Of all alcoholic beverages, port is the quintessential drink for Canadian winters. There is nothing more satisfying than settling down in front of a roaring fire with a glass of port and a wedge of Stilton as winter rages outside.
But which port to choose when there is a bewildering range of products available, all at differing price points: ruby, crusted, late bottled vintage, young tawny, aged tawny, Colheita, vintage character, vintage, single quinta or white port?
To simplify matters, there are two basic styles of port – wood-aged port or bottleaged port. Of all wines, the process of port production is the most theatrical. Port is made from five grape varieties: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesa, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Cao. The grapes are foot-trodden in stone lagares that look like square wading pools. The resulting juice is fermented until half the sugar has been converted to alcohol and then further fermentation is stopped by the addition of neutral grape spirit. This spirit at 77 percent alcohol kills the yeast and stops the fermentation, leaving roughly 10 percent residual sugar and a wine that contains 20 percent alcohol.
It is at this stage that producers determine the style of port they want. How the new wine is aged after a short time in barrel or tank determines its ultimate character.
RUBY PORT
Ruby is the simplest and least costly port. It is bottled soon after its two or three years in barrel or stainless steel tank and is fruity and easy drinking.
CRUSTED
Crusted port is a blend of two or three harvests, matured in cask for 12 to 18 months then bottled unfiltered and laid down to mature like vintage ports. The wine will throw a sediment that sticks to the glass, hence the name, crusted.
YOUNG TAWNY
The equivalent of ruby port but aged in wood for up to three years. This aging allows the wine to oxidize and makes it lose colour. White port is sometimes added to young tawny.
AGED TAWNY
The label will usually indicate the age – either 10, 20, 30 or 40 years. The older it is, the more costly is the aged tawny. Tawny ports are blends of different harvests and the age is an average of the wines in the blend.
COLHEITA
This is a tawny port from a single harvest, aged for a minimum of seven years and usually a lot longer. The date of the vintage will appear on the label.
VINTAGE CHARACTER
Ruby port aged for four to five years is called vintage character port. This is something of a misnomer since it does not come from a single vintage and is more in the style of a rich ruby than a true vintage port.
LATE BOTTLED VINTAGE (LBV)
LBV wines come from a single harvest and are aged for four to six years in barrel before being bottled. They are not as intense and concentrated as vintage port but are softer and ready to drink. Some producers don’t filter their LBVs and the wines will throw a sediment as they age in bottle.
VINTAGE PORT
The most expensive, long-lived and soughtafter of ports. Vintage ports are only made in the best years. The finest wines are selected after two years in barrel for long aging in bottle. The port shippers decide if the harvest is good enough to declare it to be vintage port and most houses only make this declaration three or four times a decade. Since the wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered, a significant amount of sediment results and the port must be decanted for serving.
SINGLE QUINTA
Since there are years when no vintage port is available, many of the houses will release a vintage-dated wine from a single farm (quinta). It is a good substitute for vintage port since it is less costly.
WHITE PORT
Made from indigenous white grapes – Codega, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina, Rabigato and Viosinho. These wines, at 20 percent alcohol, are for the most part either sweet or semi-dry and are usually served as an aperitif, chilled straight-up or cut with soda water and a twist of lemon.
HERE’S A TIP!
Aged tawny ports, when opened, will last for weeks in the bottle or decanter since they are already oxidized from their long stay in oak casks. Once vintage port has been opened it is advisable to consume the bottle within two weeks to ensure freshness.
