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Symington expect ‘exceptional’ vintage in the Douro Valley
Port house Symington Family Estates says it is on track to have an “exceptional” vintage across its estates in the Douro Valley, despite woes continuing to hit producers in the region.
In a mid-harvest review, the port producer said this year had been more in line with the 30-year average than then “challenging growth cycles” of recent years which had been marked by erratic rainfall and prolonged heatwaves across the region.
By contrast, the 2024 growing season had seen average rainfall and temperatures only marginally below average, with flowering and veraison happening at more “normal” times for the Douro Valley (flowering on 6 May and version from 8 – 15 July at Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim in the heart of the region).
Temperatures were also more in line with the 30-year average, despite the hottest April ever recorded (1.58°C above the pre-industrial average) – and the moderate temperatures helped grapes ripen gradually, with balanced sugar and acidity and “without the excesses that we have become accustomed to over the last few years,” according to head winemaker & production director Charles Symington.
Harvest started with white variety Viosinho which is grown at high-altitude vineyards, on 22 August, followed by earlier ripening red varieties – Sousão, Alicante Bouschet, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz, and old mixed vines – from 9 September, arriving in the winery at an ideal 20-22ºC necessitation no cooling or heat during fermentation.
Due to the rain earlier in the season, the vines were able to draw on water reserves during the very dry August (which had no rain), maturing steadily into the first half September, when weather conditions were “near perfect.”
The 2024 vintage is therefore “in line with the old style of Douro vintages” Symington said, “with a later start than we have seen in recent years, a classic sequence of harvesting different grape varieties, and moderate temperatures with cool nights leading to great phenolic development, colour and excellent acidity.”
Yields are average or below, but “the key barometer for our harvests in the Douro is the quality of the Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca,” Symington said. This was harvested from 16 September “with incredibly promising results” – a near perfect 13º-14º on the Baumé scale “with balanced acidity, excellent colour and aromas”. The Touriga Franca is currently being harvested, but “if the weather forecast holds, we feel confident that we are on course for a great vintage this year”, Symington concluded.
The update comes as the Douro is reportedly facing “a perfect storm” which may see “a generational exodus from farming”, according to some sources. This comes on the back of unsustainably low grape prices, the rising cost and availability of labour, rising bank interest rates causing the cost of borrowing to soar, falling sales of port, and the cost of replanting as many vineyards near the end of their commercial lives,
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