Newsletter, June 2018 Dear Friends Another year has passed, and summertime is all over us. In September, a new Season will be launched in The Vintage Port Club. This Newsletter tells about some of our plans for the upcoming year, though everything hasn t been settled yet. After summer holiday we ll publish a full program with details and dates. Beside looking into the future, you can read about some of our past tastings from first half of 2018. We wish everyone a nice and warm summer. The Tasting of Terroir The 15 th of January we explored the Terroir of the Douro by tasting and comparing various Single Quinta Vintages. We had a presentation of facts about temperatures, rainfall, altitude, sun exposure etc. in the Douro Valley, and we heard about the Cadastro - a system that classifies vineyards of the region. Single Quinta Vintage, 12 bottles ready for terroir tasting, 2018
Hereafter we tasted 12 different Single Quinta Vintages from various years: Quinta de Vargellas 1996 vs. Quinta de Terra Feita 1996 (both contributors to the Taylors Vintage) Quinta dos Canais 2000 vs. Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo 2000 vs. og Quinta do Pego 2000 (different locations and expositions) Quinta da Cavadinha 2001 vs. Quinta do Panascal 2001 vs. Malvedos 2001 (North and South of the Douro and different locations West-East) Quinta do Bomfim 2004 vs. Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira 2004 (both contributors to the Dow s Vintage) Vallado Adelaide 2012 vs. Quinta do Vale Meão 2012 (both Douro Boys, but different Terroir). No easy or clear conclusions were drawn, but we are sure all participant got an idea of the importance of terroir. 12 x Single Quinta Vintage, 2018 After the tasting we voted for the best wines of the evening, with this Top 5 as a result: 1. Fonseca Panascal Vintage 2001 (90,25) 2. Taylor s Vargellas Vintage 1996 (90,21) 3. Taylor s Terra Feita Vintage 1996 (89,55) 4. Graham s Malvedos Vintage 2001 (88,77) 5. Vallado Adelaide Vintage 2012 (88,12)
Winemakers Dinner with Vesuvio This year s Winemakers Dinner took place at Restaurant UBN in Odense, Friday the 23 rd of February. Our guests of honour were Dominic Symington and Gustavo Devesas. The Quinta do Vesuvio tasting showed 12 different vintages (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2007, 2011, 2015) and Capela Vintage 2007 and 2011. Vesuvio line up, 2018 A memorable tasting with 48 participants, and a joyful evening together with our old friends Dominic and Gustavo, who often have visited the Club as we have visited them in Porto and the Douro. Dominic gave a more than interesting lecture regarding the purchase of Quinta do Vesuvio in 1988 and terroir, soil, rainfall, slopes etc. as a frame of explanation for the high quality of grapes and wine. Even though, the Quinta is among the largest estates, the production is built on tradition with manual picking and food trading in old lagares. It was a great tasting & lecture, no more no less.
Dominic Symington lectures on Quinta do Vesuvio, 2018 After the tasting we voted for the best wines with this Top 5 as a result: 1. Vesuvio Capella 2007 (93,65) 2. Vesuvio Capella 2011 (93,63) 3. Vesuvio 2011 (93,16) 4. Vesuvio 1994 (92,43) 5. Vesuvio 2000 (92,41) After a short break, dinner was served in the room next door. 63 people participated in the dinner - of course - accompanied by wines from Quinta do Vesuvio: Gustavo Devesas & Dominic Symington, WMD 2018
Sogrape Triathlon with Luís Sottomayor We were honoured by Winemaker Luis Sottomayor, who visited our Club on his first visit ever to Denmark. The tasting the 21 st of March was a so-called Triathlon-tasting (combining a horizontal and a vertical tasting), focusing on three Port Labels owned by Sogrape: Sandeman, Ferreira & Offley. Luis Sottomayor tells about his years at Sogrape, 2018 Initially, we tasted 9 Vintages from 1980, 1994 and 2000 followed by three20 Years Old Tawnies. During the evening Luis kindly commented the wines and talked about the different styles of the three brands. Luis came to Ferreira in 1989, where he worked together with legendary Fernando Nicolau de Almeida. Later as Sogrape bought Offley and Sandeman, he became winemaker for all three companies and for Casa Ferreirinha as well. In 2003 he was promoted as head winemaker of the company. After the tasting we voted for the best wines of the evening with this Top 5 as a result: 1. Ferreira 20 Years Old Tawny (91,34) 2. Sandeman 20 Years Old Tawny (90,16)
3. Sandeman Vintage 2000 (89,95) 4. Ferreira Vintage 1994 (89,57) 5. Ferreira Vintage 1980 (89,48) Sandeman, Ferreira & Offley, Sogrape tasting 2018 Annual General Meeting and LBV The annual general meeting in The Vintage Port Club took place the 24 th of April. President Erik Pedersen and member of the board Jan Søgaard were re-elected, and the board including alternates now contains of Erik Pedersen, Per Stenaa, Jan Søgaard, Bjarne Mouridsen, Henrik Gorm Nielsen, Henrik Hansen, Nikolaj Grundtvig, Gert Jessen & Bente Schødts. President Erik Pedersen, GM 2018
Hereafter we had an interesting tasting of Late Bottled Vintage from 5 decades - from 1974 to 2011 and both filtered and unfiltered. The aim was to evaluate their development as we see it in Vintage Port; faster or not at all. The result of the tasting was this Top 5: 1. Smith Woodhouse LBV 2004 (89,40) 2. Warre LBV 1974 (89,13) 3. Quinta do Crasto LBV 1994 (88,93) 4. Quinta do Noval LBV 2011 (88,77) 5. Warre LBV 2004 / Quinta do Crasto LBV 2011 (88,53) LBV tasting - line up with 12 wines from 5 decades, 2018 Upcoming season The program for the next years tasting has not been finally settled yet, but we can give an idea of what the year will bring.
The first tasting in September will be with the15 years old Vintage 2003. How has it developed so far? Later this year in November we be honoured by another guest from Portugal - Stefano Marello from Sogevinus will join us for a tasting of Kopke. This tasting contains mostly of old Colheitas, one from each decade since the 1940 s supplemented by a couple of whites and Vintages. Sonia Figueira - Kopke Winemakers Dinner & tasting, 2016 Moreover, we are working on a tasting of some top of the pop Vintages, a technical tasting and of course another Winemakers Dinner. Confraria 2018 It has become a tradition since 2008 that The Vintage Port Club is present at the annual Ceremony and Dinner of Confraria do Vinho do Porto. This year will not be an exception. From the board president Erik Pedersen and Bjarne Mouridsen will be in Porto for the celebrations - and they will try to arrange a couple of meetings in relation to next year s program.
From the Confraria enthronement, 2008 Besides that, other members of the Club will be present and join the activities and watch the Regatta as well. Port Fairs in Denmark Years ago, there was only one Port Fair in Denmark, Henrik Oldenburg s at Børsen in Copenhagen. Those days are long gone. Today, there are festivals in Roskilde, Aarhus and other cities as well. On the island Funen we are having more than one. Autumn this year there will be Port Fairs in both Odense and Svendborg.
The 7 th & 8 th of September the third edition of the Port Fair in Vintapperstraede in Odense will take place and the festival will visit Svendborg the 29 th of September. Local wine shops and importers will be pouring samples of their Port - either free (entrance ticket) or for extra payment. A key figure of the festival is one of our members, Jakob Søfelde-Hansen. The 3 rd of November, Odense Port Festival will take place in the new Odeon in Odense. The port fair is arranged by a couple of members of The Vintage Port Club as well, Thomas K. Nielsen and former member of the board Niels Stroejer. The festival can be compared with the ones in Roskilde and Børsen with importers from the whole country, guests from Portugal, and free samples for the entrance except very old Ports. A letter from our friends and members from Norway The Vintage Port Club is proud to have members from all over Denmark and from Norway as well. In the following letter our two members from Norway, Emmy and Rune Gustavsen, will tell us about their interest in Port and their membership of a Port Club far away from home: In general, we both have a good impression of Denmark - both when it comes to culture, especially wine & food, and the interpersonal tone you find in Denmark. In the late 1990 s and in the beginning of the new Millennium we spent a lot of time in Denmark in connection with football cups. Out interest in wine and Port goes back to the 1980 s. Our first wine travel to Denmark was in March 2011, where we bought wine and port in The Portuguese Wine Cellar (Portugisisk Vinkælder) in Odense and got to know the tow owners, Henrik Bang and Lars Benmouyal. They noticed that we bought a lot of red wine from Quinta do Crasto. They introduced us to The Vintage Port Club and a Winemakers Dinner with exactly Quinta do Crasto and their winemaker, Manuel Lobo, in February 2013. We really enjoyed
it and became friends with members of the Club, who received us kindly. We were tempted to come back. Emmy & Rune Gustavsen at Winemakers Dinner with George Sandeman, 2015 There are no Port Clubs in Norway, so we checked if it was possible for two Norwegians to become members in Odense. First, we were passive members, but from June 2013 we became valid members. Up till now we have had five fantastic years as members of the club - and we are looking forward to more years to come. Every time we come Odense for a tasting we visit The Portuguese Wine Cellar as well and we will continue this routine. Why are two Norwegians travelling from Drammen in Norway to Odense 5 or 6 times a year to participate in tastings in The Vintage Port Club? There are many reasons and here are some of them: Nice and friendly members with great hospitality A great atmosphere in the club, where all opinions are welcome Interesting and well-arranged tastings News about Port, good offers en primeur and proposals through the club, an informative Newsletter and hints about good buys after tastings
We have become friends with several of the members of the club and one of them has even visited us in Drammen - of course with some ports served! We both get a time-out from our work and busy activities and a chance to have a good talk during the car ride and the hours in the ferry Finally, we will mention that knowledge gathered through the club has been beneficial for both our kids and kids-in-law, who also have got a huge interest for this fantastic thing called Port. Emmy & Rune Gustavsen, Drammen, Norway Facebook & Newsletter Did you know that you can become a member of the Facebook Group of The Vintage Port Club? Just apply on Facebook and we will be very happy to welcome you. And if you have anyone in your Company, who will benefit from reading this Newsletter please mail name and e-mail address to info@vintageport.dk. Vintage 2016 Most of the leading companies have now declared Vintage 2016. The year will be the first general declaration after the famous Vintage 2011 and we are looking forward to taste them - in the upcoming period and in the future.
On our homepage we are offering a, hopefully, complete list of producers declaring Vintage 2015 and 2016. Ready for a Vintage Tasting, 2017 The Club has already received some en primeur offers from importers concerning Vintage 2016, more precisely from Taylor s, Fonseca, Dow s, Graham s and Quinta do Vesuvio, and they will be followed by a lot more. Until now 350+ bottles of Vintage 2016 have been bought by the Club and our members. As usual, there is among members a special excitement when a promising year has been declared. Off course we don t forget our club cellar, where we will store Vintage 2016 for upcoming future tastings. From The Vintage Port Club to all our friends in Portugal and elsewhere we ll wish you all a nice summer. And of course, we re looking forward to our upcoming 30 th Club Anniversary in 2019!