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 and considered among the great wines in the world.
From the Douro Valley, world renowned for its dramatically sloping hillsides and terraced vineyards, this red dessert wine is made in two basic styles – ruby and tawny – with a number of variations within each style. But all typically are high alcohol (fortified with brandy to around 20% ABV) and bursting with red and black fruit flavors, richness, a hint of almond, and natural sweetness balanced with refreshing tannin and finished with a kick that always warms my soul.
Vintage Port sits at the pinnacle of the Port ladder. It is highly praised for intensity and ability to develop over many decades. It is made only in exceptional years and bottled after only two years in wood. It is distinguished by power and concentration.
- 2020 Kopke ($85) the oldest Port house, established in 1638; displays characteristic structure and intensity; expressive, balanced, and refined
- 2010 Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos ($65) house founded in 1820; rare single vineyard; finely structured and forward, but more elegant and ready to drink, yet its eucalyptus notes can be enjoyed for many more years
Port houses have developed variations over the decades to make their wines more accessible in taste and affordability.
As with most pinnacle wines, Vintage Port is beyond the reach of many consumers, either because it is too expensive or its incredible depths of flavor and complexity are overwhelming. Thus, Port houses have developed variations over the decades to make their wines more accessible in taste and affordability.
Late Bottled Vintage Port offers a taste of Vintage Port character, as it is made from very good wines that didn’t quite make the severe selection for Vintage Port but at a much more affordable price. Bottled after four to six years and ready to drink upon release, it will hold for several years.
- 2016 Fonseca ($24) founded in 1815; unfiltered; touch of licorice, full-bodied, balances with lush tannins
- Cockburn’s Special Reserve ($20) fruity, luscious, smooth, mellow
- Graham’s Six Grapes ($27) youthful, complex, structured, balanced
Ruby Port is the youngest, freshest and most accessible style, both in taste profile and price. Reserve Port – with exuberant fruit, intensity and richness is a bridge between Ruby Port and Vintage Port.
- Cockburn’s Special Reserve ($20) founded in 1815; the first Reserve Port in 1969; luscious fruity character and a smooth and mellow finish
- Graham’s “Six Grapes” ($27) house established in 1820; classic youthful finesse, structured and balanced
Tawny Port is distinguished from Ruby Port by a process that marries multiple vintages for average periods ranging from ten to forty years in cask. Extensive aging results in a gradual transformation creating mellow wines known for complexity, purity of fruit and elegance. This also mellows the wines color from deep red to, well, tawny. And it balances the intense fruit of the base wine with wood character. As a result, the wines retain berry freshness even as they develop enticing qualities like almond and fig. Ready to drink upon release, expect a distinctive almond nuttiness, admirable balance, and a silky texture.
10 Year Old tawnies are a good introduction to the style; you can discern these elements of age and a certain finesse. They are aged in wood an average of ten years and delightfully mellow with succulent fig and plum, with a little bitter almond.
- Croft ($37) founded in 1588; wonderfully aromatic, complex and luscious
- Kopke ($35) succulent, bright, intense and full
A 20 Year Old Tawny should provide more complexity and intensity. You experience the freshness, elegance and pure fruit with intense complexity, often with cinnamon, licorice and caramel.
- Taylor Fladgate ($50) established in 1692; opulent, enticing raisins, honey, and date
- Kopke ($70) luscious, graceful, deep, mellow
Colheita Port (kohl-YAY-tah): Tawny Port from a single vintage year and quite rare; aged in cask for a minimum of seven years but often released long after that; tend to be surprisingly fresh, elegant and refined.
- 2012 Kopke ($40) rich, intense, nutty, spicy
Colheita (kohl-YAY-tah) Ports are tawny Ports from a single vintage year and are fairly rare. Aged in cask for a minimum of seven years but often released long after that. They tend to be surprisingly fresh, elegant and refined.
2012 Kopke ($40) rich, intense, nutty, spicy