Everyone’s pretty familiar with wine. There’s red wine, white wine and champagne. For the more experienced out there, there’s also dessert wine like eiswein and even a sweet Sauternes or Moscato. That’s about it right?
How about fortified wines? If you’ve never heard or and tasted them – you’re in for a treat. Some of these truly fine wines have a long and prestigious tradition that stretches back as far as the 18th century. These are wines which have high-alcohol brandy added to them during the wine-making process, which kills the yeast used in fermentation and results in more of the original grape juice and sugar being left over, instead of being turned into alcohol. Despite that, however, the wine is still stronger than normal, thanks to the addition of brandy, and ends up at 15%-18% ABV.
The most popular fortified wine in the world might just be Port. Named for the city of Oporto in Portugal, it is also one of the world’s oldest fortified wines. Like most of the things in the world, it was born of a combination of pragmatism and sheer luck.
The British of the 17th century enjoyed drinking wine, particularly French reds(and who could blame them?). Sadly, all those wars that they had with the French dampened the enthusiasm of the King of France for trade, particularly in the fruit of the vine. The thirsty British had to go somewhere for their wine fix. Fortunately, they already had dealings with another sea power, the Portuguese, who were only too happy to start selling their wines to them. The trouble was, without the miracle of air travel (or refrigeration, even), wines that were loaded onto ships for the long voyage from Portugal to England ended up spoiled more often than not.
Legend has it that the solution was found by two British entrepreneurs, who travelled down to Portugal themselves to find a solution, which could turn out to be very lucrative indeed. They happened upon an abbey, where the abbot served them the finest wine they had ever tasted. Smooth, sweet and rich, it gave them an almost religious experience. Aided by the lucrative properties of wine, the pair managed to coax the secret out of the abbot; the monks had added brandy to the wine during fermentation. The pair brought the first samples of what would become port back to England- and the rest, as they say, is history.
To this day, most of the popular producers of Port still bear proud British names such as Taylor Fladgate Yeatman, Cockburn, Sandeman, Dow and Warre. Other producers include the Dutch Niepoort and the Portugese Fonseca, Dalva and Ramos Pinto.
Similar to champagne, only wine made from grapes in the Douro region of Portugal can be called port. The region is an inhospitable one- a mountain valley with bone-bleaching temperatures in summer. The slopes are so steep that the grapes have to be grown on terraces carved into the mountainsides, and the soil is so hard that the Portuguese use dynamite to soften it up so that they can start planting! The fruit(ha ha) of these devilish conditions are grapes that are small, sweet and full of flavour, which are perfect for the making of traditional Port.
Yet, unlike champagne, there are 10 ways of making port, and the most important factor of deciding the type are based on whether they are meant to be aged in the cask before bottling, or after bottling, within the bottle itself. The former do not continue to improve after purchase as a bottle, but the latter do.
Barrel Aged:
Ruby Port– The most basic of port, these are made from very young red wines of different years, which have been in barrels or tanks for two or three years. Not particularly expensive, they are ruby red like their names suggest, and can have very raw, powerful flavours.
Tawny Port– These ports are made of a blend of wines which are light in colour (through minimal exposure to the wine skins in the initial production), aged in barrels for less than three years. These end up…tawny in colour and have a light, nutty flavour.
Aged Tawny Port – like a tawny, but aged for 10, 20, 30 or 40+ years in barrels. The ages do not necessarily reflect the actual age of the wines that are used to blend it, but tastes like what such a wine would be like in 10, 20, 30, or 40+ years. They have a refined vanilla, toffee and nut flavour and are very smooth.
Colheitas – Like a tawny, but made of a single vintage of wine instead of a blend of wines of different ages. They can spend up to 20 or 30 years in barrels. They are extremely rare and make up only 1% of the total production of port.
Garrafeira – port from a single, excellent vintage that are aged in wood for a brief time before spending 20-40 years in large glass bottles called bonbonnes. They are rich in flavour but very smooth.
White Port– Port made of white wine grapes. Often served with tonic and soda instead of being savoured on its own.
Bottle Aged:
Vintage Port – The most highly sought after port, vintage ports are only made from wines that come from a “vintage” year. To declare a vintage year, the producer needs to apply to a neutral regulatory board- and the board is particularly strict. The vintage ports are aged for two years in the barrel, then bottled and left to age. It continues to improve over time- a decade of time in the bottle is considered common, and even twenty, thirty year or longer are not uncommon. There are ports that have been aged even longer than that!
Late Bottled Vintage Port – a sort of compromise vintage port, it is aged for four years in the barrel and then bottled for aging. As the wine used is not as good as the vintage port, it normally does not improve as much with aging.
Single Quinta Vintage Port – a vintage port made of wines from a single vineyard, or “quinta”.
Crusted – a type of port made of different vintages, but continue to improve in the bottle instead of being left in the barrel to age.
I had a very enjoyable Gould Campbell 1983 Vintage Port on a special occasion recently- it’s older than I am. The grand old dame of British fortified wines certainly did not disappoint. Sweet and powerful, but with a balanced, rounded flavour that just begged to be swirled in the mouth. Notes of plum, dark chocolate and dark berries with a very light tartness. Thick, luscious texture and very smooth going down. Light finish of chocolate and cherry.
I served it chilled with a side of Bleu d’Auvergne cheese. The pungent cheese flavour blended well with the rich taste of the port- no wonder that it’s a classic combination. It also goes well with a light Dominican cigar, if you smoke. A beautiful way to spend an evening.
To juxtapose the excellent vintage port, I had a Dow 20 year old Tawny Port, which was very, very different. Instead of the forest fruit and chocolate flavours of the vintage port, the tawny had a woody, sweet fragrance. It was bursting with sweet honey. fig, nut and toffee flavours. A silky mouthfeel with a very mild, pleasant honey finish. Brilliant. A pity I didn’t pour it over ice cream or some pudding.
Between the two, the vintage was much more complex , but I wouldn’t compare them directly. Suffice to say that the vintage would be suited to a long, pleasant chat with friends (or yourself) and enjoyed on its own. The tawny makes an excellent bookend to a delicious dinner.
The best part is that Port is very inexpensive- even the 30 year old vintages can be had for $150- which sounds like a lot, but compared to a good Bordeaux or Burgundy of the same vintage, they are downright steals. Even a relatively young Tawny can add a lot to a meal.
I highly recommend a bottle of port the next time you’re kicking back after a special occasion. The rich tastes and beautiful textures would add something special to a great evening. Whether it’s lounging in the living room or enjoying it over dinner, Port is always appropriate!
