Editing Port wine (section)

==Vintages==
[[File:Quinta do Noval Vintage Port 1963.jpg|thumb|125px|A bottle of [[Quinta do Noval]] vintage port 1963]]

The term [[vintage]] has a distinct meaning in the context of vintage port. While vintage is simply the year in which a wine is made, most producers of vintage port restrict their production of year-labelled bottlings to only the best years, a few per decade. Contrast with [[second wine]]s, where (primarily) Bordeaux producers release a year-labelled top wine almost every year, but also lesser quality wines in some years.

If a port house decides that its wine is of a quality sufficient for a vintage, samples are sent to the IVDP for approval and the house declares the vintage. In very good years, almost all the port houses will declare their wines.

In intermediate years, the producers of blended vintage ports will not declare their flagship port but may declare the vintage of a single quinta, e.g., the 1996 Dow's Quinta do Bomfim and Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas. Some houses declare their wines in all but the worst years: Quinta do Vesuvio has declared a vintage every year with the exceptions of 1993, 2002, and 2014.

Improved wine-making technologies and better weather forecasts during the harvest have increased the number of years in which a vintage can be declared. Although there have been years when only one or two wines have been declared, it has been over thirty years since there was a year with no declarations at all.

2016 was declared a vintage year by most producers,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2018/05/2016-port-classic-but-tiny/|title=2016 Port: 'Classic' But Tiny|last=Millar|first=Rupert|date=23 May 2018|website=The Drinks Business|access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref> as was 2011.<ref name=ws/> The quality of the grape harvest was attributed to ideal rainfall and temperature.<ref name=winedetective>{{cite web |url=http://thewinedetective.co.uk/blog/portugal/tried-tasted-sandeman-ferreira-offley-2011-vintage-ports |title=Tried & tasted: Sandeman, Ferreira & Offley 2011 Vintage Ports |author=Sarah Ahmed |website=thewinedetective.co.uk/|date=29 April 2013 |access-date=27 November 2015}}</ref> Other recent widely declared vintage years were 2007, 2003, 2000, 1997 and 1994.<ref name=ws>{{cite news |last=Antunes |first=Luis |date=24 April 2013 |title= Major Port Houses Declare 2011 Vintage|url=http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/48345 |newspaper=Wine Spectator |access-date=27 November 2015 }}</ref>