, FR.
. October 28th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Bruxelles/Brussel, NL.
. October 30th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Huy.
. October 31st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - School de Mons, Bergen/Mons.
. November 6th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Moeskroen/Mouscron.
. November 14th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Liège/Luik.

United States:
. October 15th - Seminar in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Newbury Colleges, Brookline, Massachusetts.
. October 16th - Two seminars in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
. October 20th - Two seminars in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Johnson & Wales, Rhode Island.
. October 22nd - Seminar in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Connecticut Culinary Institute, Hartford University, Connecticut.
. October 23rd - Seminar in Hotel school EUA, 2nd round - Astor Centre, New York.
. October 24th - Seminar for Sommeliers - American Sommelier Association - New York.

See also: http://www.ivdp.pt/eventos.asp

Revista de Vinhos no. 224, July 2008.
02/08/08. The only Port news in the July issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos concerns some new products:
-         The Reserva Ruby of Quinta Seara D’Ordens got 16 points from the editorial staff on a score chart from 0 to 20. The Reserva Tawny of the same quinta got 15 points.
-         The Croft Pink got 15 points and was chosen as one of the six selections of the month.

Indy International Wine Competition 2008.
02/08/08. During the 17^th Indy International Wine Competition in Indiana-USA from June 26^th to 28^th the following awards were granted to Port products from Portugal:
-         Smith Woodhouse 20 Years Old Tawny: Concordence Gold Award and Best of Class Port Style.
-         Graham’s LBV 2003: Concordance Gold Award.
-         Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage 1998 : Gold Award.
-         Quinta do Crasto Vintage 2004: Silver Award.
The competition contained 2,504 entries.
For more information see: http://www.in.gov/iwc/awards/

Croft Pink (2): a reply by Adrian Bridge.
05/07/08. On June 7^th we published our judgment of the first rosé “Port Wine”, the Croft Pink of The Fladgate Partnership (see here).
On June 19^th Adrian Bridge, the general manager of TFP, reacted to that article in an extensive e-mail (see here).
On June 20^th we answered him (see here) and on the same day Mr Bridge finished the discussion (see here).
We hope to make the information about this rosé Port Wine a little more complete with the integral publication of this exchange of ideas.

Mail Bridge 19/06/08.
            Dear Mr and Mrs Gerdingh

I was very interested to read your article in the latest edition of Port Wine News regarding Croft Pink Port. Thank you for raising some important points. I thought that you and your readers would like to hear my views on some of your comments.

The first thing I should say is that we have been very positively surprised by the favourable reaction to Croft Pink from trade, press and consumers. The response in The Netherlands has been exceptionally enthusiastic. We have also received a lot of support from many of our competitors and we know that some of them are actively considering launching similar products after the next harvest.

As you rightly point out, our objectives in introducing Croft Pink included the extension of port consumption into the warmer months and the recruitment of new consumers to the category. So far Pink is achieving both these objectives. However, I do not agree with your assumption that Pink will not appeal to consumers who already love Port. So far our experience indicates the contrary. A great many journalists, retailers and consumers who understand and appreciate the traditional Port styles also love Pink. They understand that it is a different style of Port, intended for more relaxed and informal consumption, but is nevertheless a legitimate and above all enjoyable expression of the category.

Of course there will always be traditionalists who are suspicious of new trends and developments. We only need to recall the initial reaction to Late Bottled Vintage, when Taylor's launched it, which many people said would destroy Vintage Port given Taylor's reputation, whereas in reality it helped to revitalise it and broaden its appeal. We can ask ourselves whether the quality end of the Port category would be as succesful today if it had never been invented.

This brings me to another important point. As a new style Pink has stimulated lively interest and debate. As Port lovers and supporters I am sure that, like us, you welcome developments which heighten awareness of the Port category. In today's cluttered and complex wine world, it is increasingly important that we find reasons for consumers - particularly new consumers - to take an interest in Port. We need to ensure that Port stays relevant while preserving its heritage and traditions.

As a very 'traditional', long established and family-owned Port producer, focused on the classic premium styles, we are the last people who would want to damage the core values and heritage of the Port category. It is vital that these are protected and we appreciate the work that you and others are doing to communicate them to the consumer. However we do need to keep moving the category forward and ensure that it is never perceived as tired and old fashioned.

The IVDP understands this and has been very supportive of the Croft Pink project. However the Board of the IVDP was also very clear that it would not authorise any product that did not represent real quality. We worked hard on our trials and fully shared our results with the IVDP so that they could understand what we were trying to achieve and be assured that we were producing a high quality product - this will provide the benchmark for future producers of this style of Port. There was, in our view, absolutely no question of a 'demolition of standards' but a recognition that the outstanding grapes of the Douro Valley are capable of expressing themselves in many different and interesting ways, from the magnificent depth and power of a classic Vintage Port to the fresh and crisp berry fruit characters of Croft Pink.

Among these various expressions of the Douro grapes are, of course, the Douro table wines. And here I would like to make a correction, if I may. We have certainly never criticised our colleagues who produce table wines. On the contrary we have often said that the Douro is capable of producing exceptional still wines. Indeed, our company distributes in Portugal the table wines of one of the best Douro producers. What we have said is that our company does not, at the moment, have any plans to diversify into this area. We believe that our efforts are more effectively directed at our core busines of Port. We firmly believe, as I am sure you do, that Port has a great future and deserves focus and dedication as one of the world's great classic wines. We feel that Port and Douro Table wines are talking to different niches of the market and that the former should not carry the weight of promoting the latter. We certainly feel uncomfortable with the message being received in some places that Douro producers have 'given up on Port' and only see a future for our valley in table wine which is why we have been vigorous in our support of Port.

Finally, yes, we do take pride in what we do. Whether we are superior or not, is not for us to judge. However I can assure you that we remain completely focused, as a family run business, on doing everything, from the vineyard to the bottle, in a dedicated, enthusiastic and professional manner.

This of course includes making Croft Pink, and I would encourage any of your readers who have not done so to give it a try and make up their own minds. Port is serious - but it can also be fun!

Keep up the good work.

Yours sincerely

Adrian Bridge, Managing Director The Fladgate Partnership, 19/06/08.

Mail infoportwine 20/06/08.
Dear Mr Bridge,

Thanks for your reply. We hope that you will allow us to publish it integrally on our site on July 5th.

With regard to our judgement we would like to state that this was not made as "traditionalists", but based on our observation that Croft Pink does not show any Port characteristics in smell and taste. This could never be said about the LBV. Even people who do not appreciate White Ports admit that these whites show these characteristics very well.
But let us agree to disagree.

We are happy that you do not wish to criticise your colleagues who also produce Douro table wines. We will have seen the wrong quotes on this issue.

With best regards,

Elly and Herman Gerdingh, 20/06/08.

Mail Bridge 20/06/08.
Dear Mr & Mrs Gerdingh

I am happy that you publish my reply in full.

I do not expect to always agree with everyone and I very much respect your view. I am passionate about Port and its future which I am known to vigorously defend. My message does not always conform to what everyone would like. As a trade there has always been a tendency to follow each other, sometimes without always thinking about strategy. I am told that six new rosé Port projects are in development!

I hope that you will be my guest for lunch when you are next in Vila Nova de Gaia.

Kind regards

Adrian

Adrian Bridge, Managing Director The Fladgate Partnership, 20/06/08.

Vintages 2006 (2).
05/07/08. On May 3^rd we wrote that not many Vintages of the year 2006 were announced yet (see here). Now we are able to report that Quinta de Roriz has also declared a Vintage 2006 which will be marketed in October of this year.

New shop IVDP in Oporto.
05/07/08. On March 1st, 2007 the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto closed its shop at the airport in Oporto. Now only the shop at the Lisbon airport remains and of course the shops in its Solares.
Recently a shop has been opened in the IVDP premises at the Rua Ferreira Borges no. 27 in Oporto. This is not the official head quarters but the largest establishment of the institute.
This shop is open from Monday to Saturday from 10.00 to 19.00.

It is special that the IVDP will also organize guided tours through its laboratories and the department of the permanent tasting panel (Câmara de Provadores). The entry price for this tour is however not yet known.

Lots of news from the Museu do Douro. 05/07/08.

Recently the new website www.museudodouro.pt was published. The site was not available for (too) long as it was being renewed. There is (for now?) only a Portuguese version.
A new temporary exhibition was organized in the room behind the Solar do Vinho do Porto of the IVDP in the Rua da Ferreirinha in Peso da Régua. Entitled Memória da Terra e do Vinho (memory of the earth and the wine) attention is paid to o Território (the territory), a História (the history), a Vinha (the vineyard), o Vinho (the wine), do Douro para o Mundo (of the Douro for the world) and Imagens do Vinho (images of the wine). The exhibition is open from May 18th from Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 to 12.30 and from 14.00 to 18.00 uur.
The definitive museum in the former winery of Real Companhia Velha will be inaugurated on December 14th this year (see also Round trip 9c.).
The Museu do Douro will really be a museum of the entire region with a chain of eleven annexes. The places and the themes of these annexes are:

- Favaios: do Pão e do Vinho (of the bread and the wine).

- Lamego: da Gastronomia (of the gastronomy).

- Barca de Alva: do Caminho de Ferro (of the railway).

- Vila Real: da Electricidade (of the electricity).

- Vila Nova de Foz Côa: da Amêndoa (of the almond).

- Resende: do Arrais e da Cereja (of the sailor of a Rabelo and the cherry).

- São João da Pesqueira: do Vinho (of the wine).

- Freixo de Espada à Cinta: da Seda (of the silk).

- Vila Nova de Foz Côa: do Somagre (a plant formerly used to tan skins).

- Mesão Frio: de Barqueiros (of the bargemen).

- Tabuaço: o Museu do Imaginário (the museum of the imaginary).

IVDP events calendar as of July 2008.
05/07/08. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto has planned the following events in Belgium and the United States:

Belgium:
. September 4th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Kortrijk/Courtrai.
. September 11th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Brugge/Bruges.
. September 18th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Antwerpen/Anvers.
. September 25th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Dendermonde.
. October 2nd - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Louvain/Leuven.
. October 8th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Lokeren.
. October 9th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, St Niklaas.
. October 16th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Charleroi.
. October 20th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Bruxelles/Brussel.
. October 21st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Bruxelles/Brussel.
. October 23rd - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Liège/Luik.
. October 27th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Bruxelles/Brussel.
. October 28th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Bruxelles/Brussel.
. October 30th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Huy.
. October 31st - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - School de Mons, Bergen/Mons.
. November 6th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Cigars club, Moeskroen/Mouscron.
. November 14th - Port Wine, Chocolate, cigars - Hotelschool, Liège/Luik.

New product:
The Messias Dry Old White received 16.5 points from the editorial staff on a score chart from 0 to 20. This wine is more than 10 years old. It belongs to the new category of Aged Whites or Vinhos do Porto Branco com Indicação de Idade de 10 Anos.

Douro tourism 2:
The article by Samuel Alemão in the last issue (see here) seems to have hurt. In the box with readers letters Ana Magarida Morgado of The Fladgate Partnership and Paulo Outeiro, outgoing president of the Rota do Vinho do Porto, reacted. However they cannot remove the fact that the large houses in the Douro do not open their quintas (excepted a single one) and that this makes tourism not yet fully developed.

Quinta do Vale Meão:
João Afonso describes the rich history of this 81 hectares quinta in de Douro Superior, ever owned by Dona Ferreirinha and in 1952 the place where Fernando Nicolau de Almeida made the first Barca Velha table wine. The tasting notes are only of Douro wines.

Competition with special jury.
05/07/08. Most jury members of wine competitions are wine writers or wine producers. However a competition will now be organized in Santa Rosa, California with only professional wine buyers of supermarkets, specialty wine shops, restaurants and airlines as jury members. As far as we know this will be the first one of its kind in the world. So, competitors will not only be judged, but also receive a chance for sale contacts. We are curious if this formula will have extra appeal to the market.
All of the above is with regards to the U.S. Professional Wine Buyers Competition & Tasting which will be organized by Wine Competition Management LLC from October 13^th to 14^th . This private company also organizes the National Women’s Wine Competition and the International Green Wine Competition.
See: http://www.prowinebuyerscomp.info/

Concurso Nacional de Vinhos Engarrafados 2008 - Santarém.
05/07/08. During the second Concurso Nacional de Vinhos Engarrafados in Santarém, Portugal from May 13^th to 16^th Prestígio Awards were granted to the following Port products:
-         Offley LBV 2003.
-         Ramos Pinto Quinta de Ervamoira Vintage 2005.
-         Vallegre Q. de Valle Longo Vintage 2005.
-         Taylor’s LBV 2002.
-         Messias 20 Years Old Tawny.
-         Messias Vintage 2005.
-         Vallegre Vista Allegre Vintage 2005.
-         Ferreira Vintage 2000.
-         Caves Vale do Rodo Vintage 2004.
-         Taylor’s Q. de Terra Feita Vintage 2005.
The competition contained 653 entries.
For more information and the other awards see: http://cnema.pt/xms/files/Imprensa/2008/CNVE2008/PremiadosCNVE2008.pdf

Sélections Mondiales des Vins 2008 - Québec.
05/07/08. During the fifteenth Sélections Mondiales des Vins in Québec, Canada from May 30^th to June 5^th two of the seven Grand Gold Medals were awarded to the following Port products:
-         Krohn Colheita 1987.
-         Romariz Colheita 1963.
The competition contained 2,131 entries.
For more information and the other medals see:http://smvcanada.ca/resultats.aspx

Concurso de Vinhos ACIC 2008 - Coïmbra, Portugal.
05/07/08. During the tenth Concurso de Vinhos ACIC in Coïmbra, Portugal from June 4th to 5th gold medals were awarded to the following Port products:
-   Caves Vale do Rodo Reccua 10 Years Old Tawny (Cooperativa Peso da Régua, Tabuaço en Armamar).
-   Gran Cruz 30 Years Old Tawny.
-   Quinta do Estanho 20 Years Old Tawny.
-   Quinta do Estanho 30 Years Old Tawny.
-   Quinta do Estanho Vintage 1996.
For more information see: http://www.acic.pt/

San Francisco International Wine Competition 2008.
05/07/08. During the SF International Wine Competition from June 13th to 15th bronze medals were awarded to the following real Port products:
-         Osborne LBV 2001.
-         Sandeman Vau Vintage 2000.
-         Sandeman 20 Years Old Tawny.
-         Smith Woodhouse 20 Years Old Tawny.
For more information see: http://www.sfwinecomp.com/results.html

IWC 2008 (2) - Trophy’s.
05/07/08. O June 7th we published the gold medal winners of the International Wine Challenge (see here). The following of them won a Trophy:
-         The Tawny Port Trophy: Ramos Pinto 30 Years Old Tawny.
-         The Colheita Port Trophy: Burmester Colheita 1989.
-         The Crusted Port Trophy: Dow’s Crusted Bottled 2002.
-         The LBV Port Trophy: Graham’s LBV 2003.
-         The Vintage Port Trophy : Taylor’s/Marks & Spencer Vintage 1994.
For more information see: http://www.internationalwinechallenge.com/trophies.aspx

The first rosé “Port Wine”.
07/06/08. A fierce discussion bursted out on internet forums immediately after the first press reports, at the end of January, about the launch of a rosé Port Wine by The Fladgate Partnership (TFP). We could add little to this before we laid hands on the product ourselves. Unfortunately we had to wait a long time for it, but now it has arrived.

Generally the first reactions of lovers and professionals were devastating: sugar water, not a hint of Port, a women’s drink, too much alcohol, etc.

The first idea for this rosé Port came from Adrian Bridge, general manager of TFP. The marketing aim was to produce a new Port style that would attract new consumers, probably women. An other goal is to free Port Wine from its winter character. This was successful with the Aged Tawnies, but the company wants more.

The team of winemaker David Guimaraes has worked on the development of the product during three years.

The grapes for this rosé are the same as for the Ruby types and are all from Quinta da Roêda (Croft) near Pinhão.
Obviously contact with the skins was limited in the production process to get less colour. The cold fermentation (15° C) took seven days, almost twice the time normally used for Port. Decanting was also done cooled.
An alcohol percentage of 19.5% and a sugar level of 94 gms, just like the Ruby types, was chosen after many tests. There was no cask maturing.
Besides the blend for Croft Pink, TFP made a blend composed by Marks & Spencer marketed by this English supermarket concern with its own name.
The production volume is substantial: 40,000 boxes of 9 litres or 480,000 bottles of 0.75 litres.

The IVDP (Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto) accompanied the project during a year. According to its president Jorge Monteiro, the project was accepted because the institute sees innovation as necessary. That is why the current rules were interpreted flexibly.

Drinks Branding Group Dare that designed the bottle and accompanied the advertising and marketing campaign, saw the presentation of Croft Pink.
England was the first market where the rosé Port was available. Later the product will be rolled out in other important countries.
The period of Valentine’s Day, February 14^th , was chosen as the launching moment for both versions as a useful leg up to the summer and to not cannibalise winter sales.
However, Marks & Spencer marketed its version earlier than TFP/Croft and thus generated much of the first publicity.

We came to the following review:
Type: no special indication, so it is a Standard Port like the Ruby, Tawny and White with a IVDP rating of 5.
Price: 11.95 Euros, directly from importer to consumer, postage costs excluded. For comparison: recently we paid in shops of a large Dutch drinks chain 12.49 Euros for a Dow’s LBV 2000 and 15,99 for a Dow's 10 Years Old Tawny (both IVDP rating 8).
To serve: chilled or over ice.
Presentation: good and beautiful (see photographs).
Colour: nice full rosé.
Smell: fresh, a little prickling, a bit fruity, not a hint of Port characteristics.
Taste: very sweet, lightly prickling, no Port characteristics.
Generally: Of course we have judged it chilled. If you do not follow the instructions, you have no reason to complain.
This Croft Pink is especially a marketing concept and less a winegrower’s product. Some producers will be jealous of it, but as serious consumers it does not cheer us up.
Maybe this rosé deserves some 80 points as an “alcopop”. But as a Port Wine the judgement has to be even less than the IVDP rating of 5 (about equivalent with a Parker rating of 70).

It is impossible to trivialize this project.
The IVDP accompanied it during a year, TFP is a serious company, worked on it during three years and produced 360,000 litres of this rosé Port Wine.
On the other hand the producers of this product may aim too easy at the especially summery popularity of rosé table wines and at the success of other popular drinks.
Croft Pink is not an option for consumers who already love Port. Moreover we do not believe that it will be successful with the younger, female Port drinker as TFP hope. At the most this will happen with the younger, female NOT Port drinker who will not easily be won for the real Port Wine by this.
We do not exclude that the product will be a success, but consider it improbable that it will still be asked for after five years.

Finally this introduction has two amazing aspects:

The IVDP breaks the current rules without any discussion in the right institutions. The type does not exist in these rules and the colour does not exist either. The trick is that they call it a light Ruby, but that one actually already existed, namely the light red Standard Tawny. We do not hope that this is a license for further demolition of the quality standards in the Port industry.
Time after time the TFP people criticise their colleagues who also produce Douro table wines and they count themselves superior with their Special Category Ports. But this Pink Port, as wine as well as Port, stays far behind these abused table wines. We wish TFP a lot of success, even with Croft Pink, but why do they have to behave themselves so annoying and unprofessionally?

Sources: Decanter of 28/01/08, Diário de Notícias of 04/04/08, Sol Confidential of 23/02/08, Forum FTLOP, www.croftpink.com

New design Cockburn’s.
07/06/08. In July Fortune Brands/Beam Global will market a complete new design for Cockburn’s in the UK. This action is part of an investment in the brand of 2 million pounds. Cockburn’s is the largest Port brand in the UK.

Beam has included ‘at a glance’ tasting notes on the Cockburn’s labelling as well as food-matching tips to encourage consumers to ‘experiment beyond the cheese board’.
Cockburn’s Light White Port and the 10 and 20 Years Old Tawny’s will be packaged in 50 cl clear bottles (see photograph).

Janice Moorfield, Cockburn’s brand manager, said about these changes:
“This radical new look breaks with category conventions.”
“The new packaging will be appreciated by Cockburn’s core consumers and also appeal to men aged 35+ who are interested in exploring the delights of food and wine-matching and seeking a new, premium drinking experience.”
(Source: www.just-drinks.com of 23/05/08.)

Sogevinus starts shop in Gaia.
07/06/08. Late April, the holding of Cálem, Burmester, Gilberts, Barros and Kopke, the Spanish Sogevinus, has started a shop with its own products such as Ports, Douro table wines, Brandy’s, Aguardente’s and olive oils. The address is Avenida Ramos Pinto 280 following the Avenida Diago Leite at the river quay in Vila Nova de Gaia.
Of course many of the sold wines can be tasted, like the Barros Colheita 1968, Kopke Colheita 1976, Cálem LBV 1997 Tradicional, Burmester 30 Years Old Tawny and Gilberts Vintage 1999.

Sales numbers January - March 2008.
07/06/08. The most important sales numbers increased over the entire year 2007 (see here). However the numbers of the first quarter in 2008 are negative. Anyway, this was also the case in the first quarter in 2007 (see here). The latest numbers (export + Portugal) of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto are as follows:

-         the volume of all Port sold decreased by 6.5%.
-         the revenue of all Port sold decreased by 3.8%.

-         the volume of the Special Categories sold was unchanged.
-         the revenue of the Special Categories sold decreased by 1.7%.

The complete information can be found at: http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?idioma=0&codPag=73&codSeccao=6&

IVDP events calendar as of June 2008.
07/06/08. At the moment no events have been planned by the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto.

Revista de Vinhos no. 222, May 2008.
07/06/08. The May issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos contains the following information on Port Wine:

New product:
The Krohn Colheita 1983 got 18 points from the editorial staff on a score chart of 0 to 20.

Douro tourism:
Samuel Alemão describes the general situation of tourism in the Douro region. He quotes Olga Martins, manager of Lavradores de Feitoria: “There are many people with good intentions, but nothing is done.” And Cristiano van Zeller says in the article: “90% of the Douro is closed. Tourism here lacks quality and this will only improve when the large houses in the region open the doors.”

LBV tasting:
The RdeV tasting panel judged 37 LBV’s of different years. João Paulo Martins confirms the good price/quality ratio, increasing demand in the world.
The winners are the Burmester 2003 and the Poças 2002 both with 17 points.
At the bottom of the list we find the Andresen 2003 and the Quinta da Peça 1999 both with 15 points and the Magelhães 2001 with 14.5 points.

Quinta de la Rosa:
Samuel Alemão describes this company west of Pinhão (see Round trip 14.1h.). He rates the tourist activities with 15 points on a score chart to 20.

Master of Port in France.
07/06/08. Romain Iltis from the Elzas has won the thirteenth edition of the Concours for the best French sommelier in the field of Port Wine in Paris on April 28^th . Romain is 26 years old and has been working as a sommelier in restaurant Verte Vallée in Munster for three years. In 2007 he finished second in the concours for the best young sommelier.
Pascal Leonetti won the second prize and Philippe Troussard the third prize.

The concours is organized by the Syndicat des Grandes Marques de Porto (SGMP) in France with the support of the Union de la Sommellerie Francaise and het Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto. The SGMP consists of Andresen, Ferreira, Graham’s, Gran Cruz, Niepoort, Ramos Pinto, Rozès, Sandeman, Quinta do Noval and Taylor’s.

On June 12^th the prizes are presented by the Portuguese ambassador Antonio Monteiro at the Embassy in Paris.

International Wine Challenge 2008.
07/06/08. During the International Wine Challenge of William Reed Business Media in association with the magazine Wine & Spirit the following gold medals were awarded to Port products:
-         Graham’s LBV 2003.
-         Graham’s Crusted 2002.
-         Dow’s Crusted 2002.
-         Dow’s Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira Vintage 2005.
-         Dow’s Vintage 1985.
-         Warre’s Vintage 1985.
-         Smith Woodhouse Quinta da Madelena Vintage 1996.
-         Sandeman 30 Years Old Tawny.
-         Sandeman LBV 2000.
-         Kopke Vintage 2005.
-         Burmester Colheita 1989.
-         Ramos Pinto 30 Years Old Tawny.
-         Churchill Quinta da Gricha Vintage 2006.
-         Marks and Spencer - Taylor’s Vintage 1994.
-         Mentzendorff & Co - Taylor’s Vintage 2002.
The competition contained over 9,000 entries.
The Trophy winners will be announced on June 16^th .
For more information and the many other awards see: http://www.internationalwinechallenge.com/ and choose Style: Fortified and Country: Portugal.

International Wine and Spirit Competition 2008.
07/06/08. During the International Wine and Spirit Competition the following Best of Class Gold Awards were granted to Port products:
-         Late Bottled Vintage 1995: Smith Woodhouse Bottle Matured LBV 1995.
-         Late Bottled Vintage 2003: Graham’s LBV 2003.
-         Single Quinta Vintage 1996: Smith Woodhouse Quinta da Madalena Vintage 1996.
-         Single Quinta Vintage 1998: Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas 1998.
-         Single Quinta Vintage 1999 : Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos 1999.
The Product Trophies will be announced on September 30^th .
The entry numbers for this competition are not yet known because the southern hemisphere deadlines not yet have expired.
For more information and the many other awards see: http://www.iwsc.net/Awards/Award_Search.ehtml?top=Awards&arg0=Fortified%20Wines&bottom=Award%20Search and choose Country: Portugal.

Decanter World Wine Awards 2008.
07/06/08. During the Decanter World Wine Awards competition the following Regional Trophies were awarded to Port products:
-         Non Vintage Port Trophy Under 10 pounds: Graham’s Reserve Ruby.
-         Non Vintage Port Trophy Over 10 pounds : Sandeman 30 Years Old Tawny.
-         Vintage Port Trophy Over 10 pounds: Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage 1994.
The competition contained 9,219 entries.
For more information and the many other awards see: http://www.decanter.com/worldwineawards/2008/results.php and choose Search by location: Portugal and Port.

Les Citadelles du Vin 2008 - Bourg-sur-Gironde.
07/06/08. During the ninth Citadelles du Vin in Bourg-sur-Gironde near Bordeaux from May 17th to 18th a Trophee Excellence was awarded to the Romariz LBV 2003.
The competition contained 1,107 entries.
For more information see: http://www.citadellesduvin.com/search_palmares.php and choose Europa: Portugal and Apellation: DOC Porto.

Critics Challenge 2008 - San Diego.
07/06/08. During the fifth Critics Challenge International Wine Competition in San Diego from May 24th to 25th Critics Platinum Awards were granted to the following Port products:
-         Dow's Vintage 1994.
-         Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage 2005.
-         Sandeman 20 Years Old Tawny.
The competition contained nearly 1,700 entries.
For more information and the other awards see: http://www.winereviewonline.com/critics_challenge_medals_ABC.cfm

Fladgate sells Delaforce to Real Companhia Velha.
03/05/08. On December 31^st, 2007 The Fladgate Partnership (TFP) sold the Port Wine brand Delaforce to Real Companhia Velha (RCV). RCV only acquired the trademark. The stocks and other properties remain in possession of TFP. TFP has firmed a production contract with RCV to continue delivering Port Wine to Delaforce.

Delaforce was one of the TFP brands (Taylor, Fonseca, Croft) for seven years. In September 2001 TFP bought the Croft and Delaforce Port Wine activities (together operating under the name CD Vintners) from Diageo (see our News item of 09/09/01).

Adrian Bridge, TFP’s managing director, wrote us the following regarding the philosophy behind this deal:

“Delaforce is a leader in Germany and is very strong in Holland. These are both commodity markets and despite Delaforce having a premium over its rivals in Germany the pressure on margins is tough due to listing fees. Like all markets this is best overcome by a focus on the market and the end customer and I believe that Delaforce is in a different market segment to our other brands of Taylor, Fonseca and Croft. As such it requires special focus from someone better equipped in this area which RCV is.

“I believe that one of the key issues for the Port industry is that there are too many brands. Those people who talk about the recent consolidations and worry about the top five companies controlling 80% of the industry miss the point. Production might have consolidated but the number of brands have not. I see the future as Port brands being experts in some key markets as there are few brands that are truly global these days - our Taylor's brand is one of the few. RCV has a focus on Germany and can therefore do a better job than us with Delaforce. Our team is now able to focus our energy on three brands not four - concentration of effort will yield results. You only need to look at the growth of our company in special category Ports to see that not diversifying into table wine has been a good strategy until now.”

Not many 2006 Vintages.
03/05/08. In 2006 the harvest was of variable quality. The Symington group started picking on September 11^th. On September 13^th, 21^st, 23^rd and 24^th it rained. Dry winds fortunately limited the damage.

But it takes more for a broad declared Vintage. The wines not only have to be good, but they must have the quality to be able to mature and improve over the decades. Also of large significance are the economy and market situation.

Inventories by João Paulo Martins and on The Port Forum temporarily give the following meager results:

- Sogrape (Ferreira, Offley, Sandeman) and The Fladgate Partnership (Taylor, Fonseca, Croft) will not declare a Vintage.

- All samples of Sogevinus (Cálem, Burmester, Gilbert’s, Barros, Kopke) have been approved by the IVDP, but until now the decision to produce has only been taken for the Kopke Quinta de S. Luíz.

- The Symington Family Estates will declare the Q. do Vesúvio and the Dow’s Q. da Senhora da Ribeira for direct sale and the Dow’s Q. do Bomfim, Graham’s Q. dos Malvedos and Warre’s Q. da Cavadinha for some years of storage. For comparison: at the moment the Malvedos 1998 and the Bomfim and Cavadinha of 1995 are on the marktet.

- Cockburn’s Q. da Gricha.

- Q. do Portal.

Sources:
João Paulo Martins: Público/Fugas d.d. 19/04/08 and
http://www.theportforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1507&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Sales numbers entire 2007 (2).
03/05/08. On April 5^th we already published the most important sales numbers over 2007 (see here). Now we give a survey of the numbers for the most important countries:

The top eight in volume for all Port sold were:

France 27.3%; - 0.3%.
The Netherlands 15.6%; + 4.9%.
Portugal 13.6%; - 1.9%.
Belgium 12.3%; + 2.6%.
UK 11%; + 1.3%.
USA 4.2%; - 5.5%.
Germany 4%; + 38.3%.
Canada 2.3%; + 8.2%.

The top eight in revenue for all Port sold were:

France 22.1%; + 2.7%.
Portugal 15.3%; - 4%.
The Netherlands 12.6%; + 6.2%.
UK 12.3%; + 0.4%.
Belgium 10.3%; + 2.6%.
USA 7.3%; - 14.5%.
Canada 4.5%; + 8.7%.
Germany 3.4%; + 29.1%.

The top nine in volume for the Special Categories/Premium Ports were:

UK 33.47%; + 2.4%.
USA 13.2%; - 7.7%.
France 12.64%; + 30%.
Portugal 10.17%; - 0.6%.
Canada 8.42%; + 9.3%.
The Netherlands 6.93%; + 14.6%.
Belgium 3.38%; + 0.8%.
Denmark 2.29%; + 8.1%.
Germany 2.22%; + 24.3%.

The top nine in revenue for the Special Categories/Premium Ports were:

UK 24.23%; + 1.3%.
USA 15.59%; - 15.7%.
Portugal 14.02%; - 3.2%.
France 10.85%; + 32.5%.
Canada 10.21%; + 9.2%.
The Netherlands 6.68%; + 16%.
Belgium 3.78%; + 10.1%.
Denmark 2.78%; + 15.9%.
Germany 1.96%; + 21.3%.

For more information see: http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?codPag=73&codSeccao=6&idioma=0

IVDP events calendar as of May 2008.
03/05/08. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto has planned the following events in England and The Netherlands:

England:
. May 20th-22nd - LIWF 2008 - London.

The Netherlands:
. May 14th - Association of Dutch Wine Clubs - Capelle a/d IJssel.
. May 19th - Dutch Waiters Association.

National Women’s Wine Competition 2008 - Californië.
03/05/08. During the second edition of the National Women’s Wine Competition in Santa Rosa, Californië, USA from March 16^th to 19^th a Gold Best of Class Award was granted to the Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage 2001.
The competition contained over 1,900 entries.
For more information and the other medals see: http://www.nwwc.info/pdf/2008_NWWC_Winners.pdf
No Port Wine products are (yet?) mentioned in the results of the Women Winemakers Challenge, a competition within the competition.

Monde Selection 2008 - Belgium.
03/05/08. Monde Sélection in Wauthier-Braine, België organized its Concours International des Vins 2008 in Brussels from March 27^th to 29^th. The Krohn Colheita 1983 won a Grand gold medal.
The competition contained over 400 entries.
For more information and the other medals see: http://www.monde-selection.com/en/International_Wine_Contest/Results_2008/International_Wine_Contest_Results_2008.asp

Wine Masters Challenge 2008 - Estoril.
03/05/08. During the tenth Wine Masters Challenge in Estoril, Portugal from March 27^th to 30^th the following gold medals were granted to Port Wine products:
- Gran Cruz 40 Years Old Tawny.
- Gran Cruz Reserve.
- Quinta da Pedra Alta Reserve (Jorge E.B. Pinto Leal).
- Cálem Colheita 1990.
- Kopke 40 Years Old Tawny.
The competition contained 4,003 entries.
For more information and the other medals see: http://www.winemasters.pt/sitei/wmc2008med.htm

Vinitaly 2008.
03/05/08. During the 42^nd International Wine Competition Vinitaly in Verona, Italy from April 3^rd to 7^th Special Mentions were awarded to the following two Port Wines in de category Liqueur Wines:
-         Rozès LBV 2000.
-         Caves Vale do Douro Réccua 10 Years Old Tawny.
The competition contained 3,669 entries.
For more information see: http://www.vinitaly.it/concorsoenologico/cei/pdf/gbclassificheCEN2008.pdf

Challenge International du Vin 2008 - Bordeaux, with extra prize Sandeman.
03/05/08. During the 32^nd Challenge International du Vin in Bourg-sur-Gironde/Bordeaux on April 12^th gold medals were awarded to the following Port Wine products:
-         Sandeman 40 Years Old Tawny.
-         Barão de Vilar 10 Years Old Tawny.
-         Poças Vintage 2005.
-         Barão de Vilar 20 Years Old Tawny.
-         Sandeman 30 Years Old Tawny.
The competition contained 5,129 entries.
For more information and the other medals see: http://www.challengeduvin.com/search_palmares.php and choose Europa: Portugal and Appellation: DOC. Porto.

Additionally the Sandeman 40 Years Old Tawny won the 2008 Press Club Prize. This year, the Bordeaux Press Club brought together a group of wine journalists from France, Great Britain, Portugal and Spain to taste a selection of sweet wines having won gold medals and ended up choosing the aforementioned Sandeman.

Dallas Morning News Wine Competition 2008.
03/05/08. On April 16^th the results were published of the 24^th Dallas Morning News Wine Competition organized in Dallas, USA. Gold medals went in their respective categories to the following Port Wine products from Portugal:
-         Dow’s Reserve.
-         Sandeman Vau Vintage 2000.
-         Presidential 20 Years Old Tawny.
The competition contained 3,500 entries.
For more information and the other medals see: https://www.dallaswinecomp.com/comp2008/2008Awards.doc

Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2008.
03/05/08. During the 15^th Concours Mondial de Bruxelles in Bordeaux from April 18^th to 20^th gold medals were awarded to the following Port Wine products:
-         Romariz Colheita 1963.
-         Burmester Vintage 2005.
The competition contained 6.189 entries.
In 2009 this competition will be organized in Valencia, Spain from April 25^th to 27^th .
For more information see: http://www.concoursmondial.eu
For the results see: http://cmb.vinopres.com/index.php?page=search&id=9

San Diego International Wine Competition 2008.
03/05/08. During the 25^th International Wine Competition in San Diego, USA from April 19^th to 20^th the Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage 2001 won a gold medal and was chosen as Best of Show Red Dessert.
The Osborne LBV 2001 also won a gold medal and was nominated for the Best of Show Red Dessert.
The competition contained 2,065 entries.
For more information and the other prizes see: http://www.sdiwc.com/results.cfm

Revista de Vinhos no. 221, April 2008.
03/05/08. Just like the March issue, the April issue of the Portuguese magazine Revisto de Vinhos contains no news on Port Wine.

Vila Nova de Gaia one large building excavation.
05/04/08. The historic centre of Vila Nova de Gaia, with its famous lodges and visitor centres, will quickly change. On the one hand fewer bottling plants and shipping departments are necessary because of the concentration in the Port Wine industry. On the other hand manoeuvring ever larger trucks through the small streets is a major problem and shippers are considering relocating these activities to the Douro or to an industrial estate outside the Gaia centre (see our News item of 02/06/07).
Apart from this, the municipality of Gaia has major development plans for the area. It looks favourably upon ideas to build hotels on the vacant plots and intends to realize large housing projects on both sides of the centre.

We hope that these projects will at least be carried out carefully and with sensitivity to its history. But the deafening silence regarding the plans for the application to designate the historic centre a Unesco World Heritage site makes us fear the worst.

The following plans are known at this moment:

In April 2007 The Fladgate Partnership presented the design for the Yeatman Hotel on the Croft complex (see our News item of 02/06/07). It concerns an investment of 26 million Euros on 30,000 square metres.
In January the CS group of the Portuguese entrepreneur Carlos Saraiva announced to build the five star CS Oporto Vintage hotel on the complexes of Delaforce and Gran Cruz. This hotel will have 150 rooms of which 20 suites, two restaurants and an auditorium for 200 persons. The area is 32,000 square metres and the investment amounts to 47 million Euros. This CS group already has possessions including in the Douro the former Douro Azul hotels CS Pousada Solar da Rede (Mesão Frio) and CS Vintage (House) Hotel in Pinhão. Moreover the company is waiting for the permission for the building of the CS Douro Marina Hotel in Mesão Frio (see Our News items of 03/12/05 and 06/12/03).
For 10 million Euros, a five star hotel and a cultural centre with including 13 cinema rooms will be built on the site of the Real Companhia Velha warehouses. Only in this case it is mentioned that the front and the chimney of the present premises will be maintained.
Sogevinus, the holding of Cálem, Burmester, Barroe and Kopke, will invest 150 million Euros in its eight possessions in this area with a complete surface of 75,000 square metres. On the Barros Almeida spot 150 houses are being built. The Burmester complex will be transformed into a hotel of 100 to 150 rooms.
Sogrape (Ferreira, Offley, Sandeman) has plans to modify its cellars and warehouses for 200 million Euros.
Gran Cruz will realize a multi media centre, as well as a museum, a tasting room and a shop for 3 million Euros.

(Sources Lusa/RTP of 11/01/08, Diário de Notícias of 01/02/08 and Público of 27/03/08.)

Wine centre Q. Nova in Pinhão station.
05/04/08. Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (see here) of the Amorim family will create a Wine House of a total of 460 square metres in the railway station of Pinhão, with its 25 famous blue tile scenes (azulejos). The centre will be inaugurated on June 1^st, 180 years after the arrival of the first train in Pinhão. This means a huge asset for the simple village (see here), that is nevertheless the heart of the best vineyards in the Douro.

The shop in the main building will offer all Q. Nova wines, of course with tasting possibilities. Besides regional gourmet products, books and all kinds of products related to wine will be available.

A function room, such as small music recitals, meetings, wine lunches and -dinners, cooking courses, etc., will be made on the first floor of the station premises. For the development of this space, a agreement has been made with Rui Paula, chef and owner of Restaurant D.O.C. at the Folgosa quay in Armamar.

A wine museum will be established in the three old houses, formerly lived in by shunters and station staff.

Two Ports at Grand Jury Europeen.
05/04/08. The Grand Jury Europeen (GJE) is a special tasting panel. In 1996 GJE was founded by François Mauss who is also in daily charge. The organization’s office is located in Luxembourg.

GJE is sees itself as an alternative way of classifying the great wines of the world by the best critics. It is done by regularly bringing together at least twelve of its permanent members from at least six different countries of the European Union (and Switzerland). Dirk van der Niepoort is one of its members.
GJE is a non-profit association under Luxembourg law and is financed by partners, sponsors and suppliers.

The statistical comparisons developed by Bernard Burtschy, himself a permanent taster and Professor of Statistics in Paris, are a unique feature in the GJE reports. By means of these, any variations and discrepancies in classifications among the tasters are graphically indicated.

From January 30^th to February 3^rd a GJE delegation assembled in Hotel Aquapura in Cambres - Lamego in the Douro. Many table wines and the following two Port Wines were judged there:

- 32 samples of the 2003 Vintages were on the table. The highest score was for the Real Companhia Velha Quinta das Carvalhas with 89.63 points, followed by Niepoort with 88.83 points and Q. do Portal with 88.25 points.

- Eleven wines of the 1970 Vintage were judged. Here the highest score was for Niepoort with 94.10 points, followed by Ramos Pinto with 93.20 points and Taylor’s with 92.60 points.

For general information about the GJE see: http://www.grandjuryeuropeen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=42&lang=en
First you have to register for free for the report of 21/02/08 about the tasting in the Douro.

Diário de Notícias chooses eight top quintas.
05/04/08. The Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias has illustrated an article of 07/03/08 about the sales results of the Port Wine industry with its choice of the eight top quintas in the Douro:
-         Q. do Noval of AXA Milésimes (France).
-         Q. das Carvalhas of Real Companhia Velha.
-         Q. do Bom Retiro of Adriano Ramos Pinto.
-         Q. do Ventozelo of Proinsa (Spain).
-         Q. de Vale Meão of Olazabal & Filhos.
-         Q. da Leda of Sogrape.
-         Q. do Vesúvio of The Symington Family Estates.
-         Q. de Vargellas of The Fladgate Partnership.
The arbitrariness of such a choice is shown for example by the omission of Q. de Ervamoira, also of Ramos Pinto, according to many perhaps the most beautiful and most special.

Update Links pages.
05/04/08. The last weeks we changed and completed our Links pages. We divided the section Port Wine Links in Port Wine producers links and Other Port Wine links. We removed sites which have not been available for some time and we added some new sites. All changes can be identified by italics.

Website The Vintage Port Site renewed.
05/04/08. The Symington Family has recently fully and tastefully renewed its particular own Vintage Port Site. All good items were maintained, such as the possibility to search by year, the forum, the Guide to Vintage Port and the pages Viticulture and Generally declared years.
New are:
-         the possibility to put questions to Johnny Symington (Ask the Expert).
-         the Food and Vintage Port Matching section with the possibility to make a suggestion yourself.
-         My Cellar, for your own cellar with the possibility of selling and trading.
-         the possibility to consult the database on your mobile phone.
-         the page with books an opinion can be given about.
-         the page with auction prices in English pounds and a 12 bottle box.
Unfortunately nothing of the forum archive has been copied in the new version (yet?).
For the Forum, My Cellar and the book judgments you have to register first.
See: www.thevintageportsite.com

New website Sandeman.
05/04/08. Early March the fully renewed Sandeman website was launched. The extension has been changed from .com in .eu, the switchover goes automatically. The design is modern and attractive. Only the English version of the eight announced languages is available. Scrolling in the text windows is not going smoothly, it is too jerky. A sitemap is not yet available.

We are both positive and negative with regard to the content. We miss for example the excellent pages like Passing the Porto, Storing and enjoying Porto, This is a declared Vintage & Tonging a Porto and Recipes to Serve and Prepare with Porto. However, if you know their old addresses they can still be found on the net.
On the other hand the TV Spots (in the Heritage section) from the sixties and the section Rarities (in Wines) are improvements. In Rarities a survey is given of Sandeman Vintages from 1797 to 1997 with tasting notes by Michael Broadbent and from the book Vintages of the Century.

See: www.sandeman.eu

Sales numbers entire 2007.
05/04/08. The sales numbers of the entire year are positive. The latest numbers of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto are as follows:

-         the volume of all Port sold increased by 2.9%.
-         the revenue of all Port sold increased by 2.2%.

-         the volume of the Special Categories sold increased by 5.6%.
-         the revenue of the Special Categories sold increased by 3.6%.

The complete information can be found at:
http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?idioma=0&codPag=73&codSeccao=6&

IVDP events calendar as of April 2008.
05/04/08. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto has planned the following events in Brasil, England and The Netherlands:

Brasil:
. April 25th - Port and Douro Wines tasting - Hotel Unique, São Paulo.

England:
. May 20th-22nd - LIWF 2008 - London.

The Netherlands:
. May 14th - Association of Dutch Wine Clubs - Capelle a/d IJssel.
. May 19th - Dutch Waiters Association.

Ferreira is Portuguese taste of the year.
05/04/08. The competition Saveur de L’année is already organized in France for ten years. This year it was also started in Spain and Portugal. The competition is working with taste tests amongst consumers in miscellaneous groups of 100 persons.

In the Portuguese results for 2008, we find Sogrape (Ferreira, Offley, Sandeman) three times as Sabor do Ano:
-         Ferreira in the category Sweet wines, Port Wine, Madeira and other.
-         Mateus Rosé in the category Rosé wines.
-         Cutty Sark in the category Whiskies and Bourbons.

For more information see: http://www.sabordoano.com/indexflash.html
For the results see: http://www.sabordoano.com/_microsda2008/

Korea Wine Challenge 2008.
05/04/08. During the forth Korea Wine Challenge from February 18^th to 29^th the Sandeman 10 Years Old Tawny won a gold medal.
For more information see: http://www.koreawinechallenge.com/eng/year.html

Vinalies Internationales 2008 - Paris.
05/04/08. During the Vinalies Internationales in Paris from February 29^th to March 4^th gold medals were awarded to the following Port Wine products:
-         Barros Vintage 2005.
-         Burmester Vintage 2005.
-         Cálem Vintage 2005.
-         Ferreira LBV 2000.
-         Sandeman 10 Years Old Tawny.
-         Sandeman 30 Years Old Tawny.
-         Sandeman Vau Vintage 2000.
-         Vista Alegre LBV 2002.
The Vinalies Internationales is organized by the L’Union des Oenologues de France.
More information and the silver medals can be found at:
http://www.vinalies-internationales.com/en/archives-vinalies-internationales.php?langue=en and choose Country: Portugal, Appellation: DOC Porto and Year: 2008.

Essência do Vinho 2008 - Oporto.
05/04/08. During the fifth Essência do Vinho in Oporto from March 6th to 9th was organized the “Concours the Top 10 of Portuguese Wines”. The preselection was done by the tasting panel of the magazine blueWine. The jury was made up of 25 journalists from 12 countries who have judged 43 wines. The only Port Wine in the Top 10 is the Taylor’s Vargellas Vintage 2005.

The 17,000 visitors of the event chose the following favourites from the Port Wine industry:
-         Best producer: Sogrape (Ferreira, Offley, Sandeman).
-         Best fortified wine: Burmester Vintage 2005.
-         Prize of Merit and Excellence: Jorge Monteiro, President of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto (IVDP).

For more information see: http://www.essenciadovinho.com/default.php

Bacchus 2008 - Madrid.
05/04/08. During the eighth Concurso International de Vinos Bacchus in Madrid from March 14th to 18th a Great Gold Bacchus was awarded to the Cálem 20 Years Old Tawny.
For more information and the other medals see: www.uec.es/bacchus/premiados2008.pdf

Revista de Vinhos no. 220, March 2008.
05/04/08. Quite exceptionally the March issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos contains not a single news item on Port Wine.

New life for Van Zellers & C°.
01/03/08. Cristiano van Zeller (Douro Boys, Q. do Vale Dona Maria) will breathe new live into the family brand Van Zellers & C°. He wrote to us regarding his plans:

”Van Zellers & Cº was my family’s original Port company, founded in 1780. It traded independently with some of my ancestors as owners until the middle of the XIXth century, when it was sold to other merchants. It was not until the end of the 1930’s that the company came back into the family, then bought and incorporated in the Quinta do Noval Port company (then owned by one of my great-grand fathers and his daughter and my grand-mother, Rita Vasconcelos Porto van Zeller).

At the end of the 1980’s I, at Quinta do Noval, and my cousins owners of Quinta de Roriz (the original van Zeller’s family property in the Douro) recreated Van Zellers & Cº as an independent company. It started trading as such in 1989, with all the old Van Zellers Port stocks that were transferred from Quinta do Noval.

“I entered the Port trade in 1981. At that time I noticed that the last Van Zellers Vintage Port bottled by the old company had been the 1933 Vintage (my father’s birth year). I immediately thought that such a gap had to end so, as soon as I had a good enough vintage at hands, which happened to be 1983, I did not hesitated and declared the first Van Zellers Vintage Port of the new family generation. This Vintage came from grapes that we were traditionally buying in the rio Pinhão valley, in the best grade A areas, from farmers that had been trading with my family for well over 50 years. The 1983 Vintage Port was then followed by the 1985 Vintage Port.

“Life changes quicker than we realise and, by 1993, Quinta do Noval was sold to Axa. Van Zellers & Cº stayed behind in my cousins hands. No other Van Zellers Vintage Port was declared since then and Van Zellers & Cº stopped trading.

“But more and unexpected changes were still to come. At Christmas 2006 and much to my surprise I received the most incredible Christmas present. My cousin João van Zeller, now single owner of Quinta de Roriz and Van Zellers & Cº, offered me the company with all its brands (but no other assets nor wines). 20 years later Van Zellers & Cº made full circle, once again. I am now its single and full owner and I am bringing Van Zellers & Cº back to life. It already started trading, this time with some top Douro White and Red wines. Vintage Ports to follow suit. A new Van Zellers Vintage Port is to be expected soon.”

Great changes at the Casa do Douro.
01/03/08. After years of misery, in which the salaries could not be paid regularly, solutions are finally visible at the Casa do Douro (CdoD), a semi-governmental institute in the Port Wine industry.

For the time being it is about:
-         Three shippers buy 14,500 pipas of Port Wine from the CdoD.
-         IVDP terminates Cadastro-contract with the CdoD.
-         CdoD wants to sell 51% of its RCV shares.
-         Plans Berardo in the Douro, CdoD wants to participate.

The Minister of Agriculture, Jaime Silva, said in an article at Lusowine of Januari 14^th:
“The government will not intervene in the businesses of the CdoD. … Businesses between two private organizations, transactions of buying or selling shares, the state does not judge or analyse if it is good or bad trade. … In the past the state and everybody has had the opportunity to evaluate the good and bad businesses done by the CdoD, now it is not the government that will make an evaluation about this concrete trade.”

The CdoD has always been an organization with two faces. On the one hand it executed all sorts of tasks on behalf of the government, on the other hand it was the representative of the, compulsory organized, farmers and cooperatives.
In 1990 the CdoD bought 40% of the shares of Real Companhia Velha, also Royal Oporto. By that the institute became a direct competitor of the large shippers, whereas it should be independent.
After a fierce battle important activities of the CdoD were transferred to a new organization, the CIRDD, in 1997.
The CdoD got the more into difficulties by buying up large surpluses of its members, a socially meant action.
Late 2003 the CdoD was further dismantled in favour of the other governmental institute in the Port Wine industry, the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto, IVDP. Then the CIRDD became part of the IVDP.
The only government task the CdoD has left was the management of the Cadastro, the register with specifications and the classification of the Port Wine vineyards, of which the contract has now been terminated by the IVDP.

After all this, the CdoD will not be more than the organization of farmers and cooperatives with a certified laboratory for help to its members. Probably this is the best solution for the CdoD and the entire Port Wine industry.

Through the years most CdoD properties were confiscated. The state has the rights of the most important 20,000 pipas (of 550 litres) with Port Wine from the period 1934 - 1990 or 1991. Three banks confiscated the 17,000 pipas from the nineties and especially from 2000 and 2001. We are not sure to whom the rights belong of the real estate.

To put a few things in perspective it is good to know that in 2007 the production amounted to 156,000 pipas and in 2006 all sales amounted to 166.545 pipas.

The total debts of the CdoD amount to some 125 million Euros, of which at least 40 million to the state and the rest to three banks. Opposite to this is that the management of the CdoD thinks that just the value of the 20,000 pipas from the period 1934 - 1990/1 will be worth over 200 million Euros. But the big question is: who can, may and wants to pay this amount for it.
(Sources: Correio da Manhã, Diário de Notícias, Público, Lusa, Lusowine and Agroportal from 31/12/07 to 17/01/08)

Three shippers buy 14,500 pipas of Port Wine from the CdoD.
01/03/08. At the end of December it became known that The Fladgate Partnership (Taylor’s, Fonseca, Croft and Delaforce) had bought almost 9,000 pipas of Port Wine from the years 1996, 2000 and 2001 from the CdoD stocks. The proceeds were to amount some 15 million Euros, or some 1,665 Euros/pipa and some 3 Euros/litre.
A pipa (cask) contains 550 litres.
More or less at the same time it became known that Gran Cruz had also bought 5,000 pipas and Real Companhia Velha 500 pipas.
The complete proceeds of these three transactions were to amount to some 21 million Euros and would concern 40% of the entire CdoD Port Wine stocks.
The CdoD management stated that 10% of the profit would be available for this institute for the running business.

The sold stocks were confiscated by three banks. The Central Bank of Portugal would have pressed the largest claimant to execute the attachment (consequence of the credit crisis?).

Adrian Bridge of The Fladgate Partnership commented the purchase in a press release with:
“This is an important step we take to help solve a situation that has been overhanging the Port trade for a number of years. … This deal will help the CdoD solve some of its problems and improve conditions for the farmers in the Douro who are the life blood of the Port industry.”

Paul Symington, president of market leader The Symington Family Estates (Graham’s, Dow’s, Warre’s, Q. do Vesúvio, etc.) said to be concerned about these sales and the following cancellation of the Cadastro contract.

Jorge Monteiro, president of the IVDP, said in the newspaper Público of January 4^th : “The buy of almost 15,000 pipas will have its influence on the amount of Port Wine which can de produced this year, because the purchase capacity of the sector has decreased. Because of the law (Lei do Terço) the companies are only allowed to sell one third of their stocks annually. Either the sales increase enough or the next harvest has to be smaller. Meaning: the sale of 15,000 pipas may be a good matter for the CdoD, but it is bad news for the winegrowers.”
The IVDP (and so the government?) has always taken the view that the market could absorb not more than 3,000 pipas a year from the CdoD stocks. The policy is to control the production in such a way that the market prices and the prices for the farmers can at least increase a little.

The market relations are as follows: The Symington Family Estates 22,3%, Gran Cruz 20,5%, Sogrape 15,4% and The Fladgate Partnership 11,7%.

IVDP terminates Cadastro-contract with the CdoD.
01/03/08. Shortly after the announcement that The Fladgate Partnership had bought 9,000 pipas of the CdoD stocks, the IVDP (probable by order of the government) terminated the contract from January 2005 in which the activities are regulated for the Cadastro, the register with specifications and the classification of the Port Wine vineyards. The CdoD earned 850,000 Euros a year with these activities, about the half of its present annual income.

Afterwards, the tough measure did not come totally unexpected. For some time bold remarks came from government circles which indicated that the CdoD problem had to be tackled. Thus, three government organizations recently demanded, with much publicity, the payment of a total of 3.3 million Euros by the CdoD.

The president of the CdoD spoke about a punishment and an illegal action which would be challenged politically, socially and legally.
On January 5^th the newspaper Público wrote that the IVDP would be in trouble without the Cadastro of the CdoD, for example in determining the Benefício, the annual production quota per vineyard.
But the Minister of Agriculture declared in an article in Público of January 12^th that his ministry has the conditions to continue the work with the Cadastro.

CdoD wants to sell 51% of its RCV shares.
01/03/08. Since 1990 the CdoD has possessed 40% of the shares of Real Companhia Velha (RCV). Now the institute wants to sell 51% of this package, in harmony with RCV, to Global Wines, a holding founded in December 2007 by Dão Sul, S.A. The proceeds, which go to the state directly or indirectly, amount to 15.5 million Euros according to Público and 20 million according to Jornal de Notícias.

In 1990 the CdoD paid about 50 million Euros for the entire RCV package. Increased with interest this would now be 70 million Euros. And interest is always less than a healthy company return. On January 12^th Público wrote appropriates that the now concluded deal is not bad, but that this counts for the price in 1990.

Dão Sul is a company with large interests in the table wine sector in the regions Dão (market leader), Bairrada (fourth in size) and Estramadura (third). In the Alentejo the company is working on a new winery and a luxury hotel at a quinta with 50 hectares of vines and 67 hectares of olives. The firm has done several investments in the Port region in the winegrowing as well as in the wine tourism. Recently the group took interests in an area of 450 hectares in Petrolina-Brasil, in the Pernambuco region, where two harvests a year are possible.

Real Companhia Velha is a shipper with a turbulent history. It is now a medium-sized private company, but was founded in 1756 by Marques de Pombal to serve as the central trade firm of the Port industry. The company had to give up this function little by little with ups and downs. In this sense there is a parallel with the CdoD now.
Gradually it became a normal private company that was owned by Manuel da Silva Reis in 1960. In 1974, after the revolution, it was nationalized as the only Port firm and given back after some years. In those few years the valuable stocks of Port Wine were eagerly purchased by other large shippers, something Silva Reis has never forgiven them. Until today he has been the only shipper who is not a member of their organization AEVP.
Some years ago the company wanted to be taken over, but this did not succeed. Meanwhile the company is doing well for a medium-sized company in the Port region, not in the least by the Californian winemaker Jerry Luper.

Plans Berardo in the Douro, CdoD wants to participate.
01/03/08. Joe Berardo, one of the largest Portuguese entrepreneurs, has plans to begin a large new company in the Douro that is able to work worldwide, a firm completely different than Global Wines/Dão Sul or Real Companhia Velha, though he does not exclude cooperation. He thinks of using the CdoD stocks of old Port Wine and of cooperation with some cooperatives. Especially the marketing of these old stocks will meet with large resistance because this may rapidly disturb the market. Berardo hopes to be able to present concrete plans in March.

Berardo has already many wine interests and possesses among others 33% of the Sogrape shares (Ferreira, Offley, Sandeman) in the Douro. Possibly this package will be admitted in the above-mentioned company. See also our News items of 05/08/06, 02/09/06 and 05/05/07.)

In January Berardo visited, together with his brother Jorge and oldest son Renato, several warehouses, cooperatives and the CdoD in the Douro region. He will present his plans to the Minister of Agriculture Jaime Silva because he does not want any conflicts with the government and the IVDP. He says about his plans that: “he wants to make a contribution to preserving the small winegrowers, because they are the basis of the region and its indication to World Heritage”.
In the future, but not the immediate future, he considers buying some quintas for quality tourism. Firstly he will concentrate himself on the wine.

The CdoD has announced it wants to participate in this new company, for example by means of the remaining RCV shares package.
You could say: have management and members of this institute learnt nothing over the past 18 years? Would it not be better to sell all possessions, divide the profits among the members and change to permanent protection of the farmers’ interests?
The Minister of Agriculture remarked in Público:
“It is good that there new companies arrive in the region. But he added that he can not accept that the CdoD, with its statutes, is a member of the Board of a company that will compete with most companies in the sector, because this ‘would disturb the market’”.
“The current statutes forbid the CdoD to buy or to sell wine (with the exception of those they have in stock to pay their debts), but allow to participate in the capital of companies, if in a minority position.”

Q. de Roriz breaks with Symington.
01/03/08. The Symington Family Estates and Quinta de Roriz of João van Zeller have ceased their cooperation in a friendly manner. Since 2000 they managed and renewed this forty hectares quinta in the Cima Corgo together. Now the company is ready to stand on its own feet. João van Zeller is the seventh generation of his family owning Q. de Roriz.

The former partners state in a joint bulletin: “Q. de Roriz is now in an excellent position to follow its own way and to continue the development of its historic position like one of the symbolic and mystic quintas in the Douro.”

The new persons João van Zeller will cooperate with are his nephew and neighbour Cristiano van Zeller (Douro Boys, Q. do Vale Dona Maria) and his winemaker Sandra Tavares da Silva (together with her husband Jorge Serôdio Borges also: Wine and Soul / Pintas). Until June 30^th the Symington people and the new team will work jointly. The new team will be totally responsible for the 2008 harvest.

This move of João van Zeller does not come as a surprise. While many companies have joined forces in the Port Wine industry over the last couple of years (the four largest companies together have a market share of 70%), the not too small independent quintas with modern management have proven simultaneously to be able to survive excellently. Examples of this are: Q. do Vallado, Q. do Crasto, Q. do Vale Meão and Q. de la Rosa. The problems in the industry especially seem to lie with the medium-sized shippers, the smallest farmers and the cooperates. The final position companies like Global Wines and the still to be established company of Joe Berardo will take in this is hard to predict.

Revista de Vinhos: “The Best of the Year 2007”.
01/03/08. The editors of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos have published their choice of “The Best of the Year 2007” in no. 219 of Februari 2008. The following awards were granted to the Port Wine industry:
-         Company of the Year: Quinta do Portal.
-         Winemaker of the Year: Carlos Lucas of Dão Sul/Global Wines.
-         Winemaker of the Year (fortified wines): David Guimaraens of The Fladgate Partnership (Taylor’s, Fonseca, Croft, Delaforce).
-         Wine organization of the Year: The Douro Boys.
-         Mister Wine of the Year: Peter Symington.
-         An Excellent Award there was for the Quinta do Noval Colheita 1986.
-         Best from the Port region Awards went to eleven Port Wine products.
-         Best Buy Awards were granted to nine Port Wine products.

Top lists Wine Enthusiast.
01/03/08. There are three Port Wines in the Top 2007 lists of the American magazine Wine Enthusiast:
In the Top 100 Wines are the Warre’s LBV 1995 Traditional with 93 points at the 25^th place and the Fonseca LBV 2001 Unfiltered with 92 points at the 36^th place.
In the Top 50 Cellar Selections of 2007 is the Taylor Fladgate Vargellas Vinhas Velhas Vintage 2004 with 97 points at the 38^th place.
In the Top 100 Best Buys of 2007 there are no Port Wines.
For more information see: http://www.wineenthusiast.com/winemag/WE_TOP_100.pdf

Top 100 of blueWine.
01/03/08. In the Top 100 of the best Portuguese wines of the Portuguese magazine blueWine there are 18 Port Wines.
The wines with the highest scores are:
-         Dow’s Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira Vintage 2004 with 19 points.
-         Croft Q. da Roeda Vintage 2004 with 18.5 points.
-         Taylor’s Vargellas Vinha Velha Vintage 2004 with 18.5 points.
For the full list see:
http://www.revistabluewine.com/img/topo/revistas/TOP100OsMelhoresVinhosdoAno.pdf

On the basis of this list, Charles Symington and David Guimaraens have been chosen as winemaker of the year, each with five listings. The Fladgate Partnership was crowned as best producer of fortified wines, also with five listings.

Portuguese Tourism Prizes 2007.
01/03/08. On February 2^nd the prizes of the third edition of the Prémios Turismo de Portugal have been presented in Lisbon. The competition is organized by Turismo de Portugal, a government organization and knows four categories: Town, Nature, Entertainment and Services. Next year the category Companies will be included.

Among this year’s winners there was one from the Douro. The Estação Biológica Internacional Douro/Duero in Miranda do Douro. They won the first prize in the category Nature. The project is situated in the nature reserve in the east of the Port region, where the Douro forms the border with Spain.

The project contains a boat/classroom that makes tourist trips through the small passages of the Douro Nacional (a Portuguese and Spanish area). Here special attention is given to fauna, flora, geology, ethnology and projects for biotope control. Along the track, fourteen theme areas are accessible to the visitor. These collectively aim at the recovery and the expansion of the heritage and the promotion of wine and local traditions.

Annually, on average about 60,000 visitors are received. Most of them are Spanish though more Portuguese are getting interested.

Sales numbers January - November 2007.
01/03/08. The sales numbers continue to be good at the end of this year. The latest numbers of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto are as follows:

-         the volume of all Port sold increased by 2.7%.
-         the revenue of all Port sold increased by 2.1%.

-         the volume of the Special Categories sold increased by 6.4%.
-         the revenue of the Special Categories sold increased by 4.2%.

The complete information can be found at:
http://www.ivdp.pt/pagina.asp?idioma=0&codPag=73&codSeccao=6&

IVDP events calendar as of March 2008.
01/03/08. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto has planned the following events in England, Germany, Portugal and The Netherlands:

England:
. May 20th-22nd - LIWF 2008 - London.

Germany:
. March 16th-18th - Prowein 2008 - Hall 6G28 - Düsseldorf.

Portugal:
. March 30th-April 2nd - Horexpo - FIL - Parque das Nações - Lisbon.

The Netherlands:
. March 16th - Dutch Connoisseurs Association.
. March 27th - Hotelschool - Apeldoorn.
. April 3rd - Hotelschool - Breda.
. May 14th - Association of Dutch Wine Clubs - Capelle a/d IJssel.
. May 19th - Dutch Waiters Association.

Wine & Spirit Design Award for Symington.
01/03/08. The Graham's Aged Tawny's series (10, 20, 30 and 40 Years Old) of The Symington Family Estates has won the Design Award 2008 Best Fortified of the English magazine Wine & Spirit. Last year Symington won this prize with its Graham's The Tawny. For more information see: http://www.wine-spirit.com/downloads/Design-Awards-WS.pdf

Berliner Wein Trophy 2008.
01/03/08. During the 12^th Berliner Wein Trophy from January 4^th to 8^th the Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim Vintage 1996 won a Grosser Berliner Gold medal. For more information and the other medals see: http://www.berliner-wein-trophy.de/probenpasssuche.aspx?navigationid=16&url=probenpasssuche&lang=en and choose Kategorie: Fortified wine, Anbauland: PT and Qualitätsstufe: alle.

Florida State Fair International Wine and Grape Juice Competition 2008.
01/03/08. During the 20^th Florida State Fair International Wine and Grape Juice Competition from February 7^th to 9^th in Tampa the following medals were awarded to real Port Wine products from Portugal:
- Gold to the Graham’s 20 Years Old Tawny.
- Silver to the Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Ruby, the Dow’s 10 Years Old Tawny and the Dow’s Trademark Finest Reserve Ruby.
For more information see:
http://floridastatefair.com/pdffiles/comp-wine.pdf for general data.
http://www.fgga.org/results/2008/InternationalByClass.pdf for the results.

Revista de Vinhos no. 218, January 2008.
01/03/08. The January issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos contains the following information on Port Wine:

New products:
The Graham’s LBV 2001 got 15.5 points from the editorial staff on a score chart of 0 to 20.
The 40 Years Old Tawny of Quinta do Estanho got 17 points making it one of the six Selections of the Month.

Tasting Vintages 2005:
João Afonso describes a tasting with 42 Vintages 2005. The 2005 harvest fell in one of the driest years. In spite of this it produced, according to the tasting panel, very interesting wines with grip and character.
The Burmester and the Quinta do Vesúvio scored highest with 18 points.
At the bottom of the list we find the Dalva and the Kopke both with 15.5 points.

Symington’s tasting of the century:
João Afonso reports on the tasting with the best Vintages Ports from the 20^th century of market leader The Symington Family Estates. See also our News item of 30/12/07. It is unfortunate that the editorial staff did not publish the point totals.

Revista de Vinhos no. 219, February 2008.
01/03/08. Besides “The Best of the Year” (see above) the February issue of the Portuguese magazine Revista de Vinhos contains the following information on Port Wine:

New products:
The Graham’s Malvedos Vintage 1998 got 17 points from the editorial staff on a score chart from 0 to 20.
The 30 Years Old Tawny of Offley got 18 points and this made that it one of the six Selections of the Month.

Croft and Taylor’s: 100 years Vintages:
João Paulo Martins reports on a tasting with 23 Taylor’s Vintages of 1900 to 2003 and 20 Croft Vintages of 1900 to 2003 in the Factory House in Oporto. He rates the three Taylor’s Vintages of 1945, 1963 and 1992 with the full 20 points. The ratings for the Croft series are not mentioned.