Introducing True PORT WINE--One of the Wine World's Classic Treasures
Bartholomew Broadbent, the son of the venerated British wine writer and Master of Wine Michael Broadbent, paid my young distribution company a visit in the spring of 1990. Before becoming a celebrated importer in his own right, Bart was working for Premium Port Wines, the American importer of the Symington Group of Port wines whose brands included Graham’s, Dow’s, Smith-Woodhouse, Quinta do Vesuvio and Warre’s (the latter imported by another company) and later Cockburn, Quinta do Roriz and an interest in the Madeira Wine Company with iconic labels Blandy’s, Miles, Leacock, and Cossart-Gordon.
Bart and a colleague were in our office to pitch my partner and me on representing the Smith-Woodhouse port line in Southern California. We would spend the next several hours deeply imbedded in a tutorial of not only the entire range of the most wonderful ports I’d yet experienced, but a comprehensive lesson on the history, geography and methodology of port wine in general.
He poured us ruby, tawny, white ports, vintage character ports, now called “reserve”, Late Bottled Vintage port, 10 and 20 year old tawny ports, and vintage ports from 1985, 1983, 1980, 1977, 1975 and 1970, explaining how each was made and where each fit into the full “range” of this and other port houses. By the end of the day, I would come to understand, appreciate and fall in love with the wines of one of the world’s greatest wine regions.
Port wine became hugely popular in Merrie Olde England beginning in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Due largely to the numerous embargoes on French wine due to the 30 years’ war and endless other Anglo-Franco conflicts, English wine merchants were desperate to find another source for their thirsty clients. They turned to Portugal but discovered to their dismay the thin wines of coastal Portugal wouldn’t travel well. After awhile they heard rumors of a strong, rich, dark wine grown in an isolated area far up the Douro River. What they discovered there were ripe, sun-saturated grapes with extraordinary acidity.
There were those who felt that Douro wines should be shipped as table wines, but the sweet, potent style of wine we know today as Port wine became the standard, the fermentation of which was halted by the addition of pure grape spirits to kill the yeast. The result was a wine between 18% and 20% alcohol by volume. (It took 150 years, but Douro table wines have re-emerged and are now among Portugal's finest.)
Fortified wine was also popular to the tiny wine drinking market in the United States before and after Prohibition. By the early 1960s, half of all wine consumed in America was fortified, and mostly sweet.
When the modern American wine boom exploded in the 1980s, Port wine was an essential component of a well-stocked wine cellar. Mega-critic Robert Parker devoted considerable sections of his wine buying guides dedicated to port wine. Port’s ability to age 50, 60, 70 years and more made it appear to be a classic, alongside the world’s other great classics like Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone, Champagne, German Riesling, Chianti, Barolo, Sherry and Rioja. Port was an elegant finale to a great meal, and a celebrative beverage during winter holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, Christenings and other important life events.
By the time Bart Broadbent proposed Smith-Woodhouse to us, though, there had been a glut of port wine due to a worldwide recession resulting in low demand from wine-drinking countries. That is why there were so many vintage ports—going back to 1970—still on the market, and relatively cheap to buy in 1990.
Vintage port is still relatively inexpensive, especially compared to the top classic wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. It is still possible to purchase 20 year old Vintage ports for the cost of a premium young Napa Valley Cabernets today.
The ABCs of Port Wine
Port wine gets its name from Oporto, now a UNESCO heritage city near the mouth of the Douro river in northern Portugal. Interestingly, all the grapes for port wine are grown hours upriver in ancient terraced vineyards, which are crushed and vinified in the Upper Douro Valley, then transported (originally by barcos, low hulled sailing boats, now by rail and truck) to the cool lodges of Oporto and its sister city Vila Nova de Gaia directly across the river where they age to become ruby-styled, tawny-styled, white and Vintage Ports.
Grapes native to the Upper Douro include Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesa, Tinta Roriz (also known as Tempranillo), and Tina Cão. For white port, Malvasia is used in the better versions.
The "Range" of Port Wine
WHITE PORT—The most surprising style of port, at least to our customers, is the rarely seen white port, made from sweet Malvasia grapes (and other indigenous varieties) which, like all port wine, has its fermentation stopped by the addition of clear brandy. White ports are usually served chilled, usually as an aperitif, but on a warm day in Vila Nova de Gaia, we were served a refreshing cocktail of white port, tonic water and a lemon slice (you can also use lime and a sprig of mint for garnish). Just 10% of port production is white. Bottled with a T-top cork, white ports should be refrigerated after opening to extend their freshness.
RUBY PORT—Aged up to 4 years in upright casks, ruby ports are simple, sweet, often delicious wines fit for casual drinking. The are bottled with T-top corks and can remain good to drink for a month after opening.
RESERVE PORT—Aged 4 to 6 years in upright casks, Reserve Ports are multi-vintage, and of higher quality than ruby ports, resulting in wines of more complexity and depth. Also bottled with T-top corks which can last two to three weeks after opening without fading too much.
LATE-BOTTLED VINTAGE PORTS—There are two types of Late-Bottled Vintage Ports (LBV)—filtered and unfiltered--and each type carries a vintage date. They are aged for 4-6 years before bottling.
Filtered LBVs perform similarly to reserve port, perhaps with a tad more weight and complexity, and bottled with a T-top cork so it can be consumed over a week or so if it is not too old. An outstanding filtered LBV is Taylor-Fladgate, consistent from year-to-year and quite nice to drink.
Unfiltered LBVs are bottled after four years in cask, and throw a sediment after time, much like Vintage Ports. The best unfiltered LBVs are so similar to aged Vintage Ports that James Symington once told me they were the best values in all of port. Unfiltered LBVs should be drunk in one setting, like vintage port, so it is a wine for sharing. Smith Woodhouse and Warre's have been the best performing unfiltered LBVs in The Wine Country.
SINGLE-QUINTA VINTAGE PORTS—Some of the finest vineyards produce fruit so good in non-declared vintages that port lodges choose to bottle them up separately. Graham’s will bottle its Malvedos, Dow’s its Quinta Senhora da Ribeira, Fonseca its Guimaraens, Taylor its Vargellas Vinha de Velha, Smith-Woodhouse its Maddalena and so on. Quinta do Vesuvio is its own estate-bottled wine (which still practices foot-treading), and another celebrated port house Quinta do Noval is a Single Quinta estate. These last two estates are also bottled in "declared" vintages, too.
These can be very, very good ports, bottled 18 months to two years after harvest, with all of their aging done in the bottle, the same as Vintage Ports, so expect to see some sediment in the bottle.
Dale and I celebrated my 65th birthday in a granite lagare stomping grapes at Quinto do Vesuvio. I'd always wanted to see it done but never expected to do it myself. Squishy and hard work. Very hard. Musicians arrived in the last hour to beat on drums and play an accordion, and the workers broke from their military one-two cadence into joyous dances, while still stomping grapes! Known as "La Liberdad", this tradition featured football songs from the Oporto soccer team, and traditional Portuguese folk songs resulting in snake dances, polkas and casual chatter, all while continuing the work at hand--foot treading.
VINTAGE PORTS—According to Master of Wine Hugh Johnson, “Vintage” port is the ultimate port. A port lodge will “declare” a vintage rarely, and only if the conditions are near-perfect. Traditionally, that would mean only 3 declarations per decade, although climate warming may change that, as long as market conditions align. Supplies are highly regulated, so as to not flood the market. They are bottled 18 months to 2 years after the harvest, and released with great fanfare shortly after, usually in October or November, just in time for the holidays.
When consumed young, Vintage ports are full of fruit, not unlike modern Napa Cabernets, but sweet and possessing flavors of blackberry with background licorice notes. When they are older, Vintage Ports shed their baby fat, start to bricken around the rim, and pick up ethereal spice notes. Older Vintage ports should be decanted and consumed in a single setting, just like older table wine. At the table, it is customary to pass a port decanter from right to left. Younger Vintage Ports may be sturdy enough to last for a few days after opening.
What gives Vintage port its claim to greatness, though, is its ability to age 70 years or more in the bottle and still be a great wine. I was privileged to attend a tasting with Rupert and Charles Symington and their young cousins about twenty years ago, and they generously supplied us with a taste of a port wine from the 1920s crafted by their great-grandfathers. It had the look, smell and taste of a very old tawny port, only silkier and more seductive. What an honor and a humbling experience to share wine passed down from long-ago generations. That is greatness, too.
At a port tasting in our store in the early 2000s, we opened an older vintage port at a wine tasting--I think it was a Croft 1966--and it had all the characteristics of a great aged Burgundy, Bordeaux or Barolo—complexity, elegance, silkiness, otherworldly aromas—the only difference was this was a sweet wine. An eye-opening experience that once again galvanized port’s greatness to me.
TAWNY PORTS—Tawny port gets its name from the slight browning that takes place as these wines get older and older. Typically, you will see the better tawnies labelled at 10-20-30 and 40 year average ages; in my opinion 10 year old tawny ports are sweet and delicious to drink, but only point the way to greatness. The true spice and nutty character of tawny ports only arrives after 20 years. In recent years, we’ve seen 50 year old tawnies released, and if you get a chance to share a bottle with family or friends, it is a treat you are not likely to forget.
While most of port wine is aged in large casks and bottles, tawny ports are aged in smaller oak barrels which allow the exchange of oxygen to transform the wines into nuttier, more caramelly flavors with hints of Christmas spices as they age. With age, these are remarkable wines, and unlike older vintage port, can stay relatively fresh tasting for a couple of weeks after opening. They have T-top corks to tip you off of this convenience.
A vintage-dated tawny is called Colheita, and the better port houses will release their Colheitas only from the greatest tawny vintages, usually drawn from old casks and bottled a little at a time.
FOR A LIST OF OUR SELECTION OF PORTS, MADEIRAS, SWEET MARSALAS & SHERRIES, CLICK HERE
Personal Note
As a southern California native, it is almost impossible to get to a restaurant and back home without driving, and the additional higher alcohol of even a single three-ounce serving of port wine after cocktails or aperitifs and more than one glass of dinner wine, tempts the fates, not to mention the Highway Patrol. Also, living in the temperate climate of southern California, there are precious few cold days we can benefit from the warming effects of fortified port wines. (That’s just one more reason I love winter rainy nights. It gives me an excuse to pull out a port I’ve been saving and share it with my friends.)
It must be pointed out than many of our die-hard port customers drink port all year long because they are simply delicious to drink. And, though their overall numbers aren't huge, we're constantly restocking our port shelves even in July, so I know something is up!
These are reasons why, in my opinion, more people living here don’t experience the joy of true port wine, one of the world’s greatest wines. Port is not a wine to drink casually; one has to plan for it. And, face it, living in the home of fast food, we Americans aren’t very good at planning what we consume.
But I implore my dear readers to make room for port wine in your culinary rotation, especially during the holidays. If you aren’t sure where to start, begin with basic ruby, tawny and white port and move up from there. A great way to get a leg up is to learn about port wine the way I did back in 1990—attend a good port tasting, one that covers the entire range of port, led by someone with port wine experience, and you may find yourself discovering another delicious way to enrich your wine enjoyment.
Then sit back in your favorite chair, listen to your favorite music, pet the dog, warmed by the fireplace or candlelight and sip in the historic, timeless beauty of port wine.