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Port Wine Comes of
Age
Preface:
I leave to him "ten dozen of my old Claret at his choice,
and one bottle of that other liquid called Port. I also
leave to him 6 dozen of Port provided he attests under his
own hand signed John Home, that he himself finished that
bottle in two sittings."
It is a mistake to call Porto a dessert wine. Port is a more universal drink which can be consumed at various times during a meal. In France, it is very common to have White Porto or a Light Tawny as an aperitif before a meal. This is also true in Portugal where, during a visit to a Quinta in the Douro, you will find chilled Porto Branco with roasted almonds and olives offered before dinner. The French are also developing a love for fine old tawnies. In bone chilling England, your host will serve a robust Ruby, Late Bottled Vintage or Vintage after dinner with fruit and Stilton cheese. Opening a bottle of old vintage becomes a ritual with decanting and proper order of service. All Port begins its life as either red or white wine. White port is made from white grapes (Malvasia, Viosinho and Gouveio). The juice is fermented as a white wine until the fermentation is stopped by the addition of pure grape brandy. After spending one year in large wood tanks the wine is transferred to Pipes (550 liter oak barrels). It is then aged in wood until bottled. There are three types of White Porto: PORTO BRANCO - WHITE PORT - Medium sweet - at least 3 years old. DRY OR EXTRA DRY WHITE - Medium dry - a White Port aged in the cask for 5 to 10 years - In the cask, it looses sweetness and becomes more complex and very interesting, much like a old tawny. PORTO BRANCO LAGRIMA - Very sweet white made with the free run juice of the white grapes. Aged in wood for 3 to 5 years. White Port is not expensive and can be stored indefinitely. It does not dramatically change character once the bottle is open. Porto Branco is ideal to serve slightly chilled by the glass before dinner. Dry White works with a hearty first course such as Charcuterie, Smoked Fish or Cured Ham. For a menu with Fois Gras, a chilled white can be offered by the glass as an alternative to a Sauternes or Barsac. On the aperitif list, White Porto is a plus. It can also be used to make wine based cocktails at the bar. Red Ports are made with selected red grapes (Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cao, Tinta Barroca and Touriga Francesca) fermented on the skins as one would make red wine. As with White Port, the fermentation of the red wine is stopped by the addition of old grape brandy. The wine then spends additional time in contact with the skins and is racked into large wood tanks for further maturation. During this time, the lees settle out while the wine stabilizes. The origin of the grapes by lot is carefully controlled and each wine is studied to determine its future. Lighter wines are selected for future aging as tawnies and heavy, full bodied wines for Ruby, Late Bottled and Vintage wines. Before 1986, it was mandatory for Port wine to be exported from Vila Nova de Gaia, the sister city of Oporto. The wine was fermented up the Douro at the Quintas and vinification centers of the shippers and later transferred to the Port Lodges in Gaia for aging. Being close to the sea, Gaia is cold and damp and offers ideal conditions for aging. In 1986 the individual estate (Quinta) owners won the right to export directly from the properties in the Douro. Since then, there have been many air conditioned cellars built in the Douro where the wines are vinified and also aged. After spending one year in large wood tanks the wine is transferred to 550 liter oak barrels, resting either in the Douro or in Gaia. After 3 years of age, the young Ruby Ports are the basis for shippers blends and some vintage style wines. There have been young Rubies sold in England as Crusted Port, but this category is not promoted by the Instituto do Vinho do Porto. The future of "Vintage Character" is unclear since it the opinion of some producers that the word "vintage" should be reserved for true Vintage Port. Ruby Port is an excellent introduction for the new Port Wine drinker who prefers a full bodied style of wine. In the restaurant, a Ruby works well on the back bar for the casual Port drinker. Some shippers proprietary blends fall between rubies and aged tawnies and have been successful in the market. Ruby Port will keep its character for a few weeks after opening. It is likely to develop some sediment in the bottle after one year of bottle aging. It is best to purchase Ruby Port for sale within six months. Vintage Ports are perhaps the best known and the most difficult to handle in restaurants. The wine of collectors, Vintage Ports always receive the high scores of journalists. Produced with grapes from the top rated vineyards in outstanding years, Vintage Port is rich, full bodied with high tannin and extract. It is bottled within three years of the harvest. These are wines which are meant to age. When made during a declared year, Vintage Port is not ready to drink for 20 years or more. With limited production and worldwide demand, the price of Vintage Port has skyrocketed! It is always a surprise to me to find young vintages such as the remarkable 1994's being sold by the glass. This is Portocide! I suspect that restaurants choose younger vintages because they are easier to handle. The deep fruit and heavy tannin provide the wine with a little more life once opened. Exquisite old vintages develop a great amount of sediment and will fade a few days after being uncorked. It is not surprising that David Hume from his grave demanded that his friend John Home drink that bottle of Vintage Port in no more than two sittings! LATE BOTTLED VINTAGE (LBV) PORTS Late Bottled Port is a Vintage Port which is late bottled. By law, LBV Port is bottled within 4 to 6 years after the vintage. It is usually more accessible at an earlier age. In the early years, vintage was bottled when the producer or shipper deemed it ready for bottling. Some of the great 1927 Vintage was posthumously declared LBV because of late bottling. LBV's are a controversial, but successful category. Some shippers cold stabilize, filter, and ship LBV Port with pull corks much like Tawny Ports. The other philosophy is to bottle as a true vintage with no filtration or stabilization using driven corks and black vintage bottles. These are the "traditional" LBV Ports which can approach the quality of Vintage but with softer tannins due to the additional cask aging. LBV's are ideal restaurant wines and can be found under the name of the shipper or individual Quinta. My recommendations for serving Vintage and LBV Ports: - Use LBV Port as an alternative to Vintage. LBV offers the consumer a comparable taste experience, is less expensive and easier to handle. Since there is less sediment, it can be put on a Cruvinet. LBV is made in top vintages and in vintages not widely declared. Select on quality of the wine, not on some mindless vintage rating. - Purchase half bottles to sell on the winelist. Some older vintages are still available at reasonable prices. Lesser known vintages can be superb. Keep a few bottles standing upright so they can be poured carefully without disturbing the sediment. If you intend to sell full bottles of old vintages by all means invest in decanters and proper staff training. - Older vintages take a great deal of care to serve by the glass. If you use a Cruvinet the wines have to be decanted and put back into the bottle. Nitrogen gas also helps. Other systems such as vacuum pumps provide limited conservation for a fine vintage port. It is quite unfair to offer a customer a tired out vintage which has been open for a week or more. Two or three days is the limit once the bottle is uncorked. Do not used coffee filters for Vintage Port, they strip the flavor and can add unwanted components. - Vintage and LBV port should be treated like any other wine in the wine cellar stored at cool temperatures with the bottles on the sides. If you plan to serve an old Port to a special customer, stand the bottle upright for a few days before service. This will make it easier to decant. Tawnies are the soul of Port. Tawny ports age in the cask by the process of oxidation. Any ruby subject to extensive aging will become a Tawny. A very old vintage ultimately becomes a tawny but with the complexity of bottle aging without oxygen. This is the process of reduction. Young tawnies do not exist, they must be created by aging. Tawnies can be blended with wines from different vineyards and vintages or can be from a single vintage. Each shipper has developed a house style and particular range of Tawny Ports. By careful selection and blending of wines from different vineyards and lots, quality is maintained. Serious houses have stocks of very old wines held in reserve. The aging and blending of Tawny Port is a fine art. When a tawny ages, it becomes golden in color, smooth in taste and has a unique aroma of nuts, almonds and ripe fruits. Tawnies are wines of great finesse and complexity which deserve a place in every restaurant. TAWNIES WITH AN INDICATION OF AGE Before 1970, shippers had one or more special Tawny Ports which were very old but did not mention the age on the label. In 1970, new regulations were enacted which allowed age statements of 10 years, 20 Years, 30 Years and greater than 40 Years on the label. Producers took the opportunity to re-label existing wines because it provided more information to the consumer. In 1945, the house of J.H. Andresen created CENTURY PORT to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the firm which was founded in 1845. At the time this Port was 12 to 15 years old. Today, it is sold as 10 year old Tawny although the blend has not changed. The ROYAL CHOICE 20 year old has been added to the range. Similarly, Quinta do Bom Retiro became the 20 year old tawny of Ramos Pinto. Some producers have concentrated upon the 10 and 20 years old wines while others have launched a complete range. Wine in each age category has to pass a rigorous tasting by the IVP before approval backed by documented stocks of old wines. Each label states that the wine has been matured in wood and gives the date of bottling. These are exquisite wines to drink today. COLHEITA PORTS - VINTAGE DATED TAWNIES We are a date driven society. It is exciting to drink vintage wine from top years and special vintages on birthdays and anniversaries. That is what makes Colheita Port so special. Controlled by vintage and origin, these tawnies age in the cask until bottled and carry the date of the harvest. Colheita is not to be confused with Vintage Port. A Colheita Port is cask aged, Vintage Port is bottled aged. The term Vintage is not permitted on a Colheita label, only the date of the harvest and date of bottling. Vintage dated tawnies have a long history in Vila Nova de Gaia. As long as stocks and dates have been recorded they can be sold with the date but not before formal tasting and approval of the IVP. Certain lodges have large collections of old tawnies, some dating back to 1900 and earlier. In these old cellars, the real treasures can be found. My recommendations for serving Age Dated Tawnies and Colheitas: - Old tawnies are easy to handle and serve. Since they are already oxidized in the cask, once open they will keep for a long period of time. Tawnies do not age in the bottle, they are ready to drink when bottled. Storage is upright and does not require a special wine cellar. Old tawny can serve as an aperitif before dinner, with dessert or as an after dinner drink. - Always put the wines on your wine list. It helps your customer to know what is available and the age of the wines. If you have a rolling liqueur trolley, tawny should be featured. Add tawny to the by-the-glass list to complement the Late Bottled Vintage. A balanced selection of old tawnies would include the 10 or 20 year old wines plus one or more old Colheitas. 1. Most of the Port houses are owned by the English. Untrue - Oporto is a macrocosm of Europe. Original Port traders were Scots, Danish, German, Dutch, English and Portuguese. Today, the Lodges and Quintas are owned by French, British, German, and Dutch interests and long established Portuguese families and companies. 2. There are two styles of wines, The British Style and the Portuguese Style. Wrong - Traditionally, the British houses produced a lot of Vintage Port thus the assumption that their wines were fuller and heavy bodied. With winemaking facilities at a high level, and vineyards planted with the best varieties, all houses and Quintas have the capability of producing rich, full bodied wines. 3. Quinta Ports are second class wines only made in off vintages. This is a myth that has been promulgated by some of the larger British houses. For these companies, Quinta Ports became an outlet for wines of lesser vintages. In 1986, the individual Quinta owners won the right to export directly from the properties in the Douro. No longer forced to sell to the shippers, they are in control of their own destiny and have launched some outstanding wines on the market. 4. Only great wine can be made in Gaia. - Actually, the wines have always been made in the Douro and aged in Gaia. With the independence of the Quintas and changes in export regulations, many companies have built air conditioned aging cellars up in the Douro. No doubt we will see many more wines made exclusively in the Douro. For example, the Ports of Quinta do Cotto have always been made up in the Douro by Miguel Champalimaud. I will leave you with this thought: " Refinement and strength, complexity and freshness,
maturity and vigor all are hallmarks of a fine aged TAWNY. A
great VINTAGE is in the hands of God, but a great TAWNY is
created by a master blender." Leo B. Fox is a Pennsylvania native, trained at
Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh and the University of
Pennsylvania, Wharton School. After the MBA and a stint as a
marketing consultant, he toured Europe and became enamored
with the wine business. Without any experience in the field,
he formed his own company to import wines. Starting as a one
man operation, he sold wines to restaurants in Philadelphia
and ultimately connected with an out of state distributor
who ordered the first truckload! Today, World Shippers &
Importers Co. specializes in importing limited production
European wines which are sold on a national basis. Port
wines have always played an important part in the portfolio.
A frequent lecturer and presenter at wine tastings, Mr. Fox
was one of the first Americans to be inducted into the
prestigious Confraria do Vinho do Porto. Copyright © 1998 by World Shippers & Importers Co. All rights reserved. |
In the time of
David Hume, "That other liquid called Port" had become a
great favorite in England and Scotland. More properly called
Porto, it ranks among the great wines of the world. True
Porto is a fortified wine which can only be made in the
upper reaches of the Douro River Valley of northern
Portugal. Extremely long lived, Porto ages quite gracefully
in the cask and very slowly in the bottle. Today, with the
many styles and types of Porto available, it is a challenge
to select, purchase, store, serve and sell Port wine. Some
restaurants focus on selling Vintage Port by the glass, a
labor intensive approach which ignores a number of other
exciting Port styles which are discussed in this article.
