Four (very different) 1994s

As I said in the first edition of my book Port and the Douro, published in 1999, ‘it was clear almost from the first snip of the secateurs that 1994 would be a fully-declared Port vintage’.

For many shippers it was a watershed year. After two decades with some very variable declarations (and some downright faulty wines in the mid-1980s) 1994 marked a return to form for vintage Port.

The year began with a fortuitously wet winter which brought an end to three consecutive years of drought. When the sun began to shine in March and April, the vines sprouted with vigour. Heavy rain during the flowering in May served to check yields and from then on, despite a relatively cool summer, it was plain sailing all the way through to harvest. Cloudy skies and a little light rain in mid-September rekindled memories of the previous year when the heavens had opened during vintage. A few growers panicked and picked too early but, as it turned out, the rain helped the berries to swell and sugar readings rose. The majority of growers held their nerve and by the equinox picking was well underway. Winemakers were helped in their task by clear skies and cool night time temperatures – don’t forget that temperature control in the winery was not a given back then. As a result the traditional lagares took plenty of work and long, slow fermentations gave rise to prolonged skin contact and good extraction. As the wines were run off and fortified, the big guns could hardly conceal their glee at the prospect of a major vintage declaration.

The shippers were helped in their decision to declare by the healthy state of the market. Having tested the water successfully with the split 1991–1992 vintages, they knew that there was enough support for a large declaration with the Americans particularly receptive to vintage Port. Opening prices rose considerably and in some cases continued to soar, overtaking mature vintages like 1970 at auction. Tasting the 1994s at an early stage, they were characterised by super-ripe fleshy fruit, which tended to cover up the underlying tannic grip.

That ‘puppy fat’ that charmed tasters from the outset has fallen away to reveal some balanced, structured wines, all of which should now be drinking well. Before Christmas 2021, the Symington family re-released their 1994s from stock set aside after the successful en primeur campaign back in 1996. I waited until early 2022 to taste their three leading wines, Dow, Graham and Warre alongside a rather very different but rather glorious single harvest (colheita) wine from Graham’s made in the same year and bottled in 2020. The wines are presented in the order in which they were tasted:

Warre 1994 ***/****

Mid-deep colour, still quite youthful in hue; rather a strange, sweet and sour nose with an touch of off-putting burnt rubber initially which started to dissipate after an hour or two in the glass – perhaps this is just a phase?; attractive well-defined berry fruit on the palate, mid-weight and supported by ripe, well-integrated spicy tannins leading to long, fresh spicy finish. Not a big wine but showing lovely finesse when you get past the nose! 16.5

Graham 1994 ****

Mid-deep and still youthful in hue; surprisingly demure on the nose with a lovely underlying dusty – floral scent. This has more to give. Lovely naturally sweet, ripe cherry fruit on the palate with a firm dusting of tannin mid-palate and a lovely well-defined, long, linear finish. Not as opulent in style as I would have expected given the house and the vintage but showing great poise and finesse. Drink now by all means but this will be better still after another 5 years in bottle and will keep and develop happily for another thirty years beyond that. 18

Dow 1994 *****

Considerably deeper in colour than both the Warre and Graham 1994; opening up to reveal ripe, exotic aromas of gum cistus, eucalypt and herbal-minty fruit, very expressive of the Douro; ripe, quite powerful and tight-knit with lovely rich minty fruit, firm ripe tannins rising to a fresh yet quite opulent gripping finish (especially for Dow in its customary drier style). Already glorious to drink this will be better still in 5 years and like the Graham above will last another thirty (or more). This was my pick of the vintage when it was declared – twenty-six years later and I feel fully justified! 19

Graham’s 1994 Single Harvest Tawny *****

Entitled ‘the apprentice’, this wine marks Charles Symington’s first harvest in the Douro when he began working alongside his father Peter. Based on wines from Graham’s flagship quinta, Malvedos, set aside in cask until the wine was bottled in 2020: now a reddish tawny in colour with a vestige of fresh plummy sweetness and taking on smooth toffee-like complexity, Elvas plums and fruit cake richness with the merest dusting of tea leaf tannin before a gorgeous seamless smooth, suave finish. A ‘wow’ of a wine. 19.5