Do you remember the fabulous and unforgettable year 2011, right?
Proudly we had six Portuguese wines, including three in the top 10 in the first four places, by the prestigious North American magazine Wine Spectator on the “Top 100 Wines of 2014", five of which were from 2011 vintage.
Strangely 2015 was a year of great production but also of great quality and for some companies, harvesting after the rain it was the best decision, because the grapes were with right balance of alcohol and acidity.
The vines didn't have plenty of water reserves but at least Summer was not being too severe, and even more important, overnight temperature in August was as low as 12ºC.
It was a dry year, with a cold, dry winter, a spring that brought warmer temperatures and a summer cooler than normal with optimal fresh nights for the acidity of the grape, who looked good, great and without disease.
In a small family company the harvest is made by friends, approximately for one month, where the white wines are the first to be made and then the red ones.
There is a high level of demand, hard work, but in the end everyone joins to eat the traditional onion soup and other delicious foods, drink, share stories and laughter and having fun. The winemaking is coupled between craft means with some technology that allows us a greater longevity of the wines.
Of course, as in all other wine regions, the different grape varieties had different ripening times, what hinders a little the whole logistics of harvesting and winemaking.
For example:
In Bairrada region after a dry warm year and a little bit of rain, it helped the grapes achieving full maturation, with good flavors and low acidity.
On the white wines they are rich and naturally complex and fresh and varietal notes in the reds, Baga grape achieved good ripening.
Vinhos Verdes region had a dry year, with lots of rain close to harvest dates.
The white wines resulted with good fruit notes, balance palate and reds/rosés with outstanding flavors and smooth palate.
Douro Valley region had a dry and warm year with some hot days during ripening, which resulted in really good wines with nice flavors and full bodied.
Marking the harvest dates, it was revealed earlier than other years, good sun exposition, dry places hardly produced mature grapes before the rainy days, developing nice flavors and somehow lighter color and palate than usual.
For some regions 2015 brought the best year ever, in general wines with good concentration of color and texture with well-defined acidity was the result of this vintage, allowing to have wines with long guard times.
Can´t wait to taste this harvest!