©2006, The Birmingham Post
If there is one fortified wine that encapsulates the spirit of Christmas, it must be Port. Yet pick up a bottle, look at the label and I guarantee that your head will be spinning before the onset of the seasonal festivities. There are simply too many terms on the label to get to grips with, often with little real meaning and just added by slick marketing men.
A little knowledge can go a long way but, before briefly describing each style, it's worth looking at where and how it is made. Port takes its name from Oporto, Portugal's northern second city, but the vineyards are located upstream, along the rugged slopes of the Douro. Some 80 different grape varieties are permitted, both white and red, but the best five are generally thought to be; Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, Tinta Cao and Tinta Barroca.
After pressing, traditionally by foot, the must is only allowed to ferment for just a few days, until it has achieved between 6-8 degrees alcohol by volume This is then run off into a Douro Pipe, a 550-litre cask, that is filled to one-fifth with a neutral grape spirit.
The process known as mutage immediately arrests the fermentation, allowing the now fortified wine to retain its natural sweetness from the unfermented grape sugars, producing a beverage between 18-20 degrees. Over the winter, the wines are assessed before being shipped downstream to the Port Lodges at Vila Nova de Gaia. Here, the casks are traditionally matured and developed to achieve the required style.
Essentially, Ports fall into two categories; bottle-aged Rubies or cask-aged Tawnies. Rubies are the cheapest and simplest type of Port, generally spending up to one year in barrel and subsequently aged in bottle for three years before release. The style is generally upfront and fiery.
Easily the best example is by Niepoort (House of Fraser £9.50). This is a family-run concern, with a reputation for excellence and their Ruby has delicious fiery black cherry and chocolate flavours, outperforming a host of more expensive LBVs.
More sophisticated labelling may include the words "Reserve" "Special Reserve" and "Vintage Character". Whilst indicating superior quality, the terms have no legal meaning and, in reality, they are still Rubies, although they may achieve more complexity by longer cask or bottle ageing, or special selection.
Taylor's First Estate Reserve (£7.99 Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury) has delicious sweet juicy, fiery blackberry flavours, and the well-regarded Croft Distinction (£8.99 Sainsbury) is a tad richer, with black cherry and chocolate characters.
Crusted Port gets its name from the sediment that the wine deposits in the bottle. It's actually a superior Ruby, from a blend of two or three vintages, aged in wood and then bottled without filtration. After three years in bottle, it takes on the character of a vintage wine, but the year on the label indicates the date of bottling, not the age of the wine. Decanting is always required. The best example is Dow's Crusted (Waitrose, Oddbins, et al, from £12.99), a consistently smooth and polished performer.
A Late Bottled Vintage is a wine of a single year, then bottled after ageing for some 4-6 years in cask. Spending longer in barrel than Vintage Port, it's lighter and more quickly maturing, so can be enjoyed immediately on release. The best are bottled without filtration.
The Noval LBV 1999 (Oddbins £10.49) has delicious black-cherry and liquorice flavours, and is well worth the money. Moving up a notch is the pleasurable Warre's LBV 1995 (Waitrose/Oddbins £15.99), which is more mellow, with nutty, chocolate characters.
Blue chip Vintage Port is the best wine from the finest years and represents only a tiny fraction of the total volume produced, and is only declared three times in every decade. The wines spend around two years in barrel before bottling, then require between 12-15 years maturation before they are ready, but the best can continue to develop over 50 years.
The best regional specialists for Vintage Ports are Tanners (01743.234455) and Nickolls & Perks (01384.394518). Looking through their respective lists, the 1983 and 1985 vintages are both approachable and affordable, starting from around £33 a bottle.
Many of the leading Port Houses make Single Quinta Ports in those years that a Vintage is not declared. Produced from a single estate in a single year, they mature more quickly and can be approached within 10-12 years, so offer exceptional value.
The Fonseca Guimaerens 1987 (£19.99 Sainsburys, Waitrose) is fully mature and drinking superbly. The more youthful Graham's Malvedos 1996 (£24 Sainsburys, Threshers, Oddbins) revealed delicious sweet concentrated fruit, although I still found the more powerful Taylor's Quinta de Vargelhas 1996 (£24.99 Tesco, Majestic, Oddbins, Sainsbury) a little backward. A few hours in the decanter will put that to rights.
A basic Tawny Port is a budget wine, whereby a Ruby is lightened with White Port. Nevertheless, an Aged Tawny loses its colour in barrel, and the best spend 10,20 or 30 years in wood. As the wines age in cask, their primary character changes, to take on secondary flavours such as orange peel, butterscotch, dried fruit and nuts. It's a style much favoured by connoisseurs.
My preferences are the Noval 10 and 20 Year Olds, at £15.30 and £34.70 respectively from Tanners. These wines are still vibrant, yet highly complex, with the older wine more integrated and mellow. Failing that, the more widely available examples by Taylors at £16.99 and £26.99 are both excellent, and will satisfy most palates.
Finally, a Colheita is an Aged Tawny from a single vintage. It's very rare, but Niepoort specialise in this style, and the superlative 1990 is still listed by Tanners at £14.60 per half.
Well, I hope that's all clear and, the next time you buy a bottle, there'll be no onset of headache symptoms. Now, will someone pass the Port, please?