PORT: The Father Christmas of wine!

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:

Sangiovese! Like a big, Tuscan family...and Jesse Metcalfe.

I’ve always loved Italians; they do the family thing so well! There’s never any question of where their priorities lie. Blood is thicker than water after all and so when I think of the Sangiovese grape, I think of a big, Tuscan family, with four boys and a girl. 

So, let’s meet those youngsters....

Morellino, the little lady, is gentle and approachable. She’s always up and ready to go before her bigger brothers and is often ignored as the boys jostle for attention. She’s a forward little thing though and bright as a button. Her time will soon come to shine. 

Chianti, the younger brother has just started at big school. Still a bit all over the place and unruly at times, he can be very good or very, very bad. There’s a lot of the rustic, country boy in him and he often needs a good meal to soften his edges.

Chianti Classico, the middle brother, is straight down the line. Well behaved and studying classics, he is the model student, displaying all the characteristics that his school would be proud of.

Chianti Classico Riserva Like the middle brother, but about to graduate. He has spent more time assimilating information in the school’s dark wood-walled library and he’s now ready to sit his exams. 

The fourth brother however, has always been a little different:

From his father’s first marriage, Brunello struck out on his own, working the vineyards in the next town. You can see the family resemblance, but Brunello is broader, more tanned and smouldering than his brothers in Chianti (check out Jesse Metcalfe above!). Get close and you can smell earthiness, leather and tobacco. He’s well built and complex. It takes time to get to know him.

All the wines above are based on Sangiovese, with occasional, tiny pinches of others to liven them up. In Chianti, the grape's still called Sangiovese (it's just named after the region to confuse you!). On the Tuscan coast however, they call it ‘Morellino’ and inland around Montalcino, it’s called ‘Brunello’. It’s all the same family, with subtle differences depending on location, but their common features are savoury cherry and dried herb flavours that goes deliciously with food. 

Tasting Tour

Start in Tuscany and work your way up the family:

Morellino di Scansano - Soft, bright red fruit, made for earlier drinking. Less well known, but one to watch.

Chianti - Rustic, sour cherry and dried herbs from picked in various locations all over the region.

Chianto Classico - Richer, dark cherry, cocoa and dried herbs. From the best, ‘Classic’ part of the Chianti region.

Brunello di Montalcino- Spicy cherry & herbs with earthy mineral, violet and tobacco flavours. It's got a 6 pack!

Try ‘Riserva’ versions of all of these for more dark spice and heavier structure that comes from ageing in oak.

While you're at it, you could also try the posh country cousin: Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

Italy is the real home of Sangiovese, but some of the relations have flown the nest! Look for them in small pockets around Australia, Argentina & California, all with that unmistakable Italian accent, but with the definite stamp of their own country. 

Sangiovese literally means ‘Blood of Jove’! Just what else did this Jove get up to, I wonder? 

I’m off to unwrap a Brunello...

WB x

Champagne & Starlets! An actor's guide to sparkling wine.

Sometimes, being able to tell the difference is not such a good thing.

It was during my brief acting career that I discovered this 'winelover's paradox' - I was holding down a flexible job at a London wine merchant at the time. As  I complained to my friends about Prosecco being sold as Champagne in Bollinger flutes at a schmooze-fest industry party, they wanted to know more - albeit partly to use it to chat up other guests.

'Look around you', I said to them. 'It's always the same formula at these things: mostly unknown working actors like us; a large amount of behind the scenes industry people; a tiny percentage of TV actors (known largely just in the Uk) and very occasionally, the odd film star. It's the perfect vinalogy for sparkling wine' I told them. Here's why:

Prosecco is the vinous version of us working, non-famous actors: approachable, affordable, always great value for money and particularly easy to talk to. Find soft, creamy bubbles, lower alcohol and the taste of ripe pears from the newly official Prosecco region in Italy. Try Le Colture for brilliant bubbles.

Cava works for the Industry people- agents, producers and so on: cut from the same cloth as the stars, but more hard nosed and without the price tag (or wow factor) of their 'champagne' clients. Codorniu sets the benchmark for great Cava: chalky Spanish fizz made by the 'Champagne method', but with largely local grapes. (here's good for more info).

Traditional Sparklers (Wines made like champagne, but from elsewhere in the world) are the TV actors: arguably just as good if not better than some champagnes, but not as well known outside their own country. Come here for value. Try the Cremants from France or  Champagne styles from New Zealand/N. California. Worldwide fizz, but cooler climates excel!

Champagne, naturally, for the film stars: high profile, unique, expensive and often quite demanding. Think Bollinger, Moet & Laurent Perrier. There is of course a subset within this section where the quality - and price - jumps up several notches. These are the Uber A-listers; try a Nicole Kidman type like the pale & elegant Champagne Salon, or a fine and fuller bodied Hugh Jackman style like Krug...but only if someone else is paying.

I bet Penelope Cruz is on the Salon.

All of these wonderful boozes have a perfect time, place & budget. Paying Champagne prices for Prosecco or Cava however, is just not cool! And don't get me started on pub wine...

BRING OUT THE BUBBLY!

WB x