2024 Harvest Report - Back to the future
Douro | Alentejo | Vinho Verde
Charles Symington, Head Winemaker & Production Director · October 22nd 2024
The return of an old-style Douro vintage
Following a succession of challenging growth cycles marked by erratic rainfall and prolonged heatwaves in recent years, 2024 has seen the return of an old-style Douro vintage with more typical conditions – leading to an excellent harvest producing exceptional wines.
While my father and grandfather would usually start harvesting from mid-September in the Douro, over the last few years we have grown accustomed to seeing advanced maturations due to unusually warm weather. The ‘new normal’ has been to start picking in the last week of August. Grape varieties that would typically ripen sequentially have often been ready for harvesting at the same time. Nevertheless, a combination of the resilience of the indigenous grape varieties and the skills of our viticulturists and winemakers, meant we were able to produce some fabulous, concentrated wines in these very hot and dry years – 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022.
By comparison, however, the 2024 viticultural year has seen average levels of accumulated rainfall and close to (or marginally below) average temperatures. As a result, flowering and veraison began on dates that are considered more usual in the Douro – 6th May for the former and from 8-15th July for the latter at Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim in the heart of the region.
While global climate records have been broken this year (with the hottest April ever recorded – 1.58°C above the 1850–1900 pre-industrial average), the Douro has enjoyed more moderate conditions that are in line with the 30-year average. This has led to gradual ripening of the grapes with balanced sugar and acidity, without the excesses that we have experienced over the last few years. The quality of fruit produced this year has been excellent and placed in the hands of our skilled winemakers has led to some outstanding ports and Douro DOC wines being made.
In future, we do expect to see increasingly challenging years in the Douro because of the impacts of climate change. We are well positioned to manage these harvests due to advances in our vineyards and wineries, together with the experience of our teams. But for now, we have enjoyed the return of a more familiar viticultural year and harvest, and I’m absolutely delighted with the remarkable quality of these 2024 wines, which I look forward to reviewing over the coming months.
Douro – A harmonious harvest
Our 2024 harvest started in the Douro on 22nd August with Viosinho white grapes at our high-altitude vineyards. We started picking Sousão on 4th September and other earlier ripening red grape varieties – Alicante Bouschet, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz, and old mixed vines – from 9th September.
Weather conditions through September were near perfect, delivering a gradual pace of maturations and a classic sequence of harvesting different grape varieties — each at the optimum point of ripening. Moderate daytime temperatures with cool nights led to ideal phenolic development, colour and excellent acidity. The grapes arrived in our wineries at an ideal 20-22ºC, requiring no cooling or heating during most fermentations, something we have not seen for some years.
Although there was no rain at all in August, our vineyards were in very fine condition in September, thanks to the sustenance provided by the soil water reserves from the generous rainfall earlier in the growing season. As the harvest progressed into the second week of September, our optimism grew steadily and we were confident we were on track for an exceptional vintage, providing the weather remained favourable.
The key barometer for our harvests in the Douro is the quality of the Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca – for both ports and Douro DOC wines. We started harvesting the Nacional across our estates from 16th September with incredibly promising results. Baumés were a near perfect 13º-14º with balanced acidity as well as excellent colour and aromas. The Touriga Nacional lagar from the stone terraces at Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos gave an impressive 13.9º Baumé, showing great promise, though yields were only around 500g per vine.
In recent years, the late ripening Touriga Franca has often fallen just short of its full potential due to unstable weather conditions. This year, aside from some light rain, the Francas were harvested in the last week of September in very favourable conditions – with mild daytime temperatures and cool nights greatly benefitting the fermentations. The quality of the Touriga Franca has been excellent, producing wines with very good levels of concentration and all the classic aromas of this fine grape variety.
It has been a while since we have had such a great alignment in ripening of the different grape varieties, consistently favourable weather both in the lead up to and during the harvest, fruit in such impeccable healthy condition, and fermentations of such excellent quality – in particular, from both our Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca across our estates.
Portalegre | Alentejo – Quinta da Fonte Souto
Our harvest at our Alentejo estate, Quinta da Fonte Souto, began on 16th August with the Verdelho white grapes. This was followed on the 19th by the Aragonez, which is used to make the estate’s rosé. By the 26th we began picking the Arinto, which represents the linchpin of the property’s white wines. As in the Douro, the harvesting conditions were perfect, with below average rainfall and relatively cool temperatures delivering ideal ripening.
We produced some exceptional rosé and white wines, which reinforces our belief that Quinta da Fonte Souto (between 490 to 550 metres altitude) near the São Mamede range possesses a remarkable terroir with great winemaking potential. The estate’s plantings of Alfrocheiro, which gave us a magnificent red wine in 2019, has once again performed superbly and we have every reason to hope that 2024 will produce another outstanding single varietal red.
The last to be picked were the finest plots of Fonte Souto’s other signature red grape varieties – Alicante Bouschet, Syrah and Touriga Nacional, which will contribute to the estate red and the flagship Vinha do Souto wine. These ferments were very promising and will undoubtedly complement the whites in showing an outstanding year for Quinta da Fonte Souto.
Monção and Melgaço | Vinho Verde – Casa de Rodas
2024 marked our second harvest at our 100% Alvarinho estate, Casa de Rodas, in the Monção and Melgaço sub-region of the Vinho Verde DOC. The vintage ran from the 6th to 9th September under very fine conditions, despite a little rain. The grapes reached their ideal point of maturity with very good levels of acidity. Once picked, they were taken to our partner Anselmo Mendes’s winery for vinification, where they produced some very high-quality wines. Yields were higher than our debut harvest last year due to the meticulous care that our viticulture team employed through a challenging growing season.
