Gutsy, red and full of Christmas spirit. Yes, Port is undoubtedly the Father Christmas of the wine world!
Of course, your experience of him may vary: it could be a full-on trip to Lapland, complete with snow, reindeer and well-thought out presents.... or it could be simply the school caretaker in a fake Tesco beard. Either way, simple or serious, there is no better way to feel Christmassy than to raise a glass of port. And what a great present it makes! Here's Winebird's guide to Port:
What is it? Port is red wine (usually), fortified with Brandy: during fermentation, grape sugar turns to alcohol. Adding Brandy before this process is finished stops it prematurely, leaving grape sugar in the juice so it's sweet, and adding a spirity kick to around 20% abv!
Where’s it from? Duoro valley, Northern Portugal.
Grapes: over 80 local varieties are permitted, but the main 6 are Touriga Nacional, Tinto Cão, Tinta Amarela, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca & Tinta Roriz.
Types: very generally speaking, Port styles are determined by 4 factors: whether they’ve had mostly ‘bottle aging’ or ‘wood aging’ and whether they are ‘vintage’ or ‘blended’.
* Bottle aged: when wine needs many years in the bottle to mellow.
* Wood aged: when wine has had several years in wood to mellow it. Once bottled, it's ready to drink.
* Vintage: wine made from grapes grown in one year only. With Port, conditions are only considered exceptional enough about 3 times a decade to be classified or rather, ‘declared’ as ‘vintage’ worthy. Vintage Ports, just like normal wines, are therefore considered to be of higher quality than wines blended from several (often lesser) years.
* Blended: non-vintage wines blended from several years to create a uniform style.
Tasting Tour of the main styles of Port:
Ruby – Blended, very simple and inexpensive. Tastes like full & fruity red wine with a kick! No wood ageing, and will not improve with bottle age.
Tawny – Blended, but with 3+ years of wood age. Light, tawny brown in colour with a nutty, caramel flavour. Ready to drink once bottled and won’t improve with age.
Crusted – Blended, but unlike Tawny & Ruby, it is not filtered. This means it can age for a few years and will throw a sediment, hence ‘crusted’. It’s a cheaper way of adding character!
LBV (Late Bottled Vintage)- wine from a single vintage (year) that has had 4-6 years wood age before bottling. Ready to drink once bottled. If filtered, it will not improve with age. If unfiltered, it could improve for a few years in the bottle.
Vintage Port - wine from a single, declared vintage (year) that will often need 20-30 years of bottle aging. These are the finest Ports; full, complex and beautifully smooth when they’re ready. They are only permitted a maximum of 2.5 years wood age, so its all about fruit!
Single Quinta – wine from a specific, high performing, single vineyard. Port estates often sell Single Quinta ports from a single year, when that year or ' vintage' wasn’t declared (see above). It’s just a short step away from true ‘Vintage Port’ and can be a lot cheaper and almost as good.
So, you want a wine to lay down? Go for Vintage Port, Single Quinta or Crusted, depending on how much you want to spend. Drink the others now!
For more info on the general history of Port and the top Port houses, go here.
For more in-depth info on all the various Port styles, go here.
I seriously hope that Father Christmas knows the difference...
Merry Christmas and happy drinking!
WB x
For more inf on the history of port, go here:
