Port

This festive season tends to induce reckless dessert consumption. And desserts typically want wines other than the ones you had with dinner. Port is a traditional as well as versatile choice of dessert wine.

Port comes from the Douro River Valley of Portugal, although its name is actually derived from the city of Oporto, at the mouth of the Douro. Many of the most notable producers of Port have very English names because the English founded what are today the most famous Port production companies.  

To make the Port, the grapes are crushed and allowed to macerate (sit on their skins) for about a day, when fermentation begins. Port is a fortified wine; that is, clear 150 proof brandy is added about halfway through fermentation. The brandy stops the fermentation process by killing the yeasts that convert the sugar to alcohol, thus providing Port’s characteristic sweetness. All Port starts out this way.

There are two basic styles of Port – ruby and tawny. Tawny Ports are Young (no age) or Aged Tawny (10, 20, 30 years). They display nutty, brown sugar, and vanilla notes along with the red fruit notes and the tawny red-brown color from which they derive their name. Ruby Ports fall into several categories… Ruby, Vintage Character, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), and Vintage, offering richer pure red fruit notes.

All Ports see aging. Tawny ports are blended from several vintages and Young Tawny ages 2 – 3 years in wood, while Aged Tawnies age for lengthier periods of time, the age on the bottle being the average age of the wines in the bottle. The vineyards and grapes from which a young tawny is produced are of lesser quality, while an Aged Tawny is produced from the best grapes of non-vintage years. 

Ruby Ports are aged in barrels and tanks for 2 – 3 years and produced from locations and grapes of similar quality to the young Tawnies. Vintage Character Ports are basically Super Rubies aged 4 – 6 years with grapes of better quality than the basic Ruby, and often come with proprietary names – two very nice examples are Fonseca’s ‘Bin 27’ and Graham’s ‘Six Grapes’ (both under $20).

LBVs are produced from the grapes of a single vintage, and are generally aged in barrel 4 – 6 years, at which point they are bottled. They are released when the producer thinks they are mature and ready to drink. There are two styles, one of which is referred to as Traditional (which would be indicated on the label). The latter are aged for 4 years, at which time they are bottled unfiltered (so, lots of sediment). These age better than the modern style of LBV, and are often released older. LBVs are produced from high quality grapes of non-vintage years and represent excellent value, mostly in the $20 - $30 range.

Vintage Port, which is only released in the very best years, is produced from the very best grapes of the very best vineyards. It represents only 2% - 3% of total Port production. It is aged in barrel for two years, at which time it is bottled unfined and unfiltered. Vintage Port is powerfully elegant, and no other version of Port comes reasonably close to matching its character. These are expensive wines. Finding one under $65/btl is not an easy task, but if you want to taste one for a modest sum, do try the Croft Quinta da Roeda 2015, which can be purchased for $39.98/btl (Wine Spectator 92).

Drinking your Port. If your port has a stopper cork it has been filtered and fined and does not need to be decanted – open and pour fearlessly. However, if your Port has a standard cork, requiring a corkscrew, the bottle should be left standing upright for a day or two, then gently uncorked with little bottle movement and carefully decanted, leaving the ample sediment in the bottle. With the exception of Vintage Ports (and some Traditional LBVs), other versions should be consumed within 2 years of bottling/release. Aging beyond that seldom serves them well. Happy Holidays…Bill

Everyone wants to know…how long does an open bottle of port last? Long answer -- see: http://www.wineguy.co.nz/index.php/81-all-about-wine/758-keeping-an-open-bottle-of-port.