Douro harvest blighted by drought, says Paul Symington

Published: 17 October, 2012

Drought was one of the main problems affecting the Douro harvest this year with the region seeing a 54% drop in rainfall to the end of September.

According to Paul Symington, chairman of Symington Family Estates, the first three months of 2012 were "really concerning" due to the fact the Quintas around Pinho received just 217 mm of rain in nine months. He said: "Many predictions of disaster were to be heard from farmers in the village squares on Saturday mornings before the harvest."

But it wasn't all doom and gloom, as: "Yet again the Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Barroca, Roriz and others, showed that they are the real masters of our geography. These Douro varieties can turn the little green berries of May and June into lovely dark red and ripe fruit, even when it has rained so little for the last 21 months."

Other factors that threatened this year's vintage included a burst of intense heat hit the Douro over the weekend of June 23 and 24 which caused sunburn and "raisining" to some of the more exposed grapes, while July saw one of the worst hailstorms in recent times totally destroy some vineyards.

But July and August were relatively mild with average temperatures of exactly 23.7C which has a positive impact on the quality of the fruit.

Picking started some 10 days later than normal (September 13 at Quinta do Vesuvio and Quinta dos Canais, 17 at Quinta dos Malvedos and 20 at Quinta do Bomfim and the Rio Torto Quintas).

Symington said yields were remarkably low with many vineyards in the Douro Superior recording drops of up to 40%. Malvedos gave an average of just 0.65 kgs per vine, 50% less than average.

"The Douro grapes this year were in lovely condition, with small berries giving excellent colour and flavours and the musts looked really first-rate. Early tastings confirm considerable acidity and freshness in the samples," said Symington.

However, he added not all the vineyards produced great wines as the drought caused some stress to the more exposed vines and to the drier parcels. "But overall this year was a remarkable example of how our Douro vines can cope with drought, as long as it is not too hot."

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