Portugal, with a winemaking heritage of around three thousand years, today is best known for Port, a wine with over a three hundred year history. From the Douro Valley, Porto, as it is known in its home, is a sweet, high alcohol (fortified with brandy) red wine. The best are considered among the great wines in the world.
The growing conditions in northern Portugal’s Upper Douro Valley are extreme, with long hot summers, cold winters, low average rainfall and rugged, rocky soils. But with a little human help, this environment creates a uniquely powerful wine, even in styles that fashion a sense of elegance.
This time of year I just can’t resist it. The only challenge is there are a variety of styles from which to choose but they all provide a fine payoff. Bursting with intense dark fruits and natural sweetness, balanced with refreshing tannin, and finished with an alcoholic kick, Ports always warm my soul.
I especially enjoy sipping Tawny Port. These wines marry several vintages and spend extensive time in casks, periods ranging form ten to forty years (the year on label refers to the average age of blended wine). Extensive aging results in a gradual transformation through contact with air and wood, creating mellow wines known for complexity, purity of fruit and elegance. Tawnies mellow in the barrel and are released at their peak ready to drink. Expect a distinctive nuttiness, admirable balance, and a silky texture.
Ten Year Old tawnies are a good introduction to the style. A Twenty Old Tawny should provide more complexity and intensity but still taste delightfully fresh. 30 and 40 Year Old tawnies reach ethereal states but typically surpass $100.
I recently sampled Dow’s 10 Year Old Tawny Porto ($37) and 20 Year-Old Tawny Porto ($65), each fine examples of their type. Dow’s Ports reflect the heritage of over two hundred years working in the Douro vineyards. These tawnies also display the quality of fruit from the highly regarded Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira, Dow’s signature vineyards. And updated winemaking, including aging in small oak vats, as well as traditional 550 litre casks, has produced wines that are fuller bodied, yet retain Dow’s signature tendency toward a slightly less sweet finish.
The 10 Year Old is quite fine in its own right with nut, fig, and plum but is a little sharper and less complex, though still succulent. The elegant 20 Year Old has a complex, enticing nose of raisins, almond, honey, caramel and date with an impressive purity.
For many, Vintage Port sits at the pinnacle of the Port hierarchy. Distinguished by power and concentration, Vintage Port is made only in exceptional years (historically just three a decade) from a producer’s top vineyards and bottled after two years in barrel. These wines are highly praised for their intensity and ability to develop over many decades. I recently tasted three top producers from the 2016 vintage, each displaying the vintage’s characteristic expressiveness, structure, fine balance, and expected longevity (suggesting at least ten years before drinking and keeping up to at least thirty years.
Taylor Fladgate ($120). From one of the oldest Port houses and benchmark producers, this wine displays amazing opulence and yet grace from the integration of suffusive tannins with lively acidity and impressively pure mixed berry fruit. Exotic notes of herbs, cedar, cocoa, and anise add a dimension of complexity to this seductive and flamboyant wine.
Fonseca ($120). From another icon of the Port trade and a leader in sustainable farming, this wine is beautifully balanced, with brilliant dark berry fruit, firm but well integrated, though brawny tannins, and an exhilarating freshness, suggestions of fig, mint, and minerals. The powerful, yet polished structure ensures the luscious fruit will satisfy for years.
Croft ($100). From a firm that dates to 1588 yet is known as an innovator (creating the first ever rosé Port), this one is wonderfully aromatic with exuberant berry fruit, fig, herb and eucalyptus notes preview. It’s luscious and mouthfilling, yet with a fine sense of proportion. Slightly less sweet, it has good grip while suggesting approachability.
Even at these prices, given the amazing quality and longevity, I consider Vintage Port (and Tawny Port) to be good values. But, if these are way beyond your price preference, there are alternatives. A good place to start is with a Ruby Port, the youngest and most accessible style. Blended from several different vintages and aged three years in large vats to retain freshness. For about $15-$20, expect straightforward, intense, lively red fruits and good structure grapey fruit.
Even better, Late Bottled Vintage Port is one of the best Port values. Think of it as Vintage Port in style, but not in price. As the name implies, LBV Port is developed from a single vintage Ruby Port and may evolve four to six years in barrel before being bottled and released. Ready to drink upon release, it can give you a taste of Vintage Port character at a much more affordable price, as it is made from good wines of a single year that didn’t quite make the severe selection for Vintage Port.
I especially enjoyed the 2012 Dow’s Late Bottled Vintage Porto ($24). It shares the same vineyard provenance as Dow’s Vintage Port and the resulting wine offers heady aromas and flavors of sweet berries, cassis, and oak, and a touch of licorice in a full-bodied, lush wine balanced with modest tannins.
Although some experiment with drinking Port during a meal, I still find it is best enjoyed chilled at the end of the meal, either with dessert or as dessert. Keep in mind, these wines clock in at around 20% ABV. Dark chocolate or blue cheeses are ideal matches but dried fruits and nuts can work, too. However you enjoy it, try a Port and feel the winter cold melt away!
NOTE: Featured image courtesy of Wine Tourism in Portugal (www.winetourismportugal.com)