The Symington Vintage Port Day: celebrating the pinnacle from the Douro, looking at 2022, 2003, 1985 and 1963

Vintage Port is the pinnacle wine of the Douro. Made from top vineyard sites in the best years, it is aged for two years in cask before bottling, and then is destined to sleep for a long time before reaching a peak. In fact, you can enjoy vintage Port young, for its intense fruit and structure, but the real reason for buying these wines is that after a sullen adolescence they reach this beautiful point of mellow maturity and elegance, and stay there for a long time.

Anthony, Charles and Harry Symington leading the Vintage Port day

The Symington family are one of the leading producers of Port – some would say THE leading producer of Port, and own many top quintas and some of the most famous Port brands. A while back they held a day focusing solely on Vintage Port, where they opened some special bottles.

In the past, vintages were declared three times a decade, on average. In the vintages that weren’t declared, Single Quinta Vintage Ports would be released at around half the price of the Vintage Ports. Now we have a third category of Vintage Ports, which is the micro terroir Vintage Port, adding a new layer in the hierarchy, and a new price point.

These are my notes on the Ports I tried.

2022 Quinta Vintage Ports, followed by a vertical of Capela da Vesúvio

2022 was an extraordinary vintage, with virtually no rainfall during the growing season, after a very dry winter. ‘I can’t remember even having a year like 2022,’ says Charles Symington. And it was a hot summer. In July, temperatures in Pinhão in the Cima Corgo of the Douro got to 47 C, a record for Portugal. This was after just 150 ml of rainfall since the previous November. ‘The conditions were quite frightening for us,’ says Charles, ‘and we are used to extreme conditions in the Douro.’ They got to the end of August with 155 mm of rain. ‘It was a very testing vintage, and we needed to adapt to the conditions.’ They started picking at the earliest every date, 22nd August, when October harvests used to be common. ‘One of the great things about 2022 is that it demonstrated the resilience of the vineyard,’ he continues. ‘It is a vintage of high quality, and a good quantity.’ They normally get 1.1 kg per vine; this year they got 900 g.

It turned out to be a vintage of two parts. They picked slowly with their in hourse team and then on 5th Septmeber they heard that Hurricane Daniella was coming, bringing rain from the southwest. So they stopped picking for 10 days before resuming.

Dow’s Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira Vintage Port 2022
This is located in the Douro Superior, in a hot site facing east and rising to 420 metres. 25 hectares of vines, mostly Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional. Aromatic and floral with black cherry and blackberry fruit. Structured with nice palate weight. Incredibly sweetly fruited with good concentration. Pure, fresh and intense with a sense of freshness on the finish and some saline characters. 94/100

Graham’s Quinta do Tua Vinhas Velhas Vintage Port 2022
This is the first release of this Vintage Port, which is from one of Graham’s four estates and has always made a significant contribution to the Vintage Port since the family bought the property in 2006. Made from mixed variety plantings over 50 years old. Floral, compact black cherry fruit nose with some blackcurrant richness. Powerful, rich and complex on the palate with blackcurrants, cherries, strawberries and fine spices, as well as notes of dried herbs, salt, olives and seaweed. This has freshness, complexity and length. 97/100

Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage Port 2022
This property, over the river from Senhora da Ribeira, was bought in 1989 and is the biggest of the Symington’s Quintas. The vineyards are north facing range from 100-500 m in altuitude, and all the grapes are foottrodden in old lagares. Just 4% of production in 2022 went into this Vintage Port. Concentrated and powerful with lush sweet blackberry and black cherry fruit. Lots of fruit sweetness here with a salty edge and great concentration. Pure, salty and intense with good depth, nice acidity, and some grainy structure. 95/100

Capela da Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage Port 2022
Capela is a site selection from Vesúvio, from three micro-terroirs, which this year were co-fermented. Since 2007 Capela has been fermented in smaller lagares (a normal one divided in two). Highly aromatic with sweet black cherry and blackberry fruit. Astonishing depth here with great concentration on the palate. Lovely purity and real complexity with notes of olives, spice, dried herbs and liquorice. A remarkable young Port. 97/100

Capela da Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage Port 2017
A very dry year in the Douro but a stunning vintage for Port. Lovely harmony: sweet, rounded, showing good concentration and quite mellow. Notes of dried herbs and mint with a smoothness to the structure, finishing long and sweet, displaying notes of blackberry and cherry, with a hint of jam. Mid-term ager. 95/100

Capela da Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage Port 2016
This vintage was the first declaration since 2011. There was a damp start after a wet winter and then a long hot summer. Complex nose of blackcurrant, eucalyptus and dried herbs. Well structured on the palate with a touch of firmness. Mint, lavender and thyme add interest, and this still has some (welcome) firmness, which means it could be a great long-term ager. 97/100

Capela da Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage Port 2011
Alicante Bouschet was used for the first time as a co-fermentation component. 2011 is regarded to be one of the greatest recent vintages. Great concentration here. This is structured with a spicy, peppery edge to the palate as well as sweet blackberries, black cherries, some dried herbs and a twist of eucalypt. There’s density and structure here with beautiful fruit and lovely purity. There’s freshness and structure and it still has a long future ahead of it. Beautiful. 98/100

Capela da Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage Port 2007
This was a big vintage. Charles did an experiment, making a drier wine by leaving it on the skins for longer. Sweetly aromatic with hints of decay, and notes of ash, sweet black cherries and blackberries, as well as some liqourice and iodine and mint. There’s a touch of Fernet Branca on the palate with mint, cola, black cherries and blackberries, with freshness and intensity. Complex and nicely structured. 97/100

Focusing on Vintage Port: 2003, 1985 and 1963

The Cistercian monasteries around Lamego were the first to make enough wine in the Douro to export it, sending it down the Douro. In the latter part of the 19th Century the Port producers began investing in the Douro and acquiring estates there: the concept of Vintage Port terroir emerged at this time. In the 1930s the practice of making Vintage Ports from each principal estate became more common: before this, Vintage Ports were always a selection of top wines from various estates. In the 1950s the IVDP made rules that Vintage Port had to be bottled after two years in cask. The 1963 vintage was a spectacular one, and after a tricky time this proved to be a turning point that revived the fortunes of the Port trade. 1966 and 1970 were also great vintages. The Symington family began acquiring more properties in the Douro in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1995 they owned 250 hectares of vineyards, now they own over 1000 hectares.

We began looking at three examples of 2003, which are now being sold as library releases. It was a famously warm year. After 667 mm of rain over winter, the summer was long and hot reaching temperatures of 42 C in Pinhão for the first couple of weeks of August. Rain at the end of that month saved things a bit, allowing the grapes to reach ripeness (in the heat, the vines shut down).

Warre’s Vintage Port 2003
Typically Warre’s shows elegance and finesse from higher vineyards. This 2003 is sweet, rich and soft with supple cherry and blackberry fruit, leading to a salty palate with sweet herbal hints and nice development. Rich and lush, with sugar covering the tannins. Drinking well now. 93/100

Graham’s Vintage Port 2003
Graham’s typically produces richer, more opulent Ports. This has lovely aromatics with floral minty notes and some tar and spice, alongside sweet black fruits. Nice development on the palate with some mellow character and then some minty, spicy framing. Bold, rich and opulent. 94/100

Dow’s Vintage Port 2003
Typically wines from Dow’s can be a little drier and austere while young. This 2003 has lovely weight and intensity with nice fruit and some firm structure. Notes of herbs and pepper with some freshness as well as floral black cherry fruit. Sweet and intense with nice precision. 95/100

1985 was a classic vintage making powerful wines with good ageing potential. ‘There are few wines in the world that offer this guarantee of longevity,’ says Charles Symington.

Warre’s Vintage Port 1985
This is really fine with sweet cherry and strawberry fruit with some herby notes and also a touch of raisiny sweetness. Nice concentration of sweet fruit with some mellow savouriness. Lovely elegance and finesse: mellow and fine with an ease to it. 95/100

Graham’s Vintage Port 1985
Quite deep in colour for a wine that’s almost 40. This has immense concentration of sweet blackberry and cherry fruit, showing real finesse. Such weight of sweet fruit with fine tannins and notes of pepper, herbs and liquorice. Power and finesse together! 97/100

Dow’s Vintage Port 1985
Still deeply coloured. Fresh, with well defined meaty, peppery blackcurrant fruit with lovely salty, tarry, spicy detail. Great depth of fruit here with warmth and structure. Not too sweet. Bold and rich. 97/100

1963 is a vintage from a different era. There wasn’t centralized winemaking like there is today: instead, the wines were made on farms, and the Port houses sent people to buy the ones they wanted, which were then shipped back to Gaia. Moving around the Douro wasn’t easy: horseback or boat were the only ways of getting around, and boat had its own challenges because the Douro river wasn’t dammed then.

Warre’s Vintage Port 1963
Fine, seamless, smooth and elegant with floral red cherries and some spicy notes. In the mouth this has lovely texture: it is smooth and sweet with real focus and elegance, and amazing refinement. I love the elegance of this wine, which still has a bit of structure. 97/100

Graham’s Vintage Port 1963
Beautiful red cherry and earl grey tea aromatics with a rich palate of liqueur-like cherry fruit, a subtle touch of raisin and real elegance. Such refinement to this wine, which finishes with some peppery hints and a twist of mint. 98/100

Dow’s Vintage Port 1963
Some sternness here, with a savoury twist to the sweet plums and cherries, as well as a touch of liquorice. Honeyed and rich with some mintiness, fine red cherries, some tea leaf and a layer of undergrowth characters. This shows real finesse, and finishes spicy and long. 96/100

Cockburn’s Vintage Port 1963
Fresh, supple and elegant with refined red cherry and strawberry fruit with some aniseed and dried herbs, showing a bit of structure too. Very fine and elegant, and still has some distance to go. 98/100