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Warre’s Quinta de Cavadinha Vintage Port 2005

After last week’s glass (or two) of seasonally appropriate sherry, I thought this week I would continue with the vinous festive clichés and switch from sherry to port.

It is always worth taking a look at the single-quinta wines from vintages which were not declared, or only partly declared, and the final Weekend Wine selection of 2024 is just such a wine. The 2005 season was characterised by a serious drought in the Douro region, not merely a few dry weeks but months and months without rain, turning the hydric stress levels up to eleven, and impacting the fruit as it hung on the vine.

Some wineries high up in the Douro were so dry for so long they resorted to shipping the fresh water they needed for the harvest upriver, from lower in the valley. Unsurprisingly in these conditions harvest was one of the earliest ever, the only glitch in the picking schedule being – ironically enough – some showers of rain. As you might expect the fruit was in perfect sanitary condition, but the berries were extremely small with thick skins, reflecting the prolonged restriction in provision of water to the vine.

The main concern about quality in the 2005 vintage was raisining of the fruit in the heat, and even those houses which avoided this found they had wines of unprecedented concentration, both in terms of colour, fruit and tannin. The decisions on whether or not to declare would require careful consideration.

Warre's Quinta de Cavadinha Vintage Port 2005

Ultimately, while a few houses opted to declare a vintage, most notably Niepoort, as well as Kopke, Cálem and one or two others, the more famous houses demurred from following suit. Instead they opted to bottle single-quinta wines, recognising the potential quality in the vintage, but stepping back from a full declaration. The wines have, over the past twenty years, tended to reflect the character of the vintage in their bold, broad and occasionally burly style.

Having been established in 1670 Warre is one of the oldest and surely also one of the best-known port houses. Today it is part of the Symington group, a relationship which dates back to 1905, when the Lanarkshire-born Andrew James Symington (1863 – 1939) took on a partnership in the firm. Eventually the Warre family came to sell their interest in the business, and during the 1960s the Symington family took control.

Warre’s flagship vineyard is the Quinta da Cavadinha; acquired in 1978, this vineyard sits high in the valley of the Pinhão, a tributary of the Douro, on the opposite bank to Quinta do Noval. The lower vines sit close to the river, at 180 metres above sea level, but the south-east-facing slope rises to 440 metres. The fruit from the Cavadinha vineyard, together with that from the Quinta do Retiro Antigo which sits not too far away in the valley of the Rio Torto, form the core of the firm’s vintage releases. So in a single-quinta vintage such as 2005, the Quinta da Cavadinha is always likely to be an excellent option.

Coming to it at twenty years of age (well, close enough), the 2005 Quinta da Cavadinha Vintage Port seems intent on living up to the reputation of the vintage, both in terms of its appearance in the glass, and in the intensity of its aromatics. It is showing a little fade at the rim in, but at its core this remains an inky dark wine. The nose, meanwhile, is simply laden with highly perfumed blackberries and sweet blackcurrants, laced with violets, liquorice and dark chocolate, with just a little fragrant raspberry on toast. This precedes a sweet and modestly plush texture on that start of the palate, and it holds together well through the middle, thanks to a very robust tannic frame – the vintage making its presence felt again – before in the end it turns stridently peppery and spiced. I adore the dense and pure black fruits which run throughout the palate here, mirroring the nose, with the same perfumed edge of raspberry and mint giving it a sense of lift. A very structured Port, with admirable purity, this should develop well for another decade and then surely another decade after that. And probably more. I particularly enjoyed the increasing levels of harmony it showed more than 48 hours after I pulled the cork. The alcohol declared on the label is 20%. 91/100 (30/12/24)

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