Any Vintage Port in a Storm

It's true. I've been neglecting the blog, but I hope you'll forgive me when I tell you it's been because of my WSET course. And that means I have all kinds of new wines to tell you about, and my friend Jon has requested that I start with Port. We tried three ports, but the LBV was corked, so you're in for a Tawny and a Vintage today.

First, a bit of basic background on Port production and styles:

Port is made from a base wine fermented from a blend of several varietals grown in poor, rocky soil on steep, terraced vineyards in the upper Duoro in Portugal. The summers are very hot and dry, and the winters are cold and rainy. Grape spirit is added to interrupt fermentation, and the resulting higher level of alcohol kills off the yeast that feeds on the sugars, meaning that some unfermented sugars remain.

Ruby and Reserve Ruby- These are young, simple Ports made from wines that are 2-5 years old. They have about 20% abv, and are usually dark, fruity and sweet. The Reserves have some more complexity to their flavours, and better integration of alcohol from longer aging.

Tawny and Reserve Tawny- Tawny is an inexpensive style that mixes red and white Ports. White Port exists on its own, but it's pretty hard to find. A Reserve Tawny is aged 7-8 years, oxidizing slowly over the aging process to produce soft, nutty flavours and tannins. Look for a Reserve Tawny with an indication of age, and serve it slightly chilled. You can expect walnut and caramel flavours, in general.

Vintage - This is the really good stuff. It comes from a single excellent year, and is aged 2 years in the cask. The consumer is expected to age it further in the bottle, so buy a few to give you the option of opening it year after year to enjoy its development. The amount produced is controlled, and you'll absolutely need to decant it since it will throw a deposit. You can expect a lot of everything in these ports - lots of tannins, lots of sweetness, lots of fruit, and lots of alcohol. Age it well, and the fruit and spice will evolve into jam and leather.

Late Bottle Vintage (LBV) - These are aged 4-6 years in the cask, and are ready to drink now; you may or may not need to decant.

Here's what I tried:

Niepoort, Tawny Port, 10 years old $50
Aromas of walnuts, spiced orange and strawberry; intense flavours of dried fruit, spices, figs, walnuts and oak. Medium sweetness, medium-high acidity, low tannins and full bodied. It was balanced, with medium-high complexity, high concentration of flavours, and a long finish. A very decent value here. Click for availability http://www.bcliquorstores.com/en/products/428482

Quinta do Portal, Vintage Port, 2000 $70
You can tell the difference between this and an LBV before you smell or taste it. Mine wasn't decanted, so I could see the deposit, and it was low-medium clarity, and an opaque ruby colour bordering on garnet. That bit of garnet really gives it away that there's some age on this Port. The flavours were better than the nose on this Port, though I expect that would change if you decanted it. There were animal and vegetal aromas, as well as dark dried fruit like prune and raisin. The flavours were of sweet spice, pepper, blueberry, oak, raisin, dark fruit, and a long cherry finish.

I know it may sound cliche or trite, but with a Vintage Port the year really does make a difference. There's no need to memorize a vintage chart, heck, the fact that they only produce vintage ports during exceptional years means you just don't need to delve that deep... unless you really have a passion for historic weather details. At $70 this Vintage Port is considerably lower than many others out there, and so I say it's good value. Click for availability http://www.bcliquorstores.com/en/products/153593