A difficult growing season kept most producers from declaring a full 2022 Vintage Port, but there were many worthwhile releases, including a number of Single Quinta Vintage Ports and an intriguing new wine from Taylor’s Pinhão Valley properties.
The 2022 growing season in the Douro was never going to lead to one of the great years for Vintage Port. Indeed, the details, as laid out in a statement from Symington Family Estates, make for brutal reading. “The 2022 growth cycle was one of the most challenging in the Douro,” the shipper said, “with the three months before the harvest being among the hottest and driest ever recorded. Pinhão in the heart of the Douro saw a 70% reduction in rainfall from November 2021 to August 2022, compared with the 30-year average. Portugal recorded the hottest July since 1931, with Pinhão registering the country’s highest ever temperature at 47°C [116°F].”
No universal declaration of 2022 Vintage Port, then. But, as ever in the Douro these days, a range of fine Single Quinta Vintage Ports were made, while Taylor’s has given a debut to a new wine based on what the Fladgate Partnership Managing Director Adrian Bridge calls “parcel selections” from four of Taylor’s estates in the Pinhão Valley.
The new wine, Taylor’s Sentinels 2022 Vintage Port, takes its name from the granite pillars (“marcos de feito”) that mark the demarcation line “that separates the highest quality Port areas,” Taylor’s said, and contains wines from the best-performing plots in Terra Feita, Junco, Casa Nova, and Eira Velha—all of which were granted “feitoria” status in the Douro Valley’s original 1756 demarcation. The idea is that it will be made, like the company’s Single Quinta Vintage Ports, only in years when a full Vintage wine is not produced.
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In 2022, Sentinels slots in alongside both Quinta de Vargellas Single Quinta Vintage Port 2022 and Fonseca Guimaraens Single Quinta Vintage Port 2022 in the Fladgate portfolio of releases. “2022 will stand out for being a remarkably dry year with a series of heatwaves,” David Guimaraens, The Fladgate Partnership’s Head Winemaker, says. “However, the effects of the drought were offset by a wet March and by rain in early September, with perfect picking conditions at harvest. It will also be remembered for the year that we were able to reintroduce our foot treading, which due to COVID had not happened for the previous two vintages.
“The crop at Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas was one of the healthiest we have seen for years, and the Ports made on the Fonseca estates were outstanding, allowing us to produce a very fine Guimaraens Vintage.”
“Outstanding” Noval 2022 Vintage Port
Quinta do Noval’s policy of declaring Vintages whenever possible, even if that means producing only the tiniest of quantities, has often seen the shipper out of step with its peers when it comes to declarations—and 2022 was no exception, with Christian Seely, Managing Director of Quinta do Noval, declaring “three outstanding Vintage Ports”: Quinta do Noval Vintage Port 2022, Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port 2022, and Quinta do Passadouro Vintage Port 2022.
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Seely’s assessment of the year was one of “extremes: both very hot and very dry.” However, he adds, “such extremes are not entirely unprecedented. Similar conditions were experienced in the great vintages of 2017 and 1945. As in these years, the 2022 demonstrated the remarkable resilience of our terroir and of our Douro varieties. The vines remained extremely healthy throughout the year, with very little disease pressure. Remarkably the vines remained surprisingly green and free from water stress.”
Selection was strict, however, with Quinta do Noval Vintage Port 2022’s meager 2,600 cases representing just 6.6% of the total production of Port from Noval’s 155ha (383 acres) vineyard.
Symington’s singing micro-terroirs
Similar severity reigned at Symington Family Estates, notably in the production of the fifth vintage of the family’s rare, tiny-production Capela do Vesúvio, which is made from three small plots at Quinta do Vesúvio.
“At Quinta do Vesúvio there were three micro-terroirs within the estate that sung beautifully in 2022,” says Symington Head Winemaker, Charles Symington. “These were the three plots of vineyard that contribute to the limited-edition Capela da Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage Port. We only make this wine when these vineyards produce the power, structure and refinement required to create a standalone Vintage Port that expresses the unique characteristics of these vines.”
The family is also releasing what are, according to Symington, “two very exciting Vintage Ports from Quinta do Vesúvio and Dow’s Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira,” and has put aside small quantities of Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos 2022 Vintage Port, Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim 2022 Vintage Port, Warre’s Quinta da Cavadinha 2022 Vintage Port, and Cockburn’s Quinta dos Canais 2022 Vintage Port.
Sogrape and Sogevinus: Sense of place
Sogrape has also issued a trio of 2022 Vintage Ports, with the company announcing the release of two Single Quinta Vintage Ports and one Vintage Port blend.
“Porto Ferreira Quinta do Porto Vintage 2022 and Sandeman Quinta do Seixo Vintage 2022 reflect the typical terroir where they come from,” said Luís de Sottomayor, Sogrape’s Head of Winemaking responsible for Douro and Port wines at Sogrape. “The former is full of structure, depth, and intensity, while the latter stands out for its elegant, harmonious, and complex profile. Offley Vintage 2022 also reflects the characteristics of the climatic year, as it has exceptional volume and remarkable structure.”
According to Carlos Alves, Master Blender & Port Wine Winemaker at Sogevinus Fine Wines, 2022 was a year in which “the red wines had a very clean aroma and very bright and rich colors,” at harvest. “These characteristics improved with two years of aging, and so we decided to declare a vintage for all four Quintas which each exhibit individual differences and represent a sense of place.”
The quartet, available to buy from September 2, 2024, comprises: Kopke Quinta de São Luiz 2022, Burmester Quinta do Arnozelo 2022, Calem 2022, and Barros 2022.
